Cooperation with Colombian partner institution SENA
The Colombian National Service for Vocational Education (SENA) and BIBB have been successfully working together on the basis of a cooperation agreement since 2011.
The institutionalisation of dual VET in Colombia is at the core of the cooperation between BIBB and SENA. One priority of the current Colombian government is the implementation of dual training (initial training and higher vocational education) at national level.
BIBB initially advised SENA on the development and implementation of a dual training concept based on the German model and accompanied the implementation of the first SENA pilot projects to introduce dual training courses.
Since 2016, BIBB has also been advising on the development of annual national SENA data reports on VET.
In addition to advising, the focus is on expert dialogue on current, education policy topics. This includes study visits by SENA representatives to the BIBB and cooperation between the two organisations in international activities and conferences.
SENA-BIBB cooperation in the field of research
- BMBF project: Exploration of potentials for the development and testing of elements for the vocational training of skilled workers in the field of "Renewable Energies" in Colombia" (October 2021 - June 2022).
- Establishment of a monitoring system for VET reporting (SENA data reports 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021)
- Case study in the automotive sector on cost-benefit as well as motivation and organisation of companies in VET (2016)
- Support for the establishment of the Centre for Research and Innovation SENNOVA at SENA (2012).
Trilateral dialogue BIBB - Colombia - Costa Rica
SENA and the National Institute for Vocational Education and Training (INA) in Costa Rica share similar challenges and goals in sustainably establishing dual training in their countries.
Since September 2021, BIBB has been engaged in a series of workshops with SENA and INA. The aim is to share experiences in the development and implementation of dual training concepts in Colombia and Costa Rica. Germany with its dual training model is the reference country. In 2021, the topics were
- Institutionalisation of dual training,
- legal framework of VET,
- stakeholders and their roles in the dual model,
- structural mechanisms to promote training in small and medium-sized enterprises and
- collaborative training for SENA and INA
of particular interest. BIBB supports the exchange through presentations and monitoring and will continue the workshop series in 2022. In the long term, potentials for joint VET projects between SENA and INA are to be identified.
The Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje (SENA)
SENA was founded in 1957 and is subordinate to the Colombian Ministry of Labour.
As a public education provider with 176 locations and Colombia's largest employer, SENA offered a total of 8,149,320 courses (education and training) in 2020, of which 7,998,901 were taken. SENA's training offer reaches around 80% of young people nationwide who choose to train.
The Colombian education and training system is financed by public funds. These come mainly from a company training levy and from taxes collected as part of income tax.
SENA is an active member of the Alliance for Dual Training in Latin America and the Caribbean, which was founded in June 2021 by 15 Latin American countries with the support of BIBB, ILO-Cinterfor and Mexico's CONALEP.
SENA and BIBB have been working together since 2011 on the basis of a cooperation agreement. The agreement was extended to a further four years in October 2020. It includes, in particular, support for the development of Colombian dual training in the areas of legal framework, national VET reporting and VET research.
(as of December 2021)
