BIBB President Esser presents the first GOVET Annual Report

Professor Friedrich Hubert Esser, President of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB), has presented the first Annual Report from the German Office for International Cooperation in Vocational Education and Training (GOVET) at the “Round Table for International Cooperation in VET” in Berlin. Alongside the federal ministries, lead representatives of institutions actively involved in vocational education and training cooperation were present at the event. “The numerous enquiries processed by GOVET show that the decision to establish a central body for international VET cooperation at BIBB was both important and correct,” said Professor Esser as he presented the report. “At the same time, ongoing interest in German dual VET is confirmed. And the Round Table creates an unprecedented degree of transparency between German VET cooperation stakeholders, who are already acting jointly in current vocational education and training projects.”

Two years after the foundation of GOVET at BIBB, the office‘s first Annual Report presents its policy remit and tasks whilst placing a particular emphasis on work results within the individual operational fields. The support provided by GOVET and BIBB has, for example, led to considerable progress over the past two years in the bilateral cooperation agreements entered into by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), and Vocational Training Acts enacted in the partner countries of Italy and Slovakia constitute good evidence of this.

The GOVET Annual Report also illustrates the interest being shown in German VET from abroad. During the reporting period, GOVET responded to VET cooperation enquiries from 84 countries. Most of these were from India, China, South Korea, Spain and Columbia. At the same time, German stakeholders sought information on 105 countries. Alongside India, China and Spain, Poland and the USA were the countries about which the greatest amount of information was required. Around 40% of the enquiries to GOVET originated from ministries, embassies, government authorities and government-related departments. About 25% were from trade and industry or the chambers.

This broad interest in vocational education and training cooperation is also reflected in users of the GOVET homepage. The web statistics show that visits from almost 150 different states have been received during the current year alone. As well as information on vocational education and VET cooperation with certain countries, there is a frequent demand for tools prepared by GOVET such as presentations on the dual system in various languages or English translations of German training standards and for information on funding opportunities for VET measures.

Background information: the German Office for International Cooperation in Vocational Education and Training (GOVET) was established at BIBB in September 2013 under the lead management of the BMBF. GOVET is an essential component of the strategy published by the Federal Government in 2013 to move towards greater cohesion in international vocational education and training cooperation by delivering services from a single source. Human resources are financed by the BMBF, and these employees are joined by staff seconded to GOVET from the Federal Foreign Office (AA) and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

The GOVET Annual Report and further information are available on the BIBB website at www.govet.international.

Contact partner at BIBB:
Thorsten Schlich

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