The FPEmpresa VET Schools Association and the Embassy of Spain in Brazil, more specifically its Education Office, give Spanish and Brazilian VET centres the opportunity to collaborate in different educational projects. This initiative is part of the objective set by FPEmpresa of promoting international cooperation between associated centres and other centres in other parts of the world.
Elena Argudo, FPEmpresa’s Project Manager, highlights: “Stimulating the international relations of Spanish centres is one of the objectives of FPEmpresa. Facilitating this networking seems essential to us, so that the centres can see what is being done in the field of VET in other countries. Furthermore, in this case, Brazil is a strategic country, as it has a very powerful Vocational Education and Training system. It is significant to see that in the Worldskills contest, Brazilian VET students often reach the top positions”.
Brazil, a benchmark in the world in terms of Vocational Education and Training, will be the first country with which cooperative relations between centres are established, but there will be more. “This first collaborative action opens a potential line of work with the Education Offices of the Spanish Embassies in the world, through which to foster this type of initiatives” Argudo adds.
After the agreement reached by FPEmpresa and the Embassy of Spain in Brazil, work began last year to put the participating centres in contact. Thus, there are three Spanish VET centres that are already assigned to their Brazilian project partners, all belonging to the Federal Institute of Paraná (IFPR): the CIFP Ciudad de Béjar with the Telêmaco Borba campus; the CIPFP La Costera with that of Jacarezinho; and the Goierri Eskola with Campo Largo.
At the moment, these are all eTwinning projects, although it is expected that other real mobility projects may be developed in the future.
