Sofia 2019: A Review

14 – 15 October 2019: Bridging the Gap Between TVET and Employment Worldwide

The Bulgarian capital of Sofia hosted the Second IVETA Europe Regional Conference from the 14th to 15th October, 2019.

Warnborough College partner and IVETA member, Know and Can Association, organised all the logistics and came up with an impressive programme of speakers and events. A programme with a conference pack was produced and issued to each delegate.

The event saw representation from different parts of the world, not just Europe, with a theme of “Bridging the Gap between Employment and TVET”.

IVETA Vice-President for Europe, Dr Julian Ng, welcomed everyone to the conference with a few words about the organisation and what benefits members could expect. Know and Can’s chair, Rumyana Shalamanova, spoke about the importance and necessity of the chosen theme.

Lachezar Afrikanov recounted the highlights of introducing the Swiss model of Dual Education in Bulgaria, which encourages students to put their classroom-gained knowledge to use within the workplace concurrently. Dr Tulio Barrios Bulling from Universidad SEK shared how technical, vocational education and training (TVET) is being upgraded in Chile. Dr Tulio incidentally is an alum of Warnborough College.

Nadezhda Paunova delivered an inspirational presentation about her organisation’s projects to increase employability through various apps and websites across Europe, while Dr Mohamed Mustafa el Nour Ahmed from the Jubail Technical Institute was earnest about the need for a mindset shift in order to bring about development and inclusion (especially of women) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Orsolya Vitos brought her sunny disposition from Tenerife, Canary Islands to convince delegates of the need to improve digital marketing skills in all respects, highlighting that TVET providers were particularly poor at that. Prof. Tonya Georgieva rounded off the morning session with a case study of how strategically bringing together different disciplines and people in a rural community can lead to opportunities for development for that community.

Post lunch, Joaquín Martín de Saavedra Rojas from Portugal stressed the importance of future planning, with his catchily-titled “In Case of Doubt, Invest in (You)th”.  Dr Tamara Draganova from the University of Veliko Tarnovo challenged the audience about the links between school, university, employers and businesses.

Prof Urs Hauenstein from Switzerland introduced his competency framework which recognises skills, experiences and former learning that can be applied to create a portfolio of skills and learning in TVET and other areas. Stanislava Tsoneva advocated the creation of mentoring programmes to help new and/or young teachers.

Dr Korneliya Vasileva spoke about how ERASMUS+ funded projects can bridge the gap between employment and education, as long as the projects didn’t end as soon as funding stops. Esther González from Spain wrapped up day 1 by explaining the dual VET system and how professional certificates work.

Most of the foreign delegates got together for a traditional Bulgarian meal in an atmospheric restaurant, and the more adventurous folk walked around to admire Sofia by night afterwards.

Day 2 began with IVETA Executive Director, Dr Brenden Tempest-Mogg, saying a few words about the importance of networking and international partnerships for the development of education, both of which are part of IVETA’s mission.

Dr Fabio Croci from the Skillman Network in Italy spoke about the concept of Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVEs) and the need to support the development and uptake of the concept. Dr Julian Ng presented the highlights and lessons learnt to date from the Pro-VET ERASMUS+ co-funded project about upskilling TVET teachers in Russia and Serbia. Sofka Boyanova stressed the importance of students learning complex problem-solving skills, suggesting systems thinking as a method.

Federica Sottile from Italy explained the differences between ECVET and EQAVET and how to create successful projects. Dr Julie Furst-Bowe demonstrated how the unique Wisconsin Technical College System is geared as one-machine to deliver and monitor quality TVET throughout the state.

José Cariaga Rubilar from Gestion Humor in Chile left everyone with ‘shiny eyes’ with his heartfelt plea that we must put passion into everything we do in order to be successful.  Zladka Ivanova, an expert from the Bulgarian Department of Education presented information about the TVET system in Bulgaria (with some assistance from Know and Can’s Ivo Dimitrov).

After lunch, a sharing session especially geared towards allowing non-speakers to voice their views or needs was not only productive, it allowed everyone to have a voice and be included in the entire programme.

Following a brief certificate and photography session, everyone made their way to the Vocational School of Transport and Energetics, for an onsite visit. Delegates got to speak with students, teachers and staff. We would like to thank Engineer Tanyo Stoychev, Principal of the school, and his team, for the wonderful hospitality.

All in all, the conference was a wonderful success with its short punchy presentations, and variety of speakers and topics. We would like to thank all those who participated. And, of course, our heartfelt thanks to Know and Can Association for putting on such an amazing event.

See you all again, soon!