Abstract:

The main changing driving force of higher education is the increasing massification and universalisation, which had lead to the term of the vocationalisation of higher education. Changes in the supply of graduates do not match with changes in demand of the labour market and there is a continuous search of ways to strengthen the linkages among employers, workers, higher education institutions, and governments. One of the possible ways to meet this challenge is dual education, where trainees divide their time between classroom and on-the-job training, with both pathways developed in parallel. In these programs, training is a shared responsibility of firms and schools.

The TEEDE Erasmus+ project objective is to upgrade/develop dual learning in engineering programs in Cambodia, China, India and Russia. The procedures are very flexible and diversity not just due to the different countries involved, but also for regional differences and the type of institutions. Differences within and across the partner countries and national policy and educational structures can hinder or enhance greater collaboration between both academic and non-academic stakeholders (i.e., HE regulators, quality agencies…) but also in promoting collaborative partnerships with industry and trade unions. The idiosyncrasy of companies and their relationship with higher education institutions also required our consideration. The development of dual programs in countries with very dissimilar cultures and a wide diversity of educational systems has been a challenge. To that extend methodological guidelines on professions and qualifications based on the analysis of the economic needs of the different countries were developed.

12 BSc (Mec. Eng., Patterns of Senior App. Talents Training & Evaluation, Agric. Eng., Artistic modelling & design of garments, Tech. of oil & gas proc., Geo. Eng., Civil Eng., Design &Tech. of Light Industry Prod., Civil Eng. & Urban Dev., Eng. Prot. of Ind. Ent., Tech., Ship building & ship repair, Mechatronics & inf. science), 7 MSc (Elec. Insulation Systems & Cable Eng., Build. & Practicing of Talent cultivating Mode in Mat. Sci., Food Proc. & Tech., IT Project Manager, Pet. Eng., Tech., Ship power plants maint.) and 2 PhD (Pet. Eng., Food tech. & nutr.) engineering programs have been developed (in some cases waiting for the official approval) or running. During the implementation practical aspects had to be considered (e.g., offered as a parallel track to a school-based scheme or not, development of a new program or modifying of an existing…). The main reason is that decision procedures to implement any new program involve several sequential loops (Departments and Schools/Faculties, University managers, and National and/or regional quality assurance agencies). Those external constraints affect the implementation of the programs.

If the implementation of the dual educational principles is not adapted and managed in a flexible way. Successful approaches developed at the EU level cannot be applied without a deep modification to include on-site customization. Concepts such as EQF, Bologna meth-odology, ECTS and ESG for quality assurance, must be adapted if a successful collaboration is to be started: there will never be a “Golden hammer” in educational reforms.

Keywords:

Dual study programmes, higher apprenticeships, engineering and technical professions, poli-cy learning, blended education.