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Centres for adult education and continuing training (VEU-centres)
Policy Instrument
Centres for adult education and continuing training (VEU-centres)
DenmarkDescription
Timespan
The centres have been in operation since they were launched in 2010.
Stage
Focus area
Foundations
Policy area
VEU-centres coordinate guidance activities for schools providing adult vocational training programmes.
Policy goal
The centres target vocational training of enterprises as well as individual learners. The centres aim at creating greater focus on the quality and effect of vocational training system. The objective of the VEU-centres is to strengthen the cooperation between educational institutions and, through cooperation, get a larger volume of vocational students and thereby establish a more stable and flexible supply of continuing vocational education. All providers of adult vocational training are associated with one of the 13 VEU-centres, each coordinating guidance activities, contact to enterprises and employees etc for a specific geographical area.
Mismatch
The centres coordinate guidance activities for the schools that provide adult vocational training programmes.
Aim of policy instrument
Legal basis
Administrative level
Main responsible body
Ministry of Education
Stakeholders
A VEU-centre is a partnership between several schools in one geographical area. One of the schools is the host institution of the VEU-centre and is thus the legal entity in relation to the Ministry of Education.
Funding
It has not been possible to find information on the number of funds that are committed to the VEU-centres.
Intended beneficiaries
The educational programmes are mainly provided for low skilled and skilled workers having a job. Workers and employers in private, as well as public sector enterprises may participate in the programmes.
Processes
Use of labour market intelligence
By providing adult vocational education, based on regional demands identified by local stakeholders, the VEU-centres contribute to the goal of skill matching by updating individuals’ skills in a relevant area.
Financial schemes
State grant. The board of the educational institution responsible for the VEU-centre is responsible for the management of state grants, from the Ministry of Education.
Frequency of updates
On-going, i.e. the VEU-centre is responsible to study the need for competence development needs at companies and employees in the geographical area.
Development
There has not been any policy change in the approach since the VEU-centres were established in 2010.
Success factors
Due to the institutional cooperation between the educational institutions within a geographical area, the construction of VEU-centres has improved the coordination of the activities to improve the vocational skills and competences of the participants in accordance with the needs in the labour market.
Monitoring
A development contract between the VEU-centre and the Ministry of Education contains objectives and performance requirements for the VEU-centre's tasks and cooperation in order to meet the objectives of the VEU-centre.
Innovativeness
The intention to cooperate between educational institutions was not new or ground-breaking, as a number of cooperative relations already existed on their own initiative. However, the construction of VEU-centre was innovative, in the sense that the institutional collaboration was a mandatory initiative dictated by law.
Sustainability
Evidence of effectiveness
There are two main evaluations of the VEU-centres: 1) EVA, 2012 and 2) EVA, 2014. In these evaluations, the centres' effectiveness and impact according to their objectives are assessed differently. On the one side, the evaluations shows that the construction of a coordinating body of the educational institutions has raised the awareness of the vocational educational programmes for SMEs. However, the evaluation also shows that there is room for improvement. Some VEU-centres find it difficult to gain support for marketing of the VEU-centre, as a one-point entrance to the adult vocational training system.
Engagement of stakeholders
The VEU-centres sign an agreement with the Ministry of Education every two year. The contract contains three strategic areas of actions and performance targets based on the legislation. The VEU-centre is responsible to follow the contracts goals and report annually to the Ministry.
Transferability
The opportunity to transfer the instrument of VEU-centre to another country depends on the system for adult vocational training. In Denmark, the social partners develop the competence description of the vocational training (not the educational institutions). Therefore, it is easier for the educational institutions to coordinate their activities, because of the joint competence description that apply to all institutions.
Sustainability
Yes, but in a stronger setup with fewer centres that will include a wider range of educational institutions and business relevant actors. Recently, an expert committee on adult education and training pointed out the need to strengthen the partnership between educational institutions and other business actors.