Being aware of the key role of digital, entrepreneurial and transversal skills in securing the success of vocational education and training (VET) learners, Romania has recently revised the initial VET qualifications to include key competences in the training standards that define them.
All initial VET qualifications now include competences offering learners the ability to develop entrepreneurial skills better: communication in modern languages, critical thinking and troubleshooting, interpersonal relationship management, computer use and information processing, communication, professional career development, numerical data processing, starting a business, teamwork.
Training firms, as an interactive learning method of interdisciplinary integration and application of different competences for the development of entrepreneurial skills, is part of all service profile curricula. VET learners practise: business negotiation strategies, marketing studies, analysis of the competitive environment and identification of efficient means of financing.
Training firms use virtual payment means offered by the Romanian Coordination Centre of Training Firms (ROCT), a department of the National Centre for the Development of Vocational and Technical Education.
Every school year, the ROCT organises fairs of the exercise firms at local, regional and national levels and supports the best ones in participating in international fairs. These fairs can be attended by any training firm registered with the ROCT. In 2018/19, 41 fairs were organised at local, 18 at regional and one at national level.
Romanian training firms also participate in international fairs, e.g. in Olomouc, Prague, Vilnius, Predazzo, Celje, Plovdiv and New York. In New York results included three gold, five silver and one bronze award.
