The impact of Internationalisation through Applied Research Centres in Basque Vocational Training

Internationalisation is integral to Basque Vocational Training, exemplified by the establishment of applied research centres like Tknika. At the forefront of this endeavour is Jone Etxebeste, serving as Technician in Applied Innovation for the Internationalisation of Vocational Training at Tknika. We recently had the privilege of speaking with her to shed light on her contributions to this domain and underscore the significance of internationalisation within our training institutions, highlighting its impact on both students and staff.

From Jone’s point of view, “internationalisation covers all the international initiatives that help in renewing vocational education and training in our organisations and ecosystem”. This includes mobility actions, both incoming and outgoing, such as learning mobilities, traineeships mobilities, job shadowing, and development courses for staff, among others. According to her, several benefits come with internationalisation, but she highlights a couple of them: Increased cultural awareness and agility; and increased competitiveness and networking.

She still points out some critical issues, as “one of the key challenges lies in determining the most suitable approach for each organisation and target groups, with a primary focus on students in my opinion. Each organisation is different, belongs to an ecosystem, have its resources, and objectives, thus it needs to define their goals towards internationalisation and draw their own roadmap”. She describes this process as one with “its ups and downs”, from which organisations will learn and adapt. She emphasises that without a strategic approach, organisations cannot be critical of the possibilities offered in the international sphere. However, Jone firmly believes that “internationalisation is an added value to any organisation”.

Jone also mentions that internationalisation of VET/HVET is part of the Basque Governmental strategy. “We can find references since 1997 including internationalisation as an axis of the VET/HVET development,” she points out. In the current Plan 2022-2024 VI Plan FP VI BASQUE VOCATIONAL AND TRAINING PLAN. – Tknika , internationalisation is directly addressed as one of the working strategic lines. Internationalisation intervention area defines 3 lines of action: Internationalisation of the Basque VET system, Internationalisation of Applied Innovation and Research in the Basque VET system and European International Mobility.

In Jone’s words, “these interventions are deployed through the VET centres and with the support of two bodies, which are the international department of Tknika and the association of directors Ikaslan. The later focusing on the mobility programs implementation”.

When asked about which actions should be developed to support the competences of training providers to increase their capacities in the internationalisation of VET and HVET, Jone states than from her experience “several actions can be developed, but as mentioned in the first question always aligned with the organisational strategy”.

Some of those actions are working on Training and Capacity Building Programs, Networking and Collaboration, Mobility Programs, International Curriculum Development, Quality Assurance and Accreditation, Funding and Resources, Promotion and Marketing, Policy Support, Monitoring and Evaluation and Continuous Improvement.

According to Jone, “by implementing these actions, training providers can enhance their capacities in internationalisation, thereby enriching the learning experiences of their students, promoting intercultural understanding, and contributing to the global competitiveness of their institutions”.