“Draexlmaier was the first company to introduce dual training back in 2014. In total, more than 225 economic agents train young people from vocational schools in production. This was reported by Elena Movileanu, Head of Department of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI), at the launching event of the project “Accelerating the implementation of dual vocational education in Moldova”.
In general, there is a positive dynamic in dual education in the country. Silviu Ghincu, head of the Vocational Education and Research Ministry’s Vocational Education Policy Department, said that this year, more than 2000 young people have been enrolled in this program. Going forward, the country has made a commitment to the European Union to train at least 4,000 students in this system every year. Since the duration of dual training is 2 years, 2000 apprentices need to be enrolled each year. According to the Ministry, in 2023 there will be 1700 pupils in the dual education system, in 2024 there will be 2400 pupils, by October 1 this year there will be 3000 pupils, and according to forecasts in 2026 the figure of 4000 pupils will be exceeded.
“Over the last 2-3 years we have been breaking records every year – the growth is quite significant. We organized a competition for vocational education institutions that showed the greatest growth in dual education, and five of them received half a million lei from the state budget,” Gincu said.
The ministry conducted a study on the motivation of young people to study on-the-job, and the results surprised him:
“To our surprise, it turned out that among the main factors, not the salary, but the attitude of the mentor – master instructor and the atmosphere in the company are at the top of the list. This means that the training conditions are very important. In 60-70% of cases, students of the dual system prefer to find employment in RM companies after completing their studies”, said Silviu Gincu.
Mihai Bilba, Vice-President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, confirmed that the main link in the dual education system is the mentors in the enterprise.
“Master instructors in production are key people in companies who prepare future qualified specialists for the national economy. We have seen an increase in the number of master instructors in companies, as well as an increase in the number of enterprises that implement dual education in the Republic of Moldova. We even established this year the Award for Quality in Dual Vocational Education, which is awarded at the Moldovan Business Gala. And we will encourage as many companies as possible to apply and win this important trophy. It is important to develop a qualified labor force in all regions of the country,” said Balba.
The project “Accelerating the implementation of dual vocational education and training in the Republic of Moldova” is realized by the JSC “Education for Development” and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Research, with the financial support of the Liechtenstein Development Service (LED) Foundation. The beneficiaries of the project will be about 15,700 people – students, teachers from educational institutions and representatives of companies. The total budget of the project until December 2028 is 1.8 million euros.
