Mexico’s new government and Germany step up vocational education and training cooperation

The Joint Declaration of Intent stipulates that VET cooperation with the Mexican Government will continue for a further four years. It was signed at a formal ceremony in Mexico City in the presence of Niels Annen, Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office, and the German Ambassador to Mexico Peter Tempel. This extension of the cooperation arrangements underlines the deepening nature of the VET partnership that exists between Germany and Mexico and the significance of Germany as a strategic partner for the further development and establishment of dual VET structures. The new Mexican Government, which took office on 1 December 2018, also views dual VET as a key pillar of the newly defined educational model "New Mexican School".
Both the Mexican Minister of Education Esteban Moctezuma Barragán and the country’s Minister of Labour María Luisa Alcalde repeatedly pointed to the importance of education and dual VET for economic progress and social development. They stressed that Germany was a vital partner in terms of mutual learning and establishing a dual system of vocational education and training on a systematic and firm basis.

The signing of the MoU was accompanied by a whole-day dialogue forum devoted to the topic of dual vocational education and training, which was jointly organised by GIZ, the German-Mexican Chamber of Industry and Commerce and the Mexican Ministry of Education. This event was staged under the banner of “Dialogue for dual VET in the New Mexican School”. Over 150 participants from the training sector and from trade and industry were invited to attend in order to obtain information about the status quo and about the prospects of the dual VET system under the new government. As part of the dialogue forum’s programme, Dr. Chokri Guellali from GOVET gave a specialist presentation on “Quality assurance of training in the dual VET system in Germany”. This is a topic which will continue to be an important building block along the route to a dual VET system.