For the next school year 2022/2023, 30 percent of new companies applied for the dual education model, and due to the great interest of the economy, the deadline for submitting applications was extended to December 15.
– By the end of November, we received 650 applications from companies for various profiles of dual education, the requests are still coming, so we gave the companies the opportunity to apply by mid-December. We are also available for individual meetings with the aim of informing businessmen as precisely and qualitatively as possible about the advantages and tasks in the realization of dual education – explains Mirjana Kovacevic, head of the Center for Dual Education and Education Policy of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce.
She reminds that the dominant sectors in which companies are interested are traditionally electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and metal processing, catering, agriculture. The economy has also recognized the need for new educational profiles, which are on offer for the first time this year, such as plumbers, haberdashers, culinary technicians and hotel and restaurant technicians, Kovacevic added. Employers apply through the specialized web portal of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce where they create a company profile and in a simple way, in three steps, submit an application for inclusion in the dual education model.
Kovacević reminds that the advantages of the dual model of education are the acquisition of knowledge in school and company. Depending on the educational profile that the student chooses in the first grade, he can start going to the company to learn through work. From the very beginning of schooling, students acquire practical and applicable knowledge in a real work environment, and upon completion, the student can be employed by an employer, start their own business or continue their education.
From the next, 2022/2023, nine new educational profiles will be offered in the dual model year: telecommunication electrician, agricultural machinery operator, culinary technician, hotel and restaurant technician, tourist technician, plumber, industrial robotics technician, haberdasher and chemical product maker.
Barbara Wilfinger, an expert in dual education at the Austrian Chamber of Commerce, which provides great support to the Serbian Chamber of Commerce in the implementation of tasks in dual education, said that the Serbian model of dual education is being successfully implemented and rapidly developed.
-In Austrian companies, the path from dual education to corporate governance is very realistic and often occurs in practice. Managers who have completed dual education are very familiar with the essence of business and can better understand the processes and thus improve them. A functioning dual education system can sometimes be an important factor in encouraging foreign investment. In addition to the availability of professional staff, the level of professional knowledge is also crucial – feedback from Austrian companies in Serbia confirms this. In the annual surveys of Austrian subsidiaries in Serbia, the topic of qualified personnel in terms of their availability and expertise is becoming increasingly important. The secret of the success of dual education lies, among other things, in the good interaction between education and the economy – Wilfinger points out.
According to the dual model, which makes up five percent of the entire secondary vocational education in Serbia, 8,000 students are currently enrolled in 150 schools and 700 companies, and Roaming Networks is in the dual education model for the first time this school year.
– The students have shown enviable interest during these three months. They have accepted our team well, new obligations, show interest and ability to acquire new theoretical and practical knowledge. The learning outcomes so far have been great. During the dual education in our company, students will go through all sectors from mobile and fixed telephony to optics, and after that process we will get new young future colleagues who we will be able to hire for more positions, which is currently impossible to find on the market. This year, we have five students in the company, and we plan to have between 15 and 20 of them per group – says Miloš Maksimović, instructor for dual education at Roaming Networks, Novosti reports.
