The Hungarian Parliament voted the amendments to the Act on Vocational Training (Act CLXXXVII of 2011) and the Act on Adult Education (Act LXXVII of 2013). The changes will make the system of vocational grammar school more flexible and more diverse, and a wider range of learning opportunities will be accessible.
The amendments are intended to widen the sphere of dual system of apprenticeship and forging closer ties between the Hungarian vocational education and economy. The changes in the regulation of adult training also create new, flexible training opportunities to deal with the lack of available workforce.
The amendments related to the apprenticeship aim to consolidate the dual training system, which becomes more and more popular and accepted nowadays. According to these changes, students in grade 11 and 12 of vocational grammar schools may conclude an apprenticeship contract, and the number of organisations and entities empowered to conclude apprenticeship contracts will grow.
In order to make the dual system of apprenticeship more effective and successful, the professionals involved in the training of the students at the business entities may participate in a new type of training that focuses on preparing the students for the practical training. The continuously accelerating economical and technological changes also justify the need of the economic stakeholders to have a more direct access to the regulation of vocational education.
The adoption of the amendments should lead to the formation of so-called sector skills coumcils (ágazati készségtanács in Hungarian). The actors of the economic sectors through their elected representatives will be provided with the opportunity to have direct access to control and modify the professional content of VET and AL programmes.
The system of VET cooperation agreements, which enable non-governmental training institutions to participate in state-owned vocational training, will also be renewed. Consequently, the coordination and allocation of vocational training capacities can be secured and planned on national level more comprehensively more evenly spread, and on a longer-term predictable way. The amendments regarding adult education help to satisfy the demands of business entities as well, by reducing the time necessary for their employees’ re-skilling and up-skilling, giving up-to-date and appropriate knowledge specified for the performance of their work, and reducing administrative duties.
The amendments to the Act on Vocational Training Contributions and Support of Training Developments (Act CLV of 2011) , inter alia, will make easier to provide practical training for the students for a continuous period during the summer holiday and financial support necesarry to carry out this trainings.
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