The academic year has started for the 49,233 students who will work in the production network in the Basque Vocational Education.

President Imanol Pradales visited the Leioa Hospitality School last September 13, accompanied by the Minister of Education, Begoña Pedrosa, and the director of the school, Ibon Andraka. Vocational schools in the Basque Country have already started the school year. 49,233 students have enrolled in the education cycles, but the active registration allows new registrations to be made. The 2024-2025 academic year has started with 64,105 places in the Basque Country, 5,780 more than in the previous year. Most of these 5,780 places have been created in higher education cycles, and 70% of them in the public network. One of the other innovations of this new admission process has been the expansion of the possibility to do C Degrees (professional certificates) and integrated courses.

During his visit to the school's facilities, the President appreciated the high level of employability of 90% of Basque Vocational Education students, and emphasized that it is necessary to continue training people with skills to meet the needs of our town's production network. Aware that major technological changes will take place that will affect all fields, Pradales predicted that Vocational Education will play a key role in this transformation. The visit on September 13 was a demonstration of this technological adaptation, to learn about the digitization of the Hospitality School or the interaction with a robot capable of preparing four paellas at the same time.

Faced with the challenges that will arise in the future, the President expressed the need to train and support students so that they become professionals with talent, originality, commitment, confidence and values. He has also opted to continue promoting dual vocational education. Currently, more than 20,000 companies are collaborating with the Basque Vocational Education, and thus 100% of the students complete their training in close contact with the workplace.

President Pradales stated with certainty that high performance training should be encouraged through active learning methodologies in integrated vocational schools. The President announced that a new initial vocational training will be launched to respond to the most vulnerable groups, with learning paths adapted to various situations. Ultimately, it is a level of training that will strengthen social inclusion and social cohesion.

More audiences, more women, more Basque

Of the current 49,233 registrations, 7,180 belong to the Historical Territory of Álava, 23,328 to Bizkaia and 18,725 to Gipuzkoa. Enrollments in public schools increased by 6 percentage points, up to 57.4 of the enrollments. And D model registrations have also increased by 3%. Taking only the public network as a reference, students enrolled in model D have increased by 19.75%, and in the contracted network by 11.50%.

Regarding the sectors, 41.12% have decided to study in the industrial sector, 56.28% in the service sector and 2.5% in the agricultural and fishing sector. In the technological sector, including the STEAM field, 30.5% of people enrolled are women and in science 78.2%.

High employability

The main conclusion about the state of Vocational Education in the Basque Country is the high employability of students who complete Vocational Education. 90% of VET students in the Basque Country obtain employment, a sign that the students' skills meet the needs of the industrial and economic network.

The "Energy and Water" and "Installation and Maintenance Works" areas stand out, as they have almost 100% employability, which is 98.08% and 95.01%, respectively. Next are "Physical Activities and Sports" (92.42%), "Mechanical Manufacturing" (91.89%), "Informatics and Communications" (90.86%), "Agriculture" (90.86%) and "Security and the Environment" (90.15%). In reality, the 26 professional areas have an average employability of 89.60%.

13 Michelin star establishment

The Hospitality School of Leioa is a benchmark for Basque gastronomy. He started his career in the 1981-1982 school year in Plentzia, II. Undergraduate Vocational Education, Hospitality and Tourism branch, Hospitality specialty.

The philosophy of Vocational Education itself advised real practice as the only possibility to teach an activity such as cooking, and it was therefore thought of to locate the school permanently on the University Campus in 1983. The transfer to the UPV/EHU in 1983 was important and decisive in terms of the character and identity of the school, as it brought many advantages, including the improvement of the quality of teaching through new resources and collaboration with different faculties.

In the 1997/1998 school year, the Curd and Bakery-Pastry workshops were created, as well as the new cafeteria service. The Hospitality School has been in its current location since 2003-2004. This brought a great qualitative change to the infrastructure and in terms of equipment for classrooms, workshops and canteens. The school is at the forefront, not only in hospitality studies, but also in culinary enterprises. 13 Michelin stars have come out of it.