The Council of Ministers, upon the proposal of the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports (MEFD), has approved the creation of two new specialisation courses linked to digital content creation and the positioning of websites and social media management, respectively, both belonging to the vocational field of Commerce and Marketing.

These are two vocational training specialisation courses designed in collaboration with industry experts to ensure highly specialised training tailored to professionals in high demand in the labour market. This new course offering also addresses the need of economic sectors to engage in marketing and communication activities.

One of the courses is the specialization course on Digital Content Writing for Marketing and Sales, lasting 410 hours, whose main competency is to plan, execute, and optimize a digital content strategy to position brands, attract customers, and increase revenue, using methods, techniques and copywriting tools.

The Search Engine Optimization (SEO/SEM) and Social Media Communication specialisation course, lasting 710 hours, prepares students to plan and develop a basic digital marketing strategy, overseeing actions related to organic search engine positioning and communication on social media.

Both training programmes are intended for individuals holding a Higher Vocational Training certificate or, alternatively, those who can demonstrate knowledge that ensures their competence to successfully undertake these courses.

With the courses approved today, the Ministry continues to expand the educational offering of a new Vocational Training aimed at both young people and workers, aligned with employment and the talent needs of the current economy.

The Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports (MEFD) has selected 21 new public schools to join the national Vocational Training Centres of Excellence Network. With these additions, the network now comprises 66 schools.

The selected schools will receive a total of 20 million euros from Component 20 of the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan, adding to the 41.6 million euros invested in 2022 for the establishment of the network. The funds will fund the plans and integration projects to the initiative.

The members of this network are responsible for digital and methodological transformation processes, organising teacher-training actions at national level, implementing innovation and applied research projects, and collaborating in identifying the needs of profiles in different productive sectors, among other tasks. Equally noteworthy is the fact that they maintain close collaboration with local businesses, business associations and unions, as well as other schools and third-sector entities. In essence, these schools drive innovation throughout the territory, creating environments for innovation, research, and entrepreneurship, and promoting internationalisation in the field of Vocational Training.

The Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports (MEFD) has allocated 3.5 million euros for the creation of 146 new digital training centres in local entities. With these grants from Component 19 of the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan, the State Network of Digital Training Centres will expand to 1193 units. It is expected to benefit more than 55 500 individuals over the age of 55 with a low level of education.

The initiative aims to provide citizens with cross-sectional digital competences, offering training opportunities regardless of their place of residence. All this to enable them to conduct secure online communications and transactions using their own electronic devices, and to promote digital literacy as a tool for new training and learning opportunities.

These grants will be directed to municipalities to provide students with a physical space for sessions and ensure the improvement of permanent qualification and requalification, in addition to mentors and trainers.

2023

In July 2023, Royal Decree 659/2023, which develops the organization of the Vocational Training System, was issued. This regulation eliminates barriers to help students decide on taking their studies when they consider it appropriate, and adapt their training to their own work or life needs. The regulation will also allow for a wider offering; more than 9 000 training courses of very different durations and typologies, structured into degrees. From "micro-trainings" (grade A) to vocational training degrees and specialization courses or masters of Vocational Training (grades D and E, respectively). All of them will be part of modules with validity and official recognition within the vocational education system and will be certifiable. In addition, it contemplates the design of integrated itineraries in which cycles of different degrees and international double degree offers can be combined.

This Royal Decree ensures the dual nature of all Vocational Education with training at schools and at a company in periods of higher quality and longer duration. The functions of the dual school tutor and the dual company tutor are established.

The regulation also expedites the accreditation of professional skills acquired through non-formal means. It will also help the autonomous communities, trade unions and business organizations to work together with the Ministry to propose new necessary qualifications in the territories or in the production network.

Other relevant aspects that this RD introduces:

• It establishes a professional guidance strategy and promotes internationalization and joint work between teachers, schools and students with other countries.
• It includes new modules in all intermediate and advanced degree cycles that address key aspects for the current economy such as digitalization, sustainability, technical English or employability.
• It establishes a new model of specialized and comprehensive school with training offering for both young people and workers, with several new figures such as head of innovation, head of internationalization or coordinator of the professional guidance service.
• It incorporates other new profiles into the vocational education system such as business experts, who will be given teaching permission; senior business experts, who may join the teaching teams; and business prospectors, who will facilitate contact between the school and surrounding companies.

In June 2023, the Education Sector Conference Agreement was issued. The purpose of this Agreement is to create a Network of Digital Training Schools/Classrooms and has a budget of more than 29 million euros. The foundation of this network is a measure to bring the training offering closer to all citizens through those schools and will allow to make an attractive offering of digital training, due to their proximity and ease of access, with special attention to the most vulnerable sectors of the population.

The Network of Digital Training Schools and Classrooms will allow citizens to train in cross-disciplinary digital skills necessary to function on a daily basis in an increasingly digitalized society, in which essential services such as banking, access to public administrations or consumption is done electronically, de facto excluding a sector of the population that, either due to their age, their low level of studies, or their vulnerability, lacks the necessary digital skills, placing them at a clear disadvantage compared to the general population and significantly worsening their quality of life. These schools will offer training opportunities regardless of people's place of residence or previous studies and, therefore, facilitating access to generalized training compatible with the obligations derived from different personal, work or social conditions. The preferential target audience will be people over 55 years of age with a low level of qualifications, paying special attention to the gender gap, which is very pronounced in this age range. However, the training actions carried out in these schools may also reach other groups of the general population, provided that they are outside the educational and training system, and that they can improve their quality of life through the acquisition of basic digital skills.

In June, the proposal for regional share and distribution criteria for the Vocational Education Modernization Plan was issued. This proposal has a budget of more than 273 million euros, charged to the budget of the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports for 2023, and is set in the framework of Component 20 “Strategic Plan to Promote Vocational Education”, of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR).

The mission of the plan is to create an ecosystem of economic relaunch from the commitment to human capital and talent, and to guarantee professional training and qualification for the entire population, from students of the Vocational Education system to the labour force. The proposal is to turn Vocational Education into a lever for reconstruction through three steps:

1. Recognition and accreditation of professional skills.
2. Improvement of accessibility to Vocational Education and professional guidance services.
3. Incorporation of digitization, innovation and entrepreneurship into the Vocational Education system.

In order to comply with the purpose of the Vocational Education Modernization Plan, the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports has defined the following actions:

• Action 1: Evaluation and certification of the skills acquired through work experience and non-formal training routes.
• Action 2: Conversion of classrooms into applied technology spaces.
• Action 3: Entrepreneurship classrooms in Vocational Education.
• Action 4: Creation of bilingual training cycles for intermediate and advanced levels and specialization courses.

Scholarships and study aids for the course 2023-2024

The budget of scholarships and study grants has reached its historical maximum for the next year. In particular, EUR 2 520 million will be allocated to scholarships and study grants. It is the fifth consecutive year that has increased its funding. Since 2018, the budget has increased by 70 %.

All information on requirements, deadlines, amounts and procedures to be eligible for these scholarships and grants are available on the scholarship website of the MEFD and the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. The goal is to centralise information and make it more accessible. The deadline to apply for general scholarships begins on March 27 and ends on May 17.

In addition, in this new call there is a universal aid of EUR 400 for students of non-university education levels who demonstrate a disability of at least 33%, serious behavior, communication or language disorder or the autism spectrum, in order to cover the additional costs that their families must face. In this case, the minister has estimated that the aid will benefit more than 214 000 students.