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Purpose: Since 2000, the Philippines has experienced significant growth domestic product (GDP) growth, particularly in the Information Technology Business Process Outsourcing (IT-BPO) sector, highlighting the need for skill development through Technical Vocational education and Training (TVET). Although enterprise-based training (EBT) is seen as the optimal strategy for supporting transition to a technology-driven economy, it represents less than 4% of TVET offerings. Research on the challenges and strategies for increasing employer participation in EBT, especially within the information and communication technology (ICT) industry, is currently lacking. This study examines these challenges and explores strategies for expanding EBT in the Philippines. Methods: The study employed a qualitative methodology. Data was collected through 13 semi-structured interviews with TVET public agency representatives, private sector representatives, and international TVET experts who supported TVET development in the Philippines. In addition, an online meeting by the Private Sector Advisory Council Jobs Committee was observed to explore the research question. Analysis occurred concurrently with data collection to identify themes iteratively. Findings: Successful employer engagement in EBT requires EBT to be viewed as both a private and a public good. Findings are organized around these two fundamental concepts. In the Philippines, structural challenges such as wage requirements, insufficient program duration, and inefficient tax benefits currently prevent EBT from effectively functioning as a private good for building company talent pipelines. Additionally, the lack of systematic involvement from social partners, lengthy processes for establishing occupational standards, and insufficient awareness hinder EBT from being recognized as a public good. To enhance its role as a private good, EBT design should include wage increase schedules and longer program durations. To establish EBT as a public good, it is suggested that there be systematic involvement from social partners, flexible regulations, and sector-based strategies. Conclusion: This study enhances the understanding of employer engagement in TVET within the Filipino context and provides policy implications for enhancing EBT in the ICT sector. These insights could potentially be applicable in similar contexts, such as developing countries with a demand for skilled workers in technology-based industries, but lacking employer engagement. It recommends future research to further explore employer engagement with a particular emphasis on strategic collaboration with social partners, given their crucial role in engaging employers. © 2025, European Research Network Vocational education and Training. All rights reserved.

This chapter offers new insights into why international transfers of dual modes of VET occur. It introduces the concept of transnational skill ecosystems, arguing that they are increasingly relevant institutions supporting the growth regimes of various economies. We define transnational skill ecosystems as transnational, social and institutional environments, where skills are developed, demanded, and utilised for productive purposes in both domestic and foreign labour markets. They are essential for supporting key growth components such as exports, foreign direct investment, and remittances. Within these ecosystems, various practices can be observed, including education and training transfers at the company, sectoral, and national levels, transnational skill partnerships, and new practices for recognising qualifications. We empirically explore our argument by investigating the rise of a Kosovar–German skill ecosystem that caters to the distinct growth regimes of both countries. We identify several actors behind the creation of this ecosystem, including the German and Kosovar states, Kosovar and German employers and employer organisations, diaspora organisations, development cooperation agencies, and migration intermediaries. Our chapter advocates departing from methodological nationalism in studying educational transfers and education systems, and demonstrates that the motives behind dual VET transfers are more structured and politically and economically driven than previously assumed. © 2026 selection and editorial matter, Oscar Valiente, Srabani Maitra, Philipp Gonon and Matthias Pilz; individual chapters, the contributors.

Transfer of vocational education and training (VET) from Europe to emerging countries seems to be much oriented towards dual apprenticeships, even in countries where the dual apprenticeship itself is not so present. Most European countries, as well as other parts of the world, aim to strengthen dual apprenticeships. Furthermore, the “strong” dual apprenticeship countries like Germany, Austria and Switzerland are today reforming their VET systems in order to keep the dual apprenticeship system as an important provider in relation to academic and general education. The chapter reconsiders the crucial elements needed to make dual apprenticeships flourish in countries with and without a strong tradition. © 2026 selection and editorial matter, Oscar Valiente, Srabani Maitra, Philipp Gonon and Matthias Pilz; individual chapters, the contributors.

The transfer of vocational education and training (VET) between different countries has played a major role for many years. In contrast to the discourse in transfer policy research on general and higher education, the motives and causes for transfer in VET have so far only been partially discussed. This chapter therefore takes up the pull and push factors approach. This approach enables a detailed and at the same time structured analysis of the reasons for transfer activities. Since VET is very inhomogeneous internationally due to its differentiated forms and the high number of different actors, in contrast to general education, an additional structuring is to be achieved by including an actor approach. The motives of the various actors for transfer will be analyzed and discussed using the concept of institutional logic. The research object for the pull factors is focused on countries that belong to the emerging economies. With regard to the push factors, reference is made primarily to the German-speaking countries, where the transfer of vocational education and training is particularly pronounced both quantitatively and institutionally. The results make it possible on the one hand to close a research gap and on the other hand to reflect on international transfer activities in the field of VET in general. © 2026 selection and editorial matter, Oscar Valiente, Srabani Maitra, Philipp Gonon and Matthias Pilz; individual chapters, the contributors.

This chapter draws on political economy and comparative educationalist literatures to further an understanding of dual systems of vocational education and training (VET) as essentially shaped by the particular socioeconomic relations of their countries of origin. In the case of German-speaking countries, this points to a complex web of negotiation processes between government, employers and employees – commonly referred to as tripartite social dialogue. Approaches from policy transfer analysis in comparative education are used to reflect on educational transfer as an essentially political process, framed by political and economic interests of actors in both sending and receiving countries. This is helpful in sustaining the chapter’s hypothesis that tripartite social dialogue tends to be neglected in transfer processes. The final section addresses the case of Serbia, where a dual VET track was introduced into the national VET system in 2017. An institutionalist view is applied to explore how the specific socioeconomic context has shaped the dual VET reform in Serbia with a focus on the role (or lack thereof) of tripartite social dialogue. © 2026 selection and editorial matter, Oscar Valiente, Srabani Maitra, Philipp Gonon and Matthias Pilz; individual chapters, the contributors.

This volume has tried to explain why the German model of dual training, which combines school-based education and workplace training, has become an “export hit” of education policy transfer over the last two decades. The paradox is that, despite existing large research evidence on the impossibility of directly transferring the German model to other political and economic contexts (Maurer & Gonon, 2014; Valiente & Scandurra, 2017), more and more governments all over the world are trying to adopt the dual model in their home country in cooperation with governmental and non-governmental international actors (Euler, 2013; Maurer, 2019). To make sense of this paradox, contributions to this volume have addressed at least one of the two following questions: to what extend and how did the German model of dual training emerge as a global role model? And why are national policy actors attracted to its adoption in their own educational realities?. © 2026 selection and editorial matter, Oscar Valiente, Srabani Maitra, Philipp Gonon and Matthias Pilz; individual chapters, the contributors.

This chapter focuses on German commercial providers offering vocational education and training (VET) services abroad. The attractiveness of the German dual system of apprenticeship results in a demand for services and funding related to the development of apprenticeship systems in VET. While the drivers, processes and success factors of dual system transfer are increasingly well understood by VET research, commercial VET providers as potential key actors in this process have not received much attention yet. Based on an analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT analysis), we examine to what extent they are in a position to contribute to transferring the German dual apprenticeship system abroad. The analysis is based on a document analysis complemented by 16 expert interviews conducted with representatives of internationally active German VET providers and branch experts between 2019 and 2020. © 2026 selection and editorial matter, Oscar Valiente, Srabani Maitra, Philipp Gonon and Matthias Pilz; individual chapters, the contributors.

The global spread of Dual Apprenticeships (DAs) policies is conventionally portrayed as a phenomenon indissociable from the attraction exerted by the German dual training system and portrayed as an instance of policy borrowing or transfer. However, whereas there is growing clarity on the reasons behind the emergence of the German dual system as a role model, there is a more limited understanding of the local drivers behind this. In order to grapple with these questions, this chapter examines the processes of cross-national attraction behind the adoption of DAs in two different settings: the creation of the Dual System of Training in India and the establishment of the Mexican Model of Dual Technical and Vocational education and Training (TVET) in Mexico. The chapter shows that the processes of policy adoption observed in these countries exhibit a number of important differences both in the impulses behind policy borrowing dynamics and the respective foci of attraction. Our results also show that the DA notion is subject to multiple interpretations and that an excessive emphasis on the allure of the German “global role model” is analytically problematic, pointing to the need for further empirical investigation on the role of domestic agency within processes of policy transfer. © 2026 selection and editorial matter, Oscar Valiente, Srabani Maitra, Philipp Gonon and Matthias Pilz; individual chapters, the contributors.

Dual modes of Vocational education and Training (VET), which include learning in the workplace and in school and especially dual apprenticeships as a systemic and long-term organised form of learning sites are today a substantial part of youth education in a lot of countries. It is nowadays a well-received concept, welcomed by stakeholders, policy makers and politicians in Europe, the US, Australia but also in many countries of the Global South. The promise of dual modes of VET is economic prosperity in reducing unemployment, guaranteeing a qualified workforce, boosting industrial development as well as being a useful instrument for poverty reduction. A main focus is social integration through a smooth transition from education to work. Furthermore, it is a pedagogical well-approved instrument for motivating young people to learn through practical tasks, thus avoiding school fatigue. © 2026 selection and editorial matter, Oscar Valiente, Srabani Maitra, Philipp Gonon and Matthias Pilz; individual chapters, the contributors.

When examining issues of transferring experiences and practices of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) from one country to another, there is a clear challenge of taking into account the context of both sides. For referencing the context, we use the concept of the typology of regulatory patterns of classical European TVET models. By this means, we look at the cultural meaning systems of a society, i.e. we can address the question of what is considered to be good vocational education and training there and what social-cultural practices have been agreed upon. At the meso level of our analysis, we look at the conditions that result from the prevailing work culture in the respective sector. We illustrate the range and the possible applications of the analytical tools with a case study on vocational education and training in Azerbaijan. We use these tools to analyse the current TVET in Azerbaijan. And we give some recommendations for future development paths of the Azerbaijan TVET towards more dual elements concerning the existing realties in the country. At the same time, we explain the methodological approach which is required for a successful processing when trying to understand previously unknown VET characteristics. © 2026 selection and editorial matter, Oscar Valiente, Srabani Maitra, Philipp Gonon and Matthias Pilz; individual chapters, the contributors.