Barcelona’s Vocational Training Hubs Forge Strong Industry Partnerships
Barcelona, February 28 – New specialized vocational training (FP) hubs in Barcelona are establishing significant collaborations with local businesses and social organizations. These initiatives extend beyond traditional curricular internships, emphasizing innovation, corporate partnerships, and responsiveness to labor market demands, with Barcelona at the forefront of this professionalizing education.
Alberto Vila, director of the Institut Tecnològic de Barcelona (ITB), highlights the success of innovation projects. The ITB collaborates with experienced, enthusiastic, but smaller companies that lack the resources to dedicate to projects that ITB students can develop during their internships. One recent project, named IAIA, is an ‘open Alexa’-style assistant designed for digitally excluded individuals, particularly the elderly. It allows users to verbally request services like scheduling medical appointments. This project was developed with SeniorDomo, a company based in Nou Barris, like the ITB, which has deep sector knowledge and provides support.
Mentorship and Innovation: The IAIA Project
For the design of IAIA-a clear play on words between ‘IA’ (AI) and ‘iaia’ (Catalan for grandma), targeting its intended audience-ITB students receive support from Estíbaliz Torralbo, a programming and AI expert working at a multinational technology company. Vila notes Torralbo’s consistent collaboration and emphasizes her crucial role as a female role model in a predominantly male-dominated sector. The partnership between ITB and SeniorDomo, where students develop innovative projects during their internships, creates a ‘win-win’ situation, offering added value for both parties.
Architecture and Rural Development: Diverse Collaborations
Another ITB initiative involves the development of an application for locating the city’s artistic heritage for the architectural association El Globus Vermell, in conjunction with Barcelona being the World Capital of Architecture this year. Two students from the CFGS in Multiplatform Application Development and one from the CFGS in Web Application Development participated. The ITB also partnered with the Associació de Dones del Món Rural on the TerraBit project to promote smart farms in small holdings, involving students from Multiplatform Application Development and Cybersecurity programs.
From AI to Gastronomy: The Institut Gastronòmic de Barcelona
The ITB’s case is not isolated; such alliances are common across Catalonia’s integrated vocational training centers, spanning fields from healthcare to chemistry, and design to commerce. Albert Castillo, director of the Institut Gastronòmic de Barcelona in Poblenou since September, notes a rapid expansion of projects. He is particularly enthusiastic about a collaboration with the neighborhood’s senior citizens’ center, where seniors visit the institute, share coffee with students, and plan to create a recipe book for Sant Jordi, featuring dishes cooked by the seniors with the students. The institute also manages two restaurants, a cafeteria, and a shop selling prepared meals, which are open Wednesday to Friday, from 12 PM to 2 PM, consistently drawing queues.
Community Engagement and Social Impact
Castillo proudly highlights agreements with various entities, from the small courier service Las Mercedes to the Association of Manufacturers and Distributors (AECOC). Recently, the institute completed two projects with T-Systems, a company located near the institute. Students from the vocational training and insertion programs (PFI)-which Castillo champions for re-engaging students who might otherwise drop out-prepared sandwiches for T-Systems’ ‘Solidarity Sandwich’ event. Employees purchased the sandwiches for five euros, with proceeds donated to childhood cancer research. T-Systems also provides computers and volunteers for IT classes for underserved communities.
Inter-Institutional Links and Future Plans
The Institut Gastronòmic is finalizing an agreement with students from the Institut Hospital del Mar FP Sanitaria, where healthcare students will provide first aid training, and gastronomic students will prepare meals for seniors. These inter-institutional collaborations are common, with many initiatives also involving the Institut de Tècniques Audiovisuals i de l’Espectacle de Barcelona (ITAEB), which partners with institutions like the TNC, Orfeó Martinenc, Sala Beckett, Razzmatazz, Nau Ivanov, and the Barcelona Zoo. These partnerships underscore a growing trend in vocational training to integrate students more deeply into the professional and social fabric, enhancing their skills and contributing to community development.
