Dual Vocational Education Training (VET) in Mexico: an emerging education policy or a relevant alternative to labor insertion?

Abstract

The Dual Vocational Education Training (VET) model is an innovative and interesting proposal from Germany with a high impact and significant results in terms of employability, youth labor insertion and the training of specialized human capital. In a context different from that of developed countries, the dual VET model was implemented in Mexico in 2015 by TecNM (Tecnológico Nacional de México) as an education policy aimed at activating the national economy, strengthening the links between the educational and the productive sectors, and boosting the labor market insertion of young graduates from technological institutes located throughout the country. In this quantitative study we used the Chi-square test to assess the influence of this education policy on the technological higher education subsystem via surveys administered to the social actors involved. We found that the legal framework, the socioeducational conditions, and the transition from technology to the productive sector had highly significant reliability scores. This confirms that, provided certain regional adaptability factors are taken into account, dual VET is an important model in the national context since it promotes access to higher education, fosters social inclusion, and provides labor and professional opportunities for graduates of the program via the Tecnológico Nacional de México.