Technical and Vocational Education in the Context of Reindustrialization. The Case of Romania

Abstract

[EN] This paper aimsto analyse the feasibility of a vocational and technical education campus in Central Romania (Brașov County). We discuss the necessity for such an initiative in the context of the EU reindustrialization strategies. There is a strong correlation and a causal relationship between economic growth, reindustrialization and employment (especially youth employment). In many EU countries, youth unemployment rate is increasing, despite the fact many organizations report that they lack properly trained workforce. Definitely, skills needed to enter the labour market are diversifying; some areas are oversaturated with overqualified specialists, while others remain weak in terms of welltrained workforce. This phenomenon signals the gap between the demand for skills, on the one hand, and the skills supply, on the other hand. This paper addresses this gap by proposing a comprehensive plan for reviving technical and vocational education in Central Romania, while taking a close look to educational(i.e. distribution of seats available at high schools, depending on the branch organization of the secondary education), economic (i.e. economic crises, industrialization of community building countries) and social (i.e. unemployment rate, social groups and structures) factors