Government gets its act together on higher vocational education

In Almedalen, IT&Telekomföretagen launched the slogan "Get it!" to make politicians and others understand that digitalization is something that affects everything and everyone. The government's ambitions for digitization are still a bit up in the air, but at least they have got the message when it comes to investing in higher vocational education.

On August 17, the government presented two initiatives linked to higher vocational education: firstly, an increase in the budget so that the number of places will increase by 6,000 to a total of 30,000 in a few years, and secondly, a ministry memorandum with proposals that include making the courses more long-term than they are today. Both initiatives are very welcome.

Over the years, higher vocational education has developed into a key source of skills for the IT industry. Despite its success, this form of education has been poorly managed by politicians. Perhaps because it is handled within the framework of education policy, and the politicians in charge there have not understood how important education is for industrial and labor market policy. In the IT & Telecom Companies' report Acute and structural skills shortage in the IT and telecom sector from March this year, we stated that significantly greater investments need to be made, and that it should be possible to start more courses than two for courses that have unchanged high demand (today, the normally two-year courses can be given for a maximum of four years).

The new ministry memorandum proposes that three course starts should be the rule, with the possibility of allowing up to five rounds of training if the higher vocational education authority assesses that there is a long-term need on the labor market.

The memorandum contains a number of other proposals, including that the regional distribution of funds to universities of applied sciences should be based on the needs of working life and not, as now, on what is appropriate from a social point of view. The proposals are on reply to public consultation until November 16, and the IT&Telecom companies' more detailed views will be developed within the framework of the IT Skills Council, which has its next meeting on September 17. If you want to be involved, join us!

Link to proposals for a strengthened budget

Link to the ministry memorandum and increased long-term conditions for higher vocational education