- The Fundación Valenciaport consolidates its commitment to Dual Vocational Training with the aim of improving the employability of students in companies in the port logistics sector and creating a pool of motivated and well-prepared professionals.
- During the event, the director of the Fundación Valenciaport, Antonio Torregrosa, expressed his satisfaction for the extraordinary award presented by the Generalitat to the Fundación Valenciaport at the Gala Nit de la Formació Professional, for its role as a promoter of vocational training in the Valencian Community.
Valencia, 26th June 2023. – The Fundación Valenciaport has joined today the Alliance for Dual Vocational Training in a ceremony held at the facilities of the Port Authority of Valencia (APV) and chaired by Manuel Gomicia, General Director of Vocational Training and Special Regime Education of the Generalitat Valenciana; Joan Calabuig, President of the APV, and Antonio Torregrosa, General Director of the Fundación Valenciaport.
Ignacio de Benito, senior project manager of the Bertelsmann Foundation, presented the membership plaque to Antonio Torregrosa, director general of the Fundación Valenciaport, at a ceremony which highlighted the interest of companies in the port logistics sector in having a pool of motivated and well-trained professionals to fill a wide variety of specialised jobs.
The Fundación Valenciaport has long detected a problem of a lack of formal training to provide a framework in which to develop the specialised skills needed by the port logistics sector. This is why in 2020 it launched, together with the Port Authority of Valencia (APV), the Generalitat Valenciana (GVA), and the Propeller Valencia association, the “FP Dual – Port Immersion” project, a pioneering initiative in the sector in which the companies of the cluster and secondary schools also participated. The main objective of this programme was precisely to adjust training to respond to the real labour needs of companies in the sector and to facilitate the integration of young people into the labour market. Thanks to this project, students of the Higher Degrees in International Trade and Transport and Logistics are being trained as managers of freight forwarding and consignment companies. For all these reasons, De Benito highlighted during the conference the recognition of the excellent work that this innovative and cooperative project has carried out since its launch, given that it is designed ad hoc through the flexible dual mode, making special mention of the award of the VII Alliance for Dual Vocational Training Award that it recently received at the gala award ceremony organised by the CEOE Foundation and the Bertelsmann Foundation.
In addition, the Fundación Valenciaport designed and presented a programme to make the higher level training cycle in International Trade more flexible, adapted to the professional profile of port logistics, a cycle that has already been launched for the 2022-2023 academic year in the 4 participating public high schools, Pere Boíl, Mislata, Ausiàs March and El Grao. This programme focuses on port logistics in order to respond to the needs of a sector that employs more than 40,000 people every year. The programme is bilingual, including classes in English, and incorporates digitalisation and innovation through the use of various methodologies such as immersive reality, workshops, and the experiential experience of working in a simulated environment applying the pedagogical model of “learning by doing”.
The president of the Port Authority of Valencia (APV), Joan Calabuig, who also wanted to support the Fundación Valenciaport in this event, has “congratulated those responsible for the Fundación Valenciaport, the Generalitat and the institutes, who are collaborating to develop the Vocational Training programmes that are in demand and that best meet the needs of the logistics and port sector. This initiative is recognised and rewarded, both by business organisations and by the students themselves who find the jobs they are looking for. Valenciaport is a benchmark of professional quality, international projection and logistics guarantee; and all those involved in trade know that the sector generates quality jobs that require specialised training; and hand in hand with the Fundación Valenciaport and the Generalitat we are achieving the objectives we all desire”.
The Port of Valencia and its business community have a very important boosting effect on the Valencia Region (they generate 2.5% of the GDP and 2% of regional employment), which is why the Port Authority, the Fundación Valenciaport and the Regional Ministry of Education have joined forces to coordinate all these initiatives.
There are many, diverse and highly specialised jobs in the port logistics sector, which is why the next steps of the Fundación Valenciaport are aimed at drawing up training itineraries linked to all the jobs that are carried out in this field (mooring workers, pilots, tugs, stevedores, transporters, terminal operators…) and showing them the specialisation they need to enter a dynamic, constantly growing world, a driving force of the economy and with a very high rate of employability. For this reason, and within the framework of the European YEP MED project, a Vocational Training and Employment Observatory has been set up to continue working along these lines. This observatory was also presented today during the event.
Fundación Valenciaport receives an award from the Generalitat (regional government)
During the ceremony, the director of the Fundación Valenciaport, Antonio Torregrosa, expressed his satisfaction with the extraordinary award presented by the Generalitat last Thursday to the Fundación Valenciaport at the Gala Nit de la Formació Professional, for its role as a promoter of vocational training in the Valencian Community. Torregrosa congratulated all those involved in the port logistics specialisation programme and encouraged them “to continue strengthening collaboration between entities and the promotion of education and training in the port area”.
