Alicia Romero, PSC spokesperson in Parliament and Secretary for Universities and Research, has learned first-hand how the Vocational Training model in the Basque Country works, as well as the relationship with the business network, during a visit to the Somorrostro Training Centre. This Centre has a strategic alliance with Petronor, by virtue of which they jointly design training plans to qualify new personnel for the Company. This is a joint project between the Centre and the company, which has been working together for more than 20 years to improve knowledge.

The deputy was received by the Basque Government’s Deputy Minister for Vocational Training, Jorge Arévalo; the president of Petronor, Emiliano López Atxurra; the director of the Somorrostro Training Centre, Javier Laiseca; the director of innovation and external relations of the Somorrostro Training Centre, Sergio San Martín; and Petronor’s Talent Manager, María Gaztelu.

Jorge Arévalo highlighted the “close relationship” between Basque VET and its companies, “an important objective of VET is to work on the basis of the needs of companies and our work is clearly defined on the basis of these needs and to prepare people in the best way possible to improve their employability and the competitiveness of our companies. This is why Basque vocational training will always be closely linked to its companies“.

Alicia Romero described the meeting as “very interesting“, where she was able to learn about different points of view on vocational training, describing Basque vocational training as “an example to follow. Priority has been given to it from all points of view and the Basque Country is to be congratulated for having had this leadership over the last few decades“.

Javier Laiseca commented that the Centre and Petronor are immersed “in a future projection with the new transition that is being made towards the energy issue, participating hand in hand to continue in this common win-win project for the two organisations“.