The model for strategic public vocational training in the city applies the approach that the Government of Catalonia has formulated at a national level and is based on fostering opportunities provided by the city thanks to Barcelona City Council, which promotes the strategy of diversifying the economy through stimulating the talent of various strategic sectors. The concept breaks away from the preexisting reality of upper secondary education centres working singularly and generating a fragmented range of options. The projected response is for large specialist centres, linked to the business and labour ecosystem of their sector and integrated with the whole post-compulsory education path.

This allows for a robust range of options, enabling students to get a better grasp of the labour reality in the sector in question.

At the same time, the model enables these synergies to work for teaching staff too, who can be in contact more easily with professionals in their sphere. Most vocational training centres have been conceived with businesses and collaborating organisations that are actively involved in the training of students. These alliances mean centres have expertise available to students and teachers alike, with opportunities of placements with businesses and institutions in their field.

The culmination of the revamp to Barcelona’s vocational training system is planned for 2030, when there will be 35 specialist centres integrated into the city. The 29 centres corresponding to this model in the next academic year will be joined by a further six: the Institut d’Imatge i Benestar de Barcelona, whose proximity to teaching in the healthcare sphere means it will be housed in the same building at the Institut d’FP Sanitària Vall d’Hebron; the Institut Tecnològic de la Moda Mundet de Barcelona and the Institut d’Indústria Intel·ligent Mundet de Barcelona, which will be created from the division of the current Institut Anna Gironella de Mundet; the Institut de Gastronomia i Restauració de Barcelona; a centre for post-compulsory education, in the current Institut Pablo Ruiz Picasso, and a vocational training centre linked to healthcare.