On May 28th and 30th, at the Convent of Barcelona Activa, we celebrated the presentations of the final projects of the participating groups of the 7th edition of the MetropolisFPLab. These presentations were innovative and addressed challenges that reflect today’s social issues and improvement goals. On June 5th, 2025, we will celebrate the award ceremony and the end of the Metropolis project of this edition.
During the week of May 12-16, a training stay focused on leisure and wellness took place in the French city of Toulouse. Seventeen vocational training teachers from schools in Barcelona and its metropolitan area were able to see firsthand how French vocational training works and, specifically, how the professional families of hospitality and tourism, personal image, and physical and sports activities are structured.
The training stay was organized by the BCN Vocational Training Foundation and Toulouse Metropole (both members of the European Vocational Training Network Association) and included visits to various vocational training centers such as CFA Blagnac (a leading center in hospitality), Campus Jasmin – Métiers de la beauté Coiffure te Esthétique (a leading center for personal image), and the CREPS Toulouse Occitanie professional and high-performance sports center.
At the same time, the government of the Occitanie Region explained the fundamental aspects of the French vocational training system, as well as the most significant differences between it and the Spanish vocational training system.
The following vocational training centers participated in the training stay: Institut de l’Esport de Barcelona, Institut Ferran Tallada, Institut Les Salines, Institut Escola d’Hoteleria i Turisme de BCN, Institut eCAT Lluïsa Cura, Institut Salvador Seguí i l’Institut Marti Dot.
On May 7, we held the Foundation’s Board of Trustees meeting, where the change in executive chairmanship was formalized: Marta Rodríguez, Director of Organization, People, and Culture at Mercabarna, takes over from Sara Berbel. The new executive chairwoman is very excited to take on this new responsibility. We sincerely thanked Sara Berbel for her great work and all the help and support she gave us during her term of office. The annual accounts for the 2024 financial year were also presented and approved.
Find the interview with Marta Rodríguez here.
The Foundation participated in the Youth Employment Table (TOJ) meeting held on May 20, 2025, at 4:00 p.m. in the Mirador Room of the Barcelona Activa Convent (Espai Jo +), at Plaza Pons y Clerch, 2.
The objectives of this meeting were to present the 2024 interim balance sheet of the 2024-2025 Action Plan of the Quality Youth Employment Plan, as well as the next steps and the roadmap for 2025. During this meeting, we explained the Dual Vocational Training project to the Barcelona City Council.
On May 8, we attended the final gala of the Professional Life Project (ProVP), which is a program for academic and professional guidance, the dissemination of entrepreneurial culture and work values, aimed at students in secondary schools, high schools, and vocational training centers. This program is promoted by Barcelona Activa, and we are partners in it along with the Barcelona Education Consortium and Femcat. At the gala, we evaluated the finalist projects and then awarded the prizes.
Between March and May 2025, four groups of PFI and IFE students participated in 10-day training stays in various European cities: Toulouse and Dijon (France), Munich (Germany), and Vejle (Denmark). This initiative, part of the Erasmus+ program, has been a transformative experience both personally and educationally.
During their stay, the students had the opportunity to discover new cultures, live with young people from other countries, and face the challenge of living away from home for the first time. This experience helped them gain autonomy, responsibility, and self-confidence.
Living with other students has promoted values of inclusion, respect, and cooperation. In addition, joint activities and participation in small projects have allowed them to establish personal bonds and learn about realities different from their own.
They also visited training centers and local companies, where they were able to see how people work in other countries and compare methodologies, trades, and work environments. This contact with the international professional world has been very enriching.
The accompanying teachers have evaluated the experience very positively, highlighting the evolution that the students have undergone: “They have returned more mature, open, and participatory. It is an experience that has left a mark on them and that they will remember for the rest of their lives.”
These trips have been much more than just a journey: they have been a unique opportunity for personal growth, coexistence, and learning in an international environment.
We would like to thank all the educational centers, the parties involved, the cities that belong to the FP Network, and the accompanying persons who have made this project possible.
On May 5th, at the Barcelona City Hall, we held a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Municipal Vocational Training Council, where the Foundation holds the position of associative vice president. We worked on preparing the meeting of the Plenary of this Council scheduled before the summer break. Additionally, we received firsthand information from the Barcelona Education Consortium about the latest updates regarding the planning and pre-enrollment process for Vocational Education and Training for this year.
This April, the Foundation played a prominent role in two key events for industrial transformation and the construction sector: Advanced Factories & Advanced Machine Tools 2025 & Rebuild 2025, reaffirming its commitment to innovation and the promotion of talent in vocational training.
From April 8 to 10, we collaborated in the 9th edition of Advanced Factories (AF2025) and the 2nd edition of Advanced Machine Tools (AMT), held at Feria Barcelona, a benchmark in automation, industrial robotics, and Industry 4.0. On the afternoon of Thursday, April 10, the Talent Marketplace was held, where vocational training students were able to learn about companies and trends in the sector. During the event, the president of the FP CAT Agency, Jose Luis Duran, presented the Awards for Innovative Vocational Training Projects, in which the following centers stood out as finalists:
Subsequently, on April 24 and 25, we participated in Rebuild 2025 and the EYOCNET network meeting, held at IES Islas Filipinas in Madrid, which brings together teachers of Building and Civil Engineering at the national level. This new association, with the participation of centers in Barcelona and the AMB, was created with the aim of promoting collaboration and innovation in the AECO sector (Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Maintenance).
On Friday, April 25, the Foundation moderated a panel discussion on success stories after training, with notable contributions from Iván Romero and Marc Prim, former students of the Institut Provençana, founders of Blue Building Company, and winners of the FP Consolida Award, the Metropolis FP Lab, and recently the LA PLAZA ideas competition at Construmat 2025 at the Barcelona Trade Fair.
Both events show that the future of industry and construction lies in quality training and the promotion of young talent. Without training, there will be no transformation!
We thank the organizations Advanced Factorías and Rebuild for their support and commitment to the visibility and promotion of vocational training.
During the month of April we kicked off a new edition of the Singular project. The Singular project, coordinated by the BCN Vocational Training Foundation and funded by the Catalan Employment Service (SOC), allows 60 young graduates in vocational training to carry out a personalized training itinerary based on continuous professional orientation and extensive linguistic training.
Subsequently, young participants can carry out professional internships of up to 12 months in the German cities of Munich, Hanover, Stuttgart and Bremen. Finally, young participants can validate their vocational training qualification in Germany.
The last few weeks, represented by the Hanover Chamber of Commerce (IHK) and the Pedagogical Institute of the City of Munich, among others, have carried out the informative sessions and selection interviews in Barcelona.
As part of the international plan of measures project, from Estonia, a group of VET teachers has started a peer-to-peer shadowing training stay with the VOCO center, one of the most recognized VET institutions in the country. During this week, teachers have had the opportunity to discover first-hand the Estonian vocational training system, share knowledge with their counterparts and actively participate in their classes.
The stay has also included cultural visits to cities such as Tallinn and Tartu, considered the main university nucleus of the country. Throughout the conference, participants were able to get to know the facilities of the VOCO center, specialized in multiple training areas, and get closer to the business reality of Estonia by visiting collaborating companies of the center linked to their respective sectors.
This experience has been a key opportunity to promote the exchange of good educational practices and strengthen the network of international cooperation in the field of vocational training.
