COLOMBIA DATA REPORT ON VOCATIONAL ... COLOMBIA DATA REPORT ON VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING 2016 Information and analysis that contribute to the development of Colombian vocational

COLOMBIA DATA REPORT ON VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND

TRAINING 2016

Information and analysis that

contribute to the development

of Colombian vocational education and training

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2

COLOMBIA DATA REPORT ON VOCATIONAL

EDUCATION AND TRAINING 2016

Information and analysis that contribute to the

development of Colombian vocational education and

training

Hernando Alfonso Prada Gil

Managing Director

Milton Núñez Paz

General Secretary

Juan Manuel Valdés Barcha

Director of the National Vocational Training System

Juan Pablo Castro Morales

Director of Promotion and Corporate Relations

María Andrea Nieto Romero

Director of Employment, Labour and Entrepreneurship

Mauricio Alvarado Hidalgo

Director of Comprehensive Vocational Training and Director responsible for Regional Meta

Piedad Jiménez Montoya

Administrative and Financial Director

Juan Pablo Arenas Quiroz

Legal Director

Iván Ernesto Rojas Guzmán

Director of Planning and Corporate Direction

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training

The data report establishes information that allows SENA to identify

the relevance of the training and connect it with the demands of

the labour market, guaranteeing the employability of our trainees

Alfonso Prada Gil

Managing Director of National Service for Vocational Education

(SENA)

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training

Introduction

This report is a result of the agreement signed between the National Service for Vocational

Education (SENA) and the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) (German

acronym) and contributes to a context on vocational training in Colombia and to identify trends and

to react in an appropriate manner. It is based on the administrative data of SENA and some empirical

data and research that presents indicators at national level, which were structured by SENA divisions

for Vocational Training, National Vocational Training System and for Employment and Labour.

The document presents general points on the vocational training system in Colombia, the

participation of the National Service for Vocational Education in vocational training, the programmes

to promote entrepreneurship offered by SENA, research on SENA's vocational training and progress

regarding dual vocational training programmes.

Elsa Aurora Bohorquez Vargas

Labour and Occupational Observatory Coordinator

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training

Table of Contents Index of graphs, tables and figures ......................................................................................................... 7

General Context ...................................................................................................................................... 9

Key Results ............................................................................................................................................ 10

A. Overview of the Vocational Training System in Colombia ............................................................... 11

A.1. Definitions .................................................................................................................................. 11

A.2 Regulatory framework ................................................................................................................ 13

A.3 Stakeholders ............................................................................................................................... 16

A.3.1 Regulator ............................................................................................................................. 16

A.3.2 Vocational training providers .............................................................................................. 17

A.3.3 Vocational training demanders ........................................................................................... 17

A.3.4 Other stakeholders .............................................................................................................. 18

B. Comprehensive Vocational Training of SENA in Colombia ............................................................... 18

B.1 Current supply of vocational training programmes .................................................................... 19

B.2 Demand for vocational training programmes ............................................................................ 22

B.3 Balance of the vocational training system .................................................................................. 27

B.4 Integration of vocational trainees into the private sector ......................................................... 33

B.4.1 During the study period through the training contract ....................................................... 33

B.5 Graduates of SENA's vocational training .................................................................................... 35

B.5.1 Certified graduates according to level of training ............................................................... 37

B.5.2 Labour affiliation of SENA´s vocational training graduates ................................................. 40

B.5.3 Graduates according to gender ........................................................................................... 41

B.6 Financing vocational training ...................................................................................................... 43

B.6.1 State investments ................................................................................................................ 43

B.6.2 SENA Investment expenditure budget ................................................................................ 44

B.6.3 Financial support.................................................................................................................. 46

B.6.4 Investments from the corporate sector .............................................................................. 46

B.7 Business relationship .................................................................................................................. 47

C. Entrepreneurship promotion programmes ...................................................................................... 47

C.1 Fondo Emprender Programme ................................................................................................... 48

C.2 EmprendeT Programme .............................................................................................................. 50

C.3 Business Strengthening Programme ........................................................................................... 50

C.4 SENA Rural Empreneur Programme (SER) .................................................................................. 51

C.5 Results of the programme .......................................................................................................... 52

D. Scientific and applied research in SENA vocational training ............................................................ 56

D.1 Scientific research ....................................................................................................................... 56

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training

D.1.1 Analysis of the most in-demand occupations in the market ............................................... 57

D.1.2 Sectoral research ................................................................................................................. 58

D.2 Applied research and technological innovation ......................................................................... 58

E. Towards a Dual Vocational Training ................................................................................................. 59

E.1 Concept ....................................................................................................................................... 60

E.1.1 Training levels ...................................................................................................................... 61

E.1.2 Sectors .................................................................................................................................. 62

E.1.3 Dual training strategy ........................................................................................................... 63

E.2 Benefits ....................................................................................................................................... 63

E.3 Challenges ................................................................................................................................... 66

Acronyms and Abbreviations ................................................................................................................ 67

Definitions ............................................................................................................................................. 68

Bibliography .......................................................................................................................................... 70

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training

Index of graphs, tables and figures Figure 1: Vocational training system in the Colombian education system 12

Figure 2: Stakeholders who demand, supply and regulate vocational training 16

Figure 3: Benefits of dual training, according to the stakeholders involved 65

Graph 1: Training supply per work shift 20

Graph 2: Supply of vocational training according to economic sector 21

Graph 3: Enrolled trainees per economic sector in 2015 25

Graph 4: Supply and demand according to level of training in 2015 27

Graph 5: Supply and demand according to economic sector in 2015 28

Graph 6: Excess demand by region in 2015 29

Graph 7: Number of certified individuals classified by having or not having a training contract

and by gender (2010 - 2015) 33

Graph 8: Number of certified individuals classified by having or not having a training contract

and by graduation year 34

Graph 9: Participation of the training contract within the training levels 34

Graph 10: Number of contributors classified by having or not having training contracts

and by graduation year 35

Graph 11: Certified graduates by region (total 2010 - 2014) 36

Graph 12: Certified graduates and enrolment rate by region (total 2010 - 2014) 37

Graph 13: Distribution of the number of graduates according to level of training

(total 2010 - 2014) 37

Graph 14: Certified graduates by year of graduation and level of education 39

Graph 15: Contributors by year of graduation and level of education 40

Graph 16: Contributors, graduates and affiliation rate according to level of education

(Total 2010 - 2014) 41

Graph 17: Contributors by gender (2010 - 2014) 42

Graph 18: Certified graduates by gender (2011 - 2014) 42

Graph 19: Certificates and affiliation after one year of graduation by gender (2010-2014) 43

Graph 20: SENA 2015 Investment Expenditure Budget (millions of Colombian pesos) 44

Graph 21: Resources allocated to business plan initiatives (figures in billions of pesos) 53

Graph 22: Business plans and generated jobs 54

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training

Table 1: Institutions for higher education 2014 9

Table 2: Number of enrolments in all levels of training in Colombia during 2014 9

Table 3: Number of SENA enrolments of technicians and technologists in 2014 10

Table 4: Description by training level, 2015 13

Table 5: Number of training places or vocational training courses in 2015 19

Table 6: Number of provided programmes 20

Table 7: Most supplied programmes in 2015 22

Table 8: Number of enrolled trainees by level of training 22

Table 9: Total enrolled trainees by region 26

Table 10: Programmes with the highest excess supply in 2015 30

Table 11: Programmes with the highest excess demand in 2015 30

Table 12: Programmes with equal number of training places and enrolments in 2015 31

Table 13: Programmes with the highest relevance index in 2015, by region and training 32

Table 14: SENA budget sources for 2016 43

Table 15: Division of investment for 2016 45

Table 16: Number of business plans, jobs and resources allocated to business planning

initiatives by region 55

Table 17: The 10 most requested positions in the labour market 58

Table 18: Distribution of company training hours - SENA, Technical level; Automotive Sector 62

Table 19: Dual training data 2016 62

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training

General Context Education is crucial for economic growth and poverty reduction; there is evidence of its positive

impact on increasing incomes, productivity and equality, as well as on social mobility. On the other

hand, rapid changes in the dimensions of technology, globalisation and economic reforms have

generated drastic transformations in the structure of the world’s economies and labour markets, so

that one of the challenges facing education is the current changing environment in the productive

system and societies (World Bank, 2003).

In this context, the importance of vocational training as a tool for economic growth and productivity

is highlighted. In this respect, vocational training institutions are unique in their ability to integrate

and create synergy between the demand and supply of the labour market.

In line with the above, Colombia has undergone a major transformation in recent years regarding

the educational system, prioritising the increase of coverage in order to increase the number of

students enrolled at all levels. In one decade, participation in higher education increased by 50%,

specifically, of the21% who reached higher education levels, half of them received certificates for

higher technical programmes (MEN, 2015). In this sense, in Colombia, the National Service for

Vocational Education plays an important role in vocational training, being the oldest and most

extensive training institute in the country, training more than 60% of the students who pursue

technical or technological careers (Table 2) and providing more than five million Colombians

annually with supplementary training. The remaining 40% of students studying technical or

technological careers receive training from institutions such as technical vocational institutions,

technological institutions, higher education institutions and universities. According to the MEN for

the year 2013, there are approximately 288 work-related training institutions among which SENA is

not included (Table 1).

Table 1: Institutions for higher education 2014

LEVEL PUBLIC PRIVATE TOTAL

UNIVERSITY 32 50 82 UNIVERSITY INSTITUTION 29 92 121 TECHNOLOGICAL INSTITUTION 12 39 51 TECHNICAL VOCATIONAL INSTITUTION 9 25 34

TOTAL 82 206 288 Source: MEN 2015

Table 2: Number of enrolments in all levels of training in Colombia during 2014

ENROLMENT 2014

TECHNICAL VOCATIONAL ¹* TECHNOLOGICAL* UNIVERSITY SPECIALISATION MASTERS DOCTORATE TOTAL

90,027 600,329 1,320,400 77,462 45,710 4,257 2,138,185

Source: MEN, 2015

__________________________________

¹ Vocational training (*)

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training

Table 3: Number of SENA enrolments of technicians and technologists in 2014

SENA ENROLMENT 2014 % EMPLOYMENT TRAINING IN COLOMBIA

TECHNOLOGICAL 415,860

60,2%

TECHNICAL

Source: MEN, 2015

Particularly in the Strategic Plan for 2015-2018, aiming to generate greater economic and social

value, an effort is made to align the government with the public and private spheres in order to

improve the quality of its training process, strengthen relevance (sectoral, territorial and population)

of all its programmes and services, increase the learner’s retention rate, increase the confidence of

entrepreneurs and connect trainees with honest and respectable employment (SENA, 2015). To this

end, SENA employs different strategies such as the entrepreneurship programme, dual training, and

the strengthening of research and innovation, which are all discussed in the report.

Key Results In 2014, the number of individuals enrolled² in SENA in technical and technological training

was at 415,860, corresponding to 60.2% of the total vocational training in Colombia.

The total number of training places available for SENA's "Comprehensive Vocational

Training" during 2015 was 8,741,347, of which 6,816,977 were occupied by trainees.

During 2015, there were a total number of 3,334,205 enrolees in the certified training

programmes. The level of training with the highest number of enrolees was the technical

level comprising of about 53% of those enrolled in SENA.

The total number of certified trainees between 2010 and 2014 in Colombia was 752,809 of

which approximately 270,000 were concentrated in Bogotá and Antioquia, meaning that

these two regional groups accounted for about 50% of certified graduates in the country.

Between 2010 and 2014, out of the 752,809 SENA graduates, 89% were certified in technical

and technological training programmes, followed by auxiliary (4%), specialisation (4%) and

operator (3%) programmes.

Women dominated the total of vocational training graduates (54%), while men (45.6%) had

higher enrolment rates.

In 2014, SENA's business relationship base consisted of only 27,000 companies; by 2015 the

business base increased to 84,000. In 2016 SENA had contact with 145,000 through all its

service channels. Thanks to this, it has taken care of 61,559 companies through 17 strategic

managers and 52 business managers.

The most in-demand technical programmes during 2015 belong to the economic sectors of

health and services.

Between 2010 and 2014, the employment affiliation rates of certified persons in the

technical and technological levels were 51% and 70% respectively.

______________________________

²Enrolment: Number of trainees enrolled that passed to the selection process.

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training

During 2015, 68 billion were assigned to entrepreneurship projects and 4,365 jobs were

created.

For 2016, two years after the start of the dual training programme, SENA has 8 companies

participating in the process, 937 students enrolled, and 508 certificates with an immediate

employment affiliation rate of 60%.

A. Overview of the Vocational Training System in Colombia One of the objectives of vocational training is to develop skills for a productive life, training its

students in each performance area of basic, technological and sectoral knowledge. The content of

this training is constantly changing as per the needs of the labour market and society requirements.

For this reason, the integration and participation of the State and the private sector is required for

its construction and development in such a way that the synergy between these institutions leads to

the formulation of relevant norms and programmes.

In this context, Colombia must continue to improve the quality and relevance of higher education.

This will involve greater efforts to guide and support students throughout their training process,

addressing economic and geographical obstacles that may hinder the successful development of the

programmes (MEN, 2015).

This chapter shows the importance and the functioning of vocational training in Colombia,

specifically SENA. It also includes the normative framework that underpins the dynamics of this

education and explains the supply and demand for training in the country.

A.1. Definitions The definition of vocational training according to Recommendation 057 from 1939 of the

International Labour Organisation refers to all forms of training which enable the acquisition or

development of technical and vocational knowledge, whether this training is provided at school or in

workplace. Recommendation 117 of 1962 defines training as a means of developing a person's

professional skills by taking into account employment opportunities and enabling them to use their

skills as best suits their interests and those of the community. In Colombia, the definition of

vocational training was developed under this same concept by adopting the Recommendation and is

defined as "the formative educational process, both organised and systematic, through which

people acquire and develop specific or transversal work-related competencies throughout their

lives, related to one or several occupational fields referred to in the National Classification of

Occupations, which allow the individual to exercise a productive activity as an employee or

entrepreneur either individually or collectively" (Decree 2020 of 2006).

To guarantee development and access to this type of education, the Colombian State intervenes in

different ways:

Direct provision: "From official schools with technical media, the public technical and

technological training institutions and the technical and technological training and education

for work and human development quotas of the National Learning Service" (SENA).

Public resource financing of the private provision of vocational training for work: "Through

demand subsidies, loans to study technical and technological programmes, and education

programmes for public-private work."

Regulation of the provision of vocational training: The Ministry of Education regulates

technical secondary education and private and public technical and technological training,

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training

SENA supervises education programmes for work and human development that it offers,

finally the Education Authorities supervise the education programmes for work and human

development that are different from those offered by SENA in their respective jurisdictions

"(Saavedra & Medina, 2014).

Source: MEN, 2015, OLO modification

In addition to the state intervention framework, vocational training is embedded into a larger

education system (Figure 1), which has a basic cycle of 12 years. In the first 3 years of preschool,

biological, cognitive, psychomotor and socio-emotional aspects are formed. Later, in the 5 years of

primary education, communicative skills, mathematical knowledge, artistic and value education and

physical, social and cultural understanding are developed. In the 4 years of secondary education,

logical reasoning, scientific knowledge of science, history and the universe and development of the

critical sense are fostered.

Similarly, in the 2 years of mid-level education, understanding of universal ideas and values and

preparation for higher education and for work are promoted through its two technical and academic

modalities (MEN, 2009). Subsequently, once the student enters tertiary education, he has the option

to complete a university degree or vocational training where they are trained in professions or

academic and specialisation training programmes.

The following table shows the duration of each of the vocational training levels offered by SENA, the

conditions of entry and the number of people who graduated in 2015.

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training

Table 4: Description by training level, 2015

TRAINING LEVEL DURATION (average hours)

CONDITIONS FOR ADMISSION

TOTAL TRAINEES 2015

Auxiliary / Operator 900 hours Academic: Basic primary

38270

Technician 1760 hours Academic: Basic secondary

797275

Technological specialisation

880 hours Academic: Technologist title

11905

Technologists 3640 hours Academic: Exceed grade 11. Pass aptitude, motivation, interest test and minimum admission competencies.

425978

Technical focus 440 hours Academic: Technical title

2363

Source: SENA, OLO calculations

The next section focuses on the direct provision of vocational training provided by SENA through a

comprehensive process which, in addition to being both theoretical and practical, incorporates

attitudes and values for social coexistence that allow individuals to act in a critical and innovative

way in the labour and social field. This training leads to a technician, technologist, specialised

technologist and technician with further development degree awarded by SENA.

The syllabus for this training is determined by the needs of the productive sector and society,

structured from standards of competence for different technological levels that cover the needs

from formal employment to self-employment.

These comprehensive vocational training processes are developed under four fundamental

principles:

1. Productive work with the acceptance that the development of human skills is achieved

primarily through work

2. Permanent training with the recognition of being responsible for their own development in

all aspects, that is to say, through life by reason of their interaction with society and through

productive means

3. Social Equity, given that training is offered in appropriate access, permanence or transit

conditions convenient to the people, in a free and timely manner

4. Comprehensiveness since training is conceived as a balance between the technological and

the social aspects; comprehends technological action in harmony with the understanding of

economic, political, cultural, aesthetic, and environmental reality and the practical moral

action (SENA, 2013).

A.2 Regulatory framework The normativity of employment training is developed with Recommendations 057 of 1939 of the

International Labour Organisation and 117 of 1962 also of the International Labour Organisation,

which recommend the development of vocational training. In this regard, Colombia created the

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training

SENA National Service of Learning according to Decree Law 118 of 1957 and according to Decree 164

of 6 August 1957 which defines the main function of providing vocational training to young and adult

workers in industry, commerce, agriculture, livestock and mining. This work will aim to technically

prepare the worker and train formation of socially useful and responsible citizens who possess

indispensable moral and cultural values in order to maintain social peace within the principles of

Christian justice, and defines the nature of the decentralised organism, with legal status and own

assets.

On the other hand, and taking into account that the Ministry of Education views comprehensive

vocational training as an alternative in post-secondary education, the Colombian government has

developed the following regulations:

Education as a fundamental right: Colombian Political Constitution (Art. 67): In Colombia,

education is a fundamental right that has a social function which seeks to guarantee access

to knowledge, science, technology, and other cultural assets and values. This is free in State

institutions without prejudice to the collection of academic rights to those who can afford it.

The State, society and family are responsible for education, which will be compulsory

between the ages of five and fifteen and which will be comprised of at least one year of

preschool and nine years of basic education. Finally, the local authorities will participate in

the management, financing and administration of state educational services, as per the

terms established by the Constitution and the law.

Regulation of the Public Education Service: Law 115 of 1994 General education law. This

law sets out the general terms for the regulation of the Public Education Service in

accordance with Art 67 of the Political Constitution, based on the freedom of access to

knowledge as a public service. With the drafting of the system regulation, the definition of

formal and informal education as well as the levels, areas and objectives in each of these are

established. Likewise, the guidelines of the National Educational Development Plan, the

Institutional Educational Project, the National Accreditation System and the National

Information System are defined, with the objective of organising the provision of the

educational service.

On the other hand, issues are clarified regarding administration, supervision and

administrative control, resources for the financing of education and technical and normal

schools, all of which apply to public and private education, differentiating themselves in

direct or indirect proceedings, depending on the case, by the State. Specifically, in technical

secondary education regarding the creation of new institutions and offered programmes ,

these establishments will have to establish coordination with SENA and the productive

sector.

For institutions offering vocational training: Law 749 of 2002 (Strengthening technical and

technological education). Vocational training institutions characterised by theoretical work

and work in technical activities may offer and develop training programmes up to a

professional level, only according to propaedeutic cycles and in the areas of engineering,

information technology and administration provided that they derive from the vocational

technical and technological training programmes regulated by MEN.

As per admission requirements for higher vocational, technological and technical education

according to cycles, the individual must hold a bachelor's degree or its overseas equivalent,

and have passed the State examination for entry to Higher Education.

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training

Finally, it regulates the relationship of learning and training in the company, further clarifies

how the regulation of technical and technological institutions will function, in case of a

redefinition of MEN with technical support of the Colombian Institute for the Promotion of

Higher Education (ICFES), the academic community and the productive sector of the country,

it will define the minimum requirements to be met by professional and technological

technical institutions wishing to redefine or change their academic character to that of

University Institutions or Technology Schools.

Quality assurance system for vocational training: Decree 2020 of 2006. This system seeks to

have mechanisms for promotion and quality assurance, aimed at certifying that the

provision of training for work has the means and the capacity to execute formative

processes that respond to the requirements of the productive sector and are able to

produce good results.

Through the Training Directorate of the National System of Training for Work, SENA will

keep an information system up to date with innovations that, in terms of learning and

vocational training for work, will be generated at international level, and will be put at the

service of the Quality System of Training for Work.

Organisation, supply and operation of the provision of the educational service for work

and development: Decree 4904 of 2009. This decree aims to regulate the creation,

organisation and operation of institutions that offer the educational service for work and

development, formerly called non-formal education, and establish the basic requirements

for the functioning of education programmes for work and human development. Education

for work and human development respond to educational purposes embodied in the

Political Constitution of Colombia which is offered with the aim of complementing, updating

and supplementing knowledge, training in academic or work aspects, and leads to obtaining

occupational aptitude certificates (Ministry of Labour, 2013).

Research for vocational training in SENA: Agreement 16 of 2012. The agreement establishes

that SENA’s research programme aims to carry out actions that contribute to strengthening

research processes, productive technological development and innovation in the Colombian

productive sector, whose results affect the levels of productivity and competitiveness of the

sector, as well as in the comprehensive vocational training and work-related training. In

addition, the executing agencies of research programmes are those entities that are

different from SENA, responsible for the execution, development and results of the project

or strategy of the research programme, technological development and innovation,

supported by resources from the Programme and in accordance with the advanced

programmatic line of the process. These entities may be companies, groups of companies,

associations, trade associations, business associations, clusters, production chains, all types

of organisations in the productive sector and, in general, public or private non-profit entities

that carry out programmes for innovation and technological development. These executing

entities must be legally established at least two (2) years prior to the submission date of the

proposal, and it also clarifies that SENA's support for projects of the innovation and

productive technological development line will be made through a contribution, which

consists of the allocation of non-reimbursable resources for a maximum number of fifty

percent (50%) of the total value of the project (Technova, 2015).

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training

A.3 Stakeholders When developing programmes and policies related to vocational training, it is important to

recognise the elements that can affect this development, in order to balance the responsibilities and

impact of the stakeholders involved in this process and thus to establish a system according to the

participation of each of these stakeholders.

The following figure shows a brief description of the role of the different stakeholders involved in

vocational training in Colombia:

Figure 2: Stakeholders who demand, supply and regulate vocational training for work for work

Source: SENA labour and occupational observatory

A.3.1 Regulator

Government: In addition to being the participant that must ensure the student’s access to the

education system, the government is a clear regulator of tertiary education since the state

institutions are responsible for implementing policies and tools to promote mobility between

different levels and modalities, greater relevance of training in relation to the productive sector and

society and the improvement of the quality of the training supplied.

Article 58 of Law 1753 of 2015 is an example of the role of the government in relation to vocational

training; In this, the government commits to creating and regulating the National Qualifications

Framework, the National Accumulation and Transfer of Credit Systems, and the National System for

Tertiary Education (REPUBLIC OF COLOMBIA - OFFICIAL GAZETTE, 2015) in order to offer and

facilitate differentiated educational options according to the needs and qualification interests,

incorporating routes and alternatives of permanent development in terms of quality and mobility

through the recognition and approval of learning that identifies and validates previous learning.

On the other hand, the institutions that are responsible for carrying out these educational activities

are: MEN, Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, National Planning

Department, National Administrative Department of Statistics and COLCIENCIAS.

Demanders Providers

Regulators

Students

Businesses

Government

Vocational training

institutes

ETDH Institutes

University Institutions

SENA

Universities

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training

A.3.2 Vocational training providers

Vocational training for work can be provided by public or private institutions. These institutions are

in constant communication with SENA to ensure the expansion of training programmes in the

regions, for the creation, maintenance, evaluation and accreditation of programmes and for the

development of inspection and surveillance functions. The institutional supply is composed as

follows:

A) Technical mid-level education institutions

B) Professional technical institutions: "Legally empowered to offer training programmes in

occupations of an operational and instrumental character and of specialisation in their

respective field of action, without prejudice to the humanistic aspects of this level" (Law

30 art. 17, 1992).

C) ETDH institutions: "Institutions of education for work and human development are

understood as any state or private institution organised to offer and develop

programmes for job training or academic training in accordance with the provisions of

Law 115 of 1994." (Decree 4904 of 2009).

D) University institutions, or technological schools: "Faculties which carry out training

programmes for occupations, academic training programmes for professions or

disciplines and specialisation programmes" (Law 30 art 18, 1992).

E) National Service for Vocational Education - SENA: Is a public institution of the national

order with legal status, own and independent patrimony and administrative autonomy

appointed to the Ministry of Labour constituted by Decrees 118 and 164 of 1957.

F) Universities: "institutions that accredit their performance with universality criteria in the

following activities: Scientific or technological research; academic training in professions

or disciplines and the production, development and transmission of knowledge and of

the universal and national culture. (Law 30 art 19, 1992).

A.3.3 Vocational training demanders

The demand for vocational training mainly comes from students and companies. The latter is

grouped into three modalities, namely:

Individual Company Modality: Its purpose is the development of specialised continuous

training projects for the personnel of a company, or those belonging to the productive

chain.

Grouped Companies Modality: Its purpose is to develop specialised continuous training

projects for the personnel of different companies grouped according to productive chains,

the productive sector or the area, which seek to jointly strengthen their human resources.

The training project is presented to SENA by a company authorised by the group, which will

be called the Promoter.

Associations Modality: Its purpose is to develop continuous specialised training projects,

individually or collectively, for personnel related to associations, company personnel

affiliated to associations, association federations, associations representing companies or

workers; As well as personnel affiliated to workers' federations for legally constituted

workers or representative associations of companies (SENA, 2016).

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training

A.3.4 Other stakeholders

Finally, in addition to the stakeholders that constitute the supply, demand and regulation of

vocational training for work, there are other stakeholders that accompany the dynamics of the

operation:

Employers: There are areas of cooperation between the different labour market stakeholders, such

as the National Association of Industrial Committees, the Private Competitiveness Council and the

sectoral groups organised by SENA, where employers participate as a source of information for the

identification of training needs, thus guaranteeing a more relevant vocational training offer in

relation to the needs of the productive sector.

Third-party organisations: These agencies are the evaluators and accreditors of the quality of the

vocational training supply, these organisations are: The Colombian Institute of Technical Standards

and Certification and the National Accreditation Agency of Colombia.

International Cooperation: International cooperation has been instrumental in the development of

the coverage and quality of vocational training in Colombia, mainly with recommendations on the

design and implementation of public policies in the field of formal education.

B. Comprehensive Vocational Training of SENA in Colombia The training provided by SENA combines both theory and practice in a comprehensive manner;

learners acquire and develop permanent knowledge, skills and competences with critical values and

attitudes in order to master the concept and understanding of knowledge and develop it through

practice, which facilitates the integration into the labour market and broadens both knowledge and

the productivity of society as a whole (SENA, 2015).

In the first instance, it is important to define the concept of "Vocational Training"³ adopted by SENA,

understood as "Comprehensive Vocational Training", which is developed from different training

modalities depending on the knowledge and needs required by the labour market. These modalities

are:

Open training focused on the development of technical and technological knowledge,

attitudes and values for social coexistence, which allow the person to perform in a

productive activity.

Non-tailored closed training corresponds to the training programmes with execution status

in the national catalogue, arranged with companies, associations, municipalities or other

entities to develop training actions focused on related or unrelated personnel, thus ensuring

the development of the practical stage in work environments through learning contracts.

Tailored training this type of training is not part of the national catalogue and is structured

and designed based on the notions of experts and the needs of the productive sector,

business sector, associations, municipalities or other entities.

Complementary training is aimed at the development of skills that enable people to perform

their jobs, responding to the demand for 1) Updating of human talent linked to an economic

activity which requires qualifying their current performance or preparing to take on new

performances, that allows for greater mobility and/or job promotion, 2) Qualification and re-

qualification of human talent that is unemployed or is in a vulnerable condition and 3) SENA

trainees, who seek the complementarity of the training (SENA, 2013).

19





training

The supply and demand of training programmes, the affiliation of trainees to the labour market and

the status of the training contract are discussed below.

B.1 Current supply of vocational training programmes This section focuses on the training that includes the levels of technical, technological, technological

specialisations and technical focus training. During the last training supply (2015), SENA had a total

of 465 programmes (260 technical, 146 technological, 34 technological specialisations and 25

technical focus).

The current supply of training programmes is drafted according to the needs of the labour market,

that is, it seeks to respond to the demands of the socio-productive context in a comprehensive

manner, taking into account the expectations of society.

In 2015, SENA training on offer, at the levels described, attained more than 1,600,000 places. It is

possible to observe in Table 5 that more than 60% of quota is concentrated in technical level

programmes, followed by technological level programmes at 36%, while technical focus and

technological specialisation programmes accounted for 1.1% of the total number of offered places. It

is worth noting that the places on offer include places for courses started in previous years, in this

case there were 762,146 new places offered in 2015 for training.

Table 5: Number of training places or vocational training courses in 2015

TRAINING LEVEL PLACES %

TECHNICAL FOCUS 3,202 0.2%

TECHNOLOGICAL SPECIALISATION 15,449 0.9%

TECHNOLOGIST 589,940 36.1%

TECHNICIAN 1,024,735 62.7%

TOTAL 1,633,326 100% Source: SENA 2015, OLO calculations

The number of offered places depending on the type of workday consisted in large part of the mixed

shift, which accounts for 51.4% and day shift accounting for 43% of places, while the night and

morning shifts accounted for 6% of the total offer (see Graph 1).

_______________

³ At an international level there is talk of a "Vocational Education and Training" (VET)

20





training

On the other hand, 98% of the training was carried out in person and the remaining 2% was carried

out via online training. It is worth highlighting that virtual and e-learning has increased, with the

purpose of reaching locations across the country that still do not have the direct access to SENA, and

of facilitating access to people who cannot attend training institutions.

Source: SENA 2015, OLO calculations

The level of training with the highest degree of certified programmes offered by SENA was the

technical level which was offered to 28 thousand assigned students5 in 2015, of which the

programmes have an average duration of 1,760 hours (see Table 6).

Table 6: Number of provides programmes

TRAINING LEVEL NUMBER OF PROGRAMMES

ASSIGNED STUDENTS

HOURS

TECHNICAL FOCUS TECHNOLOGICAL SPECIALISATION TECHNOLOGIST TECHNICIAN

25

34

146

260

104

383

14,276

28,048

440

880

3,640

1,760 Source: SENA 2015, OLO calculations

_________________

4 Mixed shift: Alternative schedule between 6:00am and 6:00pm or between 6:00pm and 10:00pm.

5 Assigned students: number assigned by SENA information system (SOFIA) to a training course.

21





training

Graph 2 shows the distribution of the training on offer according to the economic sector. Of the

number of places offered in 2015 (1,633,326 places), 35% were oriented towards the service sector,

followed by 14% for transversal training, 11% for the industry sector, 9% for the agricultural sector

and the remaining 29% was aimed at the sectors of commerce, health, electricity, construction,

hospitality and tourism, textiles, and transport. Finally, the sectors with the lowest training supply

(0.5% of offered places) were mining, education, surveillance, and public entities.

Graph 2: Supply of vocational training according to economic sector

SERVICES 585889

TRANSVERSAL 223814

INDUSTRY 179252

AGRICULTURAL 139017

COMMERCIAL 135088

HEALTH 114711

ELECTRICITY 93212

CONSTRUCTION 48450

HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM 34393

TEXTILES 24536

TRANSPORT 17657

MINING 3211

PUBLIC ENTITIES AND EO 3015

EDUCATION 125

SURVEILLANCE 85

Places offered in 2015


Finally, Table 7 shows the 20 most offered training programmes, which grouped approximately

6,000 assigned places on offer, distributed among systems programmes, administrative assistance,

accounting for commercial and financial operations, environmental management and agricultural

production. The five most-offered programmes are directly related to the services, health and

agricultural sectors, emphasising that the systems programme is transversal to different economic

sectors.

22





training

Table 7: Most supplied programmes in 2015

ECONOMIC SECTOR TRAINING PROGRAMME ASSIGNED STUDENTS

TRANSVERSAL SERVICES SERVICES HEALTH AGRICULTURAL HEALTH SERVICES TRANSVERSAL COMMERCIAL SERVICES COMMERCIAL SERVICES ELECTRICITY TRANSVERSAL ELECTRICITY AGRICULTURAL TRANSVERSAL CONSTRUCTION SERVICES COMMERCIAL SERVICES

SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANCE ACCOUNTING OF COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL OPERATIONS ENVIRONMENT MANAGEMENT AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY ACCOUNTING AND FINANCES ANALYSIS AND DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS SALE OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGEMENT BUSINESS MANAGEMENT KITCHEN. ELECTRICAL RESIDENTIAL INSTALLATIONS SOFTWARE PROGRAMMING MAINTENANCE OF COMPUTER EQUIPMENT ECOLOGICAL AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS HUMAN RESOURCES BUILDING CONSTRUCTION ASSISTANCE FOR ORGANISATION OF ARCHIVES MARKET MANAGEMENT FOOD AGROINDUSTRY

2870 2433 2121 1187 1057

988 902 854 796 746 737 643 597 555 514 512 508 487 448 445 441


B.2 Demand for vocational training programmes The demand for work-related training came from two stakeholders. Firstly, the private sector and

the economic sectors demand trained people to perform technical and technological tasks. On the

other hand, the population is interested in work-related training. This section focuses on the training

programmes most in-demand by the second group.

During 2015, there were a total of 3,334,205 enrolled in the certified training programmes, the level

of training with the highest number of enrolees was the technical programme, consisting of 53% of

persons enrolled. On the other hand, the technical focus and technological specialisation

programmes represent approximately 1% of the total demand for qualified training (see Table 8).

Table 8: Number of enrolled trainees by level of training

LEVEL OF TRAINING ENROLLED

TECHNICAL FOCUS TECHNOLOGICAL SPECIALISATION TECHNOLOGIST TECHNICIAN

4,506 34,214

1,498,514 1,796,971


23





training

The following tables show the five programmes with the highest and lowest enrolment for technical

and technological levels. At the technical level, the programmes with the greatest demand are

systems programmes, administrative assistance, occupational safety, accounting for commercial and

financial operations and nursing; all these programmes obtain more than 600,000 enrolees, and

correspond to the sectors of health, services and transversal technicians in different economic

sectors, while the programmes with the lowest demand belong to the sectors of electricity, industry,

agriculture and services. Regarding technological training programmes with higher demand, similar

characteristics are observed at the technical level, since these training programmes belong to the

services, health and transversal sectors, in addition to the trade sector. As for the least demanded

programmes, these also belong to the services and health sectors, it is not possible to show an

explicit relationship between the decisions of the students to demand certain training programmes

and the economic sector to which those programmes are related to.

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training

TECHNICAL TRAINING LEVEL

TECHNOLOGICAL TRAINING LEVEL

PROGRAMME

ECONOMIC SECTOR

ENROLLED

INSTALLATION AND MAINTENANCE OF ANALOGUE AND DIGITAL TELEVISION SYSTEMS APPLICATION OF PAINT COVERINGS ON WOOD PRODUCTION OF RABBITS AND GUINEY PIGS OPERATION MINING TRUCK IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TROMBONE

ELECTRICITY INDUSTRY AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRY SERVICES

18 18 16 12 5

PROGRAMME ECONOMIC SECTOR

ENROLLED

SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANCE OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY ACCOUNTING OF COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL OPERATIONS NURSING

TRANSVERSAL SERVICES HEALTH SERVICES HEALTH

165,794 156,354 132,482 109,314 98,021


ENROLLED

ACCOUNTING AND FINANCES OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH BUSINESS MANAGEMENT ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGEMENT HUMAN TALENT MANAGEMENT

SERVICES HEALTH COMMERCIAL SERVICES TRANSVERSAL

144,605

112,781

85,773

81,186

76,011


ENROLLED

LOCAL RISK MANAGEMENT OUTLINED AND ASSEMBLED WOODEN STRUCTURES

PRODUCTION OF DIGITAL AUDIOVISUAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT OF OPEN SOURCES OF DIAGNOSTIC AND THERAPEUTIC USE RADIOTHERAPY

SERVICES CONSTRUCTION SERVICES HEALTH HEALTH

69 54 37 25 25




Most in-demand technical level programmes Least in-demand technical level programmes


Most in-demand technical level programmes Least in-demand technical level programmes

25





training

Graph 3 shows the demand for training programmes by economic sector, the most in-demand

programmes belong to the services, health, transversal and industry sectors, while the sectors with

the lowest demand are education and surveillance.

Graph 3: Enrolled trainees per economic sector in 2015

EDUCATION 49

SURVEILLANCE 217

PUBLIC ENTITIES AND EO 1132

MINING 5329

TRANSPORT 10156

TEXTILES 14872

HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM 24194

CONSTRUCTION 26778

AGRICULTURAL 57874

ELECTRICITY 72156

COMMERCIAL 101217

TRANSVERSAL 164780

INDUSTRY 168497

HEALTH 176996

SERVICES 472984

ENROLLED


Table 9 shows the number of students enrolled and students certified by region. The regions of

Bogota, Antioquia, Valle and Bolivar have more than 100,000 enrolled students each, while the

regional areas with smaller numbers are Vichada, Guainía, Vaupés and Amazonas. The distribution of

student demand by region is related to higher population density indices.

26





training

Table 9: Total enrolled trainees by region

DEPARTMENT ENROLLED

BOGOTA ANTIOQUIA VALLE BOLIVAR ATLANTICO CUNDINAMARCA SANTANDER NORTE DE SANTANDER BOYOCA RISARALDA MAGDALENA HUILA TOLIMA META CAUCA CESAR CORDOBA CALDAS NARIÑO SUCRE QUINDÍO CASANARE GUAJIRA CHOCÓ PUTUMAYO ARAUCA CAQUETÁ GUAVIARE SAN ANDRÉS VICHADA AMAZONAS GUAINÍA VAUPÉS

315,573 142,179 114,031 105,160 89,984 68,213 67,520 43,779 33,292 29,114 27,010 26,803 24,945 24,729 23,576 23,353 21,284 20,618 19,090 15,510 15,079 14,249 13,129 10,802 10,027 7,481 5,828 2,591 2,170 1,355 1,066 488 389


27





training

B.3 Balance of the vocational training system After recognising the characteristics of the supply and demand for certified training, an analysis of

the interaction between both can be developed, recognising the cases where there is excess

demand, excess supply and balances according to the level of training, economic sector, region and

training programme; taking as demand the number of seats on offer and as supply the number of

enrolees.

Graph 4 shows the supply, demand and excess demand for each level of training, in which it is

visualised that in all cases there was a surplus of positive demand6.This means that for all levels of

training there was a greater number of enrolees than of offered places. The technical focus level was

the closest to the equilibrium, given that the value of surplus demand is 29%. On the other hand, the

technological level presented the greatest excess demand, since the number of enrolees reached

three times the number of offered places. This behaviour is followed by the technological

specialisation level and the technical level.

Graph 4: Supply and demand according to level of training in 2015

On the other hand, Graph 5 shows the demand and the supply of certified training by economic

sectors: for the programmes related to economic sectors with a high number of enrolees (high

demand), the excess demand is greater due to the fact that the number of training places offered by

SENA cannot be adjusted only taking into account the demand. Instead they are also defined by

other elements of relevance of the programmes such as the needs of the economic sector and the

ease or difficulty of the graduates to gain access to the labour market.

_____________________________________

6 Excess demand = 1- (number of places/number of enrolees). Therefore, the values close to 0 are an indicator of

equilibrium, since the number of enrolees is equal to the number of places. When the surplus of demand takes positive

values, it shows an excess of demand, meaning there is a greater number of enrolees than number of places. Finally, when

the values are negative it indicates an excess of supply, since the number of seats exceeds the number of enrolees.

28





training

In case of economic sectors with less evidence of demand behaviour, excess demand presents

greater volatility, due to the complication of the adjustment process of the number of places

offered.

Similarly, in Graph 5, it is evident that the sectors of electricity, commerce, transverse, industry,

health and services grouped the most in-demand programmes by the trainees, which points towards

considerable excess demand, in fact the number of places was less than the number of enrolees. For

their part, sectors such as education, public entities and agriculture presented an excess of supply,

characterised by a greater number of seats than registered persons.

Graph 5: Supply and demand according to economic sector in 2015


Graph 6 shows the surplus of demand by region, where the regions of Sucre, Bolivar, Cordoba and

Atlantic reported a greater number of registered people than number of offered places. Whereas

regions such as Guaviare, Guainía, Guajira and San Andrés presented a greater number of places

than registered people which, in a preliminary sense, can be related to the size of these regions.

PLACES ENROLLED EXCESS

29





training

In Tables 10, 11 and 12 it is possible to identify the most supplied training programmes, most in-

demand training programmes, and programmes that have a balance between aspiring students and

the number of places offered by SENA.

30





training

Table 10: Programmes with the highest excess supply in 2015

PROGRAMMES WITH EXCESS SUPPLY TRAINING PROGRAMME PLACES ENROLLED EXCESS DEMAND

MAINTENANCE AND RECONSTRUCTION OF METAL PIECES FOR BASIC INFANTRY WEAPONRY LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEER EXECUTION OF LARGE RECREATIONAL EVENTS INDIVIDUAL PASSENGER TRANSPORT SERVICE ADMINISTRATION METROLOGY FOR THE GRAPHIC INDUSTRY BLOW MOULDING POLYMER TRANSFORMATION INDUSTRIAL MACHINERY MECHANIC IMPLEMENTATION OF COLOMBIAN SALSA SPORT JUDGMENT ADMINISTRATION OF RETAIL COMMERCIAL ESTABLISHMENTS

25 100 63 1854 20 35 806 35 534 126

9 55 38 1203 13 23 547 24 369 88

-178% -82% -66% -54% -54% -52% -47% -46% -45% -43%


Table 11: Programmes with the highest excess demand in 2015

PROGRAMMES WITH EXCESS DEMAND TRAINING PROGRAMME PLACES ENROLLED EXCESS DEMAND

NURSING NAVAL MEDICINE PETROCHEMICAL PLANT OPERATION AIRPLANE LINE MAINTENANCE OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH DIAGNOSTIC IMAGES PORT MANAGEMENT PETROL AND GAS PRODUCTION OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH PRODUCTION OF ADVERTISING PHOTOGRAPHY

5128 238 345 704 62 51 763 285 12694 300

98021 3828 4248 8657 725 532 7652 2539 112781 2591

95% 94% 92% 92% 91% 90% 90% 89% 89% 88%


31





training

Table 12: Programmes with equal number of training places and enrolments in 2015

PROGRAMMES NEAR BALANCE POINT TRAINING PROGRAMME PLACES ENROLLED EXCESS DEMAND

LOST WAX SMELTING OF JEWELLERY CARGO TRANSPORTATION IN ARTICULATED VEHICLE PASTRY-BAKERY SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION INFRASTRUCTURE INSTALLATION FOR MOBILE NETWORKS QUALITY CONTROL IN THE SERIGRAPH PROCESS IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TROMBONE MANAGEMENT OF OPEN SOURCES OF DIAGNOSTIC AND THERAPEUTIC USE SKILLS DEVELOPMENT FOR COMPREHENSIVE ELDERLY ASSISTANCE QUALITY CONTROL FOR HOSIERY AND LEATHERWORK APPLICATION OF PAINT COVERINGS THANATOPRAXY

20 30 20 346 125 35 5 25 74 27 30 163

21 31 20 346 125 35 5 25 74 26 29 162

5% 3% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% -4% -3% -1%


Complementary to the characterisation of supply and demand of work-related training, an analysis

was carried out taking into account the demand for positions by the business and productive sector

for which the demand records for positions of the Public Employment Agency were used within the

framework of the International Standard Classification. According to the Labour and Occupational

Observatory of SENA, in the third quarter of 2015, the highest volume of Public Employment Agency

occupations for the technical and technological level was demanded by companies belonging to real

estate, business and rental sectors. The most demanded occupations are those that are dedicated to

the activity of obtaining and supplying personnel to work as systems technicians, technical vendors,

administrative assistants, health and occupational health inspectors, technicians in electricity,

electronics and communications and trade managers stood out, among others.

The second largest volume of positions was requested by companies in the wholesale and retail

trade sector, repair of motor vehicles, motorcycles and household goods. In this group, there were

establishments dedicated to wholesale activities of other consumer products, positions such as

agents and insurance brokers, information and customer service employees as well as technical

vendors and administrative assistants (Labour and Occupational Observatory, SENA, 2015). In

conclusion, the occupations most in-demand by companies through the Public Employment Agency

were related to real estate and business activities (31%), commerce (12%), Industry (11%),

community service activities (9%) and construction 9%).

In this sense, SENA's supply is higher for those sectors that have a greater demand for technical and

technological training levels, which requires a constant adjustment by the institution regarding the

supply of training in terms of the economic dynamics, anticipating in this way the new needs of the

labour market.

Finally, Table 13 shows the training programmes with the highest relevance index, this indicator is

constructed with variables that incorporate formal labour affiliation, occupational dynamics,

learning contract, social demand and strategic sector.

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training

Table 13: Programmes with the highest relevance index in 2015, by region and training

REGION TRAINING LEVEL PROGRAMME RELEVANCE

INDEX

REGION TRAINING LEVEL PROGRAMME RELEVANCE

INDEX

ANTIOQUIA TECHNOLOGIST OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH 97%

CUNDINAMARCA TECHNOLOGIST OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH 97%

ANTIOQUIA TECHNOLOGIST OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH 95%

GUAJIRA TECHNICIAN MINING TRUCK OPERATION 94%

SANTANDER TECHNOLOGIST OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH 94%

VALLE TECHNOLOGIST PORT MANAGEMENT 94%

ATLANTICO TECHNOLOGIST ACCOUNTING AND FINANCES 93%

CUNDINAMARCA TECHNOLOGIST COMPREHENSIVE MANAGEMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY SECURITY AND OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH

93%

DISTRITO CAPITAL TECHNOLOGIST ACCOUNTING AND FINANCES 92%

ATLANTICO TECHNOLOGIST MAINTENANCE OF BIOMEDICAL EQUIPMENT

91%

DISTRITO CAPITAL TECHNOLOGIST HOTEL ADMINISTRATION 90%

ATLANTICO TECHNOLOGIST INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT

90%

DISTRITO CAPITAL TECHNICIAN SYSTEMS 90%

BOLIVAR TECHNICIAN TABLE AND BAR 90%

CUNDINAMARCA TECHNOLOGIST OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH 90%

ATLANTICO TECHNOLOGIST OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH 90%

DISTRITO CAPITAL TECHNOLOGIST PHARMACY REGENCY 90%

ANTIOQUIA TECHNOLOGIST BUSINESS MANAGEMENT 90%

SANTANDER TECHNOLOGIST OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH 89%

ANTIOQUIA TECHNOLOGIST ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 89%

ATLANTICO TECHNOLOGIST INDUSTRIAL ELECTRIC AND

INSTRUMENTAL MAINTENANCE

89%

DISTRITO CAPITAL TECHNOLOGIST HEALTH SERVICE ADMINISTRATION 89%

DISTRITO CAPITAL TECHNOLOGIST COMMERCIAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE

UNIT MANAGEMENT

88%

ATLANTICO TECHNOLOGIST BUSINESS MANAGEMENT 88%

DISTRITO CAPITAL TECHNOLOGIST ANALYSIS AND DEVELOPMENT OF

INFORMATION SYSTEMS

88%

ATLANTICO TECHNOLOGIST INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATISATION 87%


33





training

B.4 Integration of vocational trainees into the private sector

B.4.1 During the study period through the training contract

In SENA, the training contract is the National Coverage strategy that promotes the social inclusion of

Colombian Youth in productive environments through compliance with the quota regulated by Law

789 of 2002, where on, the one hand, the entrepreneurs can access the human talent in the quality

qualification process, and the trainees can carry out business practices in real environments (SENA,

Management Report, 2014). This section expands the scope of training programmes, including the

auxiliary, technical specialisation, operator and occupation training levels.

For the institution, it is important to evaluate the behaviour of the affiliation rates of the graduates

who had a training contract before their certification, since the trainees’ training according to labour

competencies is developed in practice through this mechanism, turning the entrepreneurs into

trainee co-trainers (SENA, 2016). The figures estimated by the Labour Observatory indicate that in

2015, 37% of the resulting number of graduates had a training contract, of which 57% were women

while the remaining 42% were men which was in line with the structure according to gender of

graduates who did not participate in said contract (see Graph 7).

Graph 7: Number of certified individuals classified by having or not having a training contract and by gender

(2010-2015)

Graph 8 shows how the number of certified individuals that have had training contracts has

constantly increased which may be related to the growth trend of total certified individuals.

However, when focusing on the total percentage of trainees with training contracts, in previous

years this did not exceed 38% of the total number of trainees whereas, for the year 2014, it reached

46%. It is important to note that, in 2014, the number of graduates declined by almost 20 thousand

people, from a total of graduates from 174.308 to 158.705 in 2013 and 2014 respectively.

34





training

Graph 8: Number of certified individuals classified by having or not having a training contract and by

graduation year

114.033

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

With contract Without contract Source: MinSalud-PILA. OLO-SENA calculations

On the other hand, in terms of the level of training (see Graph 9), the majority of trainees with a

learning contract graduated from technological programmes. In fact, the graduates of these

programmes accounted for 48% of the total number of trainees with training contracts, followed by

graduates of technical programmes, who reached 31%, leaving a 6% participation for the other

levels of training.

Graph 9: Participation of the training contract within the training levels

Source: MinSalud-PILA. OLO-SENA calculations

35





training

The majority of graduates did not have a training contract which can be seen in the distribution of

graduates across different levels of training where, for example for the technical level, 60% of all

graduates had no training contract, while 40% did. This trend was not met at the technological level,

where 45% of the graduates had no contract, while 55% had one. It is worth noting that 94% of the

certified individuals that had a training contract were included in the technological and technical

training levels.

When analysing the affiliation rate of the graduates who had a training contract, there is a

considerable difference compared to those who did not have this type of contract. In fact, the

graduates in training during 2014, who had received work experience prior to their certification via a

training contract, registered an affiliation rate of 72% while those who did not have a contract

registered an affiliation rate of 59% (see Graph 10). It is worth mentioning that the affiliation rate

continues to increase, especially for people with training contracts, even though the number of

graduates with contracts continues to grow.

Graph 10: Number of contributors classified by having or not having training contracts and by graduation year


B.5 Graduates of SENA's vocational training The total number of certified graduates between 2010 and 2014 in Colombia was 752.809, of which

about 270,000 were concentrated in Bogotá and Antioquia, meaning that these two regional groups

represented about 50% of certified graduates in the country while the 10 regions with the lowest

number of certified persons included approximately 17 thousand graduates. Therefore, it can be

recognised that this dynamic has a direct relation to the population size of the regions.

36





training

Graph 11: Certified graduates by region (total 2010 – 2014)

Graduates Source: MinSalud-PILA. OLO-SENA calculations

Before studying the employment affiliation rate for SENA graduates during the period from 2010 to

2014, it is necessary to clarify that this rate only considers those graduates affiliated with the formal

sector of the economy, that is to say those who made contributions to social security, and therefore,

may exclude graduates who are employed but are placed in informal or self-sustaining activities. In

this sense, it is important to emphasise that, although the distribution of the number of graduates is

diverse among regions, the affiliation rates are stable and behave in a more homogeneous way

(Graph 12), and even some smaller regions achieve larger affiliation rates than the regions with a

larger population size.

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training

Graph 12: Certified graduates and enrolment rate by region (total 2010 – 2014)


B.5.1 Certified graduates according to level of training

Between 2010 and 2014, 89% of SENA trainees graduated from technical and technological training

programmes, followed by auxiliary (4%), specialisation (4%) and operator (3%) programmes, as

illustrated in Graph 13.

Graph 13: Distribution of the number of graduates according to level of training (total 2010 – 2014)


With respect to the dynamics of the number of graduates from each of the training levels, a

homogeneous trend cannot be observed. On the one hand, there was a general increase in the

number of graduates from 2010 to 20117 at all levels with growth rates of 7% for the auxiliary level

___________________

7It is necessary to clarify that the jump in the growth of graduates from 2010 to 2011 is due to a case of underreporting,

since the SOFIA information system was not yet in operation.

Graduates Link

38





training

up to 990%8 for the specialisation level; the growth rates for technical, occupational and

technological levels were 73.3%, 196.6% and 124%, respectively. In fact, as can be seen in Graph 14,

the increase for 2012 was only maintained for the auxiliary (52%), specialisation (143%) and

technological (31%) levels.

Although the growth rates of graduates for 2011 were positive and for 2012 this trend continued,

2013 did not exhibit the same behaviour for some levels. The levels of training that had reached the

highest rates of growth in 2010, such as auxiliary, specialisation and occupation, experienced

negative growth rates of -4%, -38% and -14% for the two following years. For the case of the

technical and technological levels, an increase of 3% was presented. Despite the drop in the growth

rates of graduates for three of the training levels, the total growth of SENA graduates in 2013 was

0.20%.

Finally, in 2014 the growth in the number of graduates had a similar behaviour pattern among

training levels, although with negative rates; only the operator and technological levels presented

positive rates with 3% and 5% respectively, while the auxiliary (- 32%), specialisation (-89%) and

technical (-9.3%) levels presented negative growth rates, which lead to a decline in the total growth

of graduates by 8.9%.

___________________

8During 2010, 593 were certified in specialisation, whilst in 2011 there were 6,465 graduates

39





training

Graph 14: Certified graduates by year of graduation and level of education


AUXILIARY SPECIALISATION OPERATOR TECHNICIAN TECHNOLOGIST

NU

MB

ER O

F C

ON

TRIB

UTO

RS

40





training

B.5.2 Labour affiliation of SENA´s vocational training graduates

In this section, those graduates are considered who obtained a certificate from SENA and were

affiliated with the formal sector of the economy. The Occupational and Labour Observatory

considers the graduate to be linked to the formal sector if they made at least one contribution to

health and pension social security in the fourth quarter after his certification date. For example, if a

graduate received certification in May 2013, he or she is considered a contributor if he/she

registered at least one social security contribution in the PILA database in April, May or June 2014

(SENA, 2014). By analysing the number of contributors by graduation year (Graph 15), it is possible

to observe that, for the technical and technological training levels of 2014 and 2015, 387,647 were

affiliated graduates, which represents 88.4% of the total number of stakeholders for the period of

interest. Additionally, the number of graduates linked to the labour market for these two levels of

training has grown steadily, linking on average 46,532 and 41,231 graduates from technical and

technological programmes, respectively.

Graph 15: Contributors by year of graduation and level education


On the other hand, although 80% of the graduates were from technical and technological levels, this

proportion was not maintained in the case of graduates affiliated with the formal sector. The

technological specialisation training level was the level with the highest placement rate with 84%. In

other words, approximately 84 out of 100 graduates of training programmes at this level were

working in the formal sector. After the technological specialisation level, training levels with the

highest placement rates were: Technical, technological and qualified worker with rates of 51%, 70%

and 57%, respectively. The auxiliary occupation, operator and partial issue had the lowest affiliation

rates with 38%, 20%, 48% and 35%. (Graph 16)

TECHNOLOGIST TECHNICIAN OPERATOR SPECIALISATION AUXILIARY

NU

MB

ER O

F C

ON

TRIB

UTO

RS

41





training

Graph 16: Contributors, graduates and affiliation rate according to level of education (Total 2010 – 2014)

B.5.3 Graduates according to gender

The database of certified graduates between 2010 and 2014 shows that the predominance of

women compared to men is not so broad when only analysing the graduates who were able to gain

access to the formal labour market. In Graph 17 it can be seen that the male population linked to the

labour market represented 48.2% of the total number of affiliated graduates, while the remaining

51.8% were women. Likewise, the 752,809 women were 54.4%, while the male gender represented

the remaining 45.6% (Graph 18).

As for the dynamics of the labour affiliation rate by gender, it was found that for the case of SENA

certified graduates between 2010 and 2014, the affiliation rate for men varied between 52% and

68%, higher than that of women who, in the same period, ranged from 43% to 62%. As shown in

Graph 19, the gap between the male and female affiliation rates exceeded 10 percentage points for

the years 2010 and 2011. However, although the gap in the percentage of male-female rates

decreased until it achieved a difference of just three percentage points in 2013, it seems that by

2014 this gap is increasing again.

42





training


Graph18: Certified graduates by gender (2011 – 2014)

Graph 19 shows that between 2010 and 2014 women dominated the total number of vocational

training graduates while men had higher affiliation rates, reaching a percentage of approximately

70%, ten percentage points higher than the rate of women.

43





training

Graph 19: Certificates and affiliation after one year of graduation by gender (2010-2014)


B.6 Financing vocational training

B.6.1 State investments

The SENA budget for 2016 amounts to $3,9 billion Colombian pesos and has its own resources, taxes

and national contributions as its main source which are distributed as follows:

Table 14: SENA budget sources for 2016

ITEMS 2016 (thousand Colombian pesos)

OWN RESOURCES Parafiscal9 Current Income (B&S sale, fines and penalties) Capital Resources (Financial gains and surpluses)

1,771,900 920,600 351,300 500,000

CREE10 1,252,000

NATIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS 73,000

TOTAL 3,096,900

SUSPENDED BUDGET* 939,334

CURRENT BUDGET Source: SENA

___________________

9 For employees earning more than 10 minimum wages and for the public sector they pay SENA contributions

of 2% of the payroll value

10 The CREE income tax for equity created by Law 1607 of 2012. It is a tax of 8%, with specific destination on

the profits of the companies, as contribution from the companies and legal persons and assimilated for the

benefit of the workers, the employment generation and social investment. About 8% corresponds to SENA 1.4

points.

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training

B.6.2 SENA Investment expenditure budget

Resource financing allocated for investment in SENA vocational training is based on the resolutions

of the annual budget opening, through which the initial breakdown of the Budget Law is carried out

for the respective validity in the General Directorate, the Regional and the Vocational Training

Centres of SENA.

For the fiscal year 2015, the institution's income budget was established in Resolution 00001 of said

year (SENA, 2015), which established, in its Article 1, a total amount of $3,19 trillion pesos, of which

$1,44 trillion belonged to income from Public Establishments and $1,74 trillion pesos to

contributions from the Nation, represented in the Income Tax for Equity - CREE.

Among the income received from public establishments, 60% came from parafiscal contributions of

$866 billion pesos; Another 22% was made up of capital resources of $321 billion pesos and the

remaining 18% was made up of current revenues (special funds, contributions from other entities

and non-tax revenues) of $260 billion pesos (SENA, 2016).

However, in accordance with the annexes of Resolution 00001 of 2015, during the fiscal year 2015

the expenditure budget amounted to $3,2 trillion pesos (SENA, 2016), of which 97.7% was dedicated

to an investment of $3,12 trillion and the remaining 2.3% was allocated to public debt operating and

servicing expenses. Within the specific investment category, the largest share was in non-

professional technical training of $2,54 billion pesos, which represented 81.7% of the total amount

allocated for investment and 79.3% of the total expenditure budget, while 18.3% of the remainder

was used for the construction of its own infrastructure, the implementation of programmes for

innovation and productive technological development, protection and social welfare of human

resource, credits for employees and direct subsidies, among others of smaller amounts.

Graph 20 represents the amount allocated from the expenditure budget to the investment category

in 2015.

Graph 20: SENA 2015 Investment Expenditure Budget (millions of Colombian pesos)

$2.546


Given the importance of non-vocational technical training in investments, it is important to review

the composition or internal structure of its main components. Table 15 presents the investment

category broken down for 2016.

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training

Of the total budget allocated for 2016, SENA invests 92% in actions aimed at comprehensive

vocational training, entrepreneurship and labour intermediation. This budget is divided as follows

(Table 15):

Table 15: Division of investment for 2016

ITEMS BUDGET 2016 (thousand dollars)

INVESTMENT 2,847,110

Construction of training, employment and entrepreneurship offices and sub-offices within the framework of the national plan contracts strategy.

4,313

Construction and adaptation of buildings for vocational training.

220,687

Assistance in business development and entrepreneurship. 27,000

Educational administration and support services for vocational training.

60,000

Construction industry training sector. 106,001

Training and updating of teachers, advisors and support staff. 6,695

Use of the centre’s resources, administrative and training areas for the production and sale of goods and services.

7,500

Update and/or elaboration of curricular designs. 7,872

Administration and intermediation of employment and development of occupational training programmes for the unemployed.

11,000

Standardisation and certification of labour competencies, recognition and articulation of programmes and networks of training entities in order to consolidate the national system of training for workers in Colombia.

24,843

Training for people in situations of displacement to improve their levels of employability and the cessation of their displaced status at national level.

37,563

Training for workers and the unemployed for their performance in productive activities, and advice and business technical assistance, for social, economic and technological development, through the SENA national training centres.

1,458,886

Work-related training for the rural youth and vulnerable populations in the national territory.

63,419

Expansion of coverage in vocational training to improve the employability of young people in different cities at national level.

69,820

Improvement of vocational training and technical and technological conditions of SENA services at national level.

463,000

Implementation of programmes for innovation and technological development.

184,126

Support to entrepreneurial initiatives through the Fondo Emprender.

70,385

Capital management for support for students in training. 24,000 Source: SENA

46





training

B.6.3 Financial support

Law 789 of 2003 regulated the training contract in Colombia, stating that private companies that

carry out any type of economic activity other than construction and industrial and commercial

enterprises of the State and mixed economy, who have more than fifteen (15) employees, , will be

obliged to hire trainees.

During the whole duration of the learning contract, the trainee will receive monthly support from

the company that amounts to at least 50% of one (1) current legal minimum wage during the

academic phase. In the practical phase, it will be equivalent to 75% of a current legal minimum

wage. For university students, monthly financial support may not be less than one (1) current legal

minimum wage. In no case may economic support be considered a salary.

The law also established that SENA will allocate a portion of the resources raised by monetisation

(20% of the total) to provide support to SENA students from classes 1 and 2. This 20% will also be

used to pay the insurance policy and for the acquisition of elements for industrial security and the

provision of clothing.

The law established that when the annual unemployment figure is one digit, trainees who have a

Training Contract will receive one (1) current legal minimum wage for support and, taking into

account that the average unemployment rate for 2015 was 8.9% for the same year, of the total

number of employed persons 24.6% were young people between the ages of 18 and 28 and 26% of

the new jobs generated were taken by this population. It was regulated by the Ministry of Labour

that the support for SENA trainees in the practical phase is 100% of one (1) legal minimum wage,

equivalent to $689,455.

Support for SENA trainees who have a training contract is one (1) current legal minimum wage for all

training programmes, while for trainees who are enrolled in SENA and who do not have a training

contract, it is one (1) current legal minimum wage except for the months of January and December

which is 25% of one (1) current legal minimum wage. The cost is assumed by the companies, except

for trainees who are enrolled in SENA and do not have a training contract. In this cases, the costs are

assumed by SENA.

B.6.4 Investments from the corporate sector

Colombian companies, aside from paying taxes that contribute to the SENA budget, form part of the

sectoral boards in which the labour competency norms that structure the programmes are

formulated and contribute to the generation of places for business practice through the training

contract. These boards are the natural space for agreement with the productive, governmental and

academic sector to develop the management of human talent according to competences, generating

transferable knowledge to professional training. At present, there are 85 Sectoral Boards in which

SENA acts as a technical secretary.

During the practical work stage of the SENA trainees, the Training Contract allows entrepreneurs to

be co-trainers during the process, as well as giving young people the possibility to work in the labour

market while applying their knowledge and obtaining financial support, which allows the trainee to

cover transportation fees and study elements among other things in order to facilitate their training

process. In the year 2016, more than 33 thousand companies hired trainees, both compulsorily and

voluntarily. During 2015, 28,553 regulated quotas were assigned to companies that are subject to

regulation; on the other hand, companies that are not obliged to have trainees through the training

contract because they have less than 15 employees can have between 1 and 7 SENA trainees on a

47





training

voluntary basis, the total number of companies with voluntary quotas in 2015 was 12,419 (SENA,

2015).

In 2016, 255,201 trainees have benefited from a training contract, surpassing 22% in the same

period of the previous year, where more than 300,000 trainees benefited from training contracts;

more than 130,000 trainees completed their training contracts, 72% of which were affiliated with

the labour market. In 2016, the goal is to reach 345,000 training contracts. Similarly, SENA

participates in the Additional Training of employees by updating and certifying them in labour

competencies through Vocational Training.

B.7 Business relationship Through the National Group of Service to the Company and the Customer Service of the Directorate

of Employment and Work, SENA articulates its relationship with the productive sector through a

group of strategic managers and business managers at national level, where the strategic managers

guarantee a personalised service to the big companies in the country, and the business managers

serve the small and medium companies. The main objective of this team is to bring the entity closer

to the companies and articulate their needs with the SENA value offer by providing, on the one

hand, relevant services as per the needs of these companies and, on the other hand, by providing

feedback to the entity focused on the relevance and quality of the services provided.

In 2014, SENA's business relationship database consisted of only 27,000 companies; by 2015 the

business database increased to 84,000 and in 2016, SENA has contact with 145,000 companies

through all its service channels. Thanks to this management, 61,559 companies have been served by

the SENA services portfolio through 17 strategic managers and 52 business managers.

C. Entrepreneurship promotion programmes SENA, fulfilling its objective of contributing to the economic and social development of the country

through provision of services that facilitate income generation and employability, not only focuses

its attention on the supply side of the market through professional training of the trainees, but also

strengthens the demand side, encouraging the creation of jobs by young entrepreneurs with the

help of entrepreneurship promotion programmes. The support provided by these programmes is

manifested in three ways. First, by encouraging the culture of entrepreneurship so that the learners

know that the creation of a company can be a way of achieving their life plans; the second is the

orientation of business ideas, where the entrepreneurship programme provides support to

entrepreneurs in order to structure their investment projects and collaborate in the start-up of

companies; finally, entrepreneurship programmes collaborate in strengthening companies, providing

advice and support to micro and small enterprises to achieve greater competitiveness.

The set of programmes that encourage entrepreneurship have a service model that consists of four

programmes. The first is the awareness stage that consists of presenting the creation of a company

as a viable option for obtaining income and developing a life project; then a process of brain

storming is presented where support is offered to the entrepreneurs when it comes to clarifying

their business plans and to recognise the elements necessary for the start-up of the company. The

third process is the creation of the company, where entrepreneurs are guided in the first steps of the

company in order to prevent it from prematurely leaving the market, so that in the fourth and final

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training

process of strengthening, the new company can be competitive in order to position itself in a stable

way in the productive sector (SENA, Entrepreneurship, sf).

This section presents a brief presentation of the various SENA entrepreneurship programmes that

are available to those interested in starting a business or strengthening an already established

project. The objectives of each of the programmes, together with the groups to which they provide

their services, are presented in order to identify the scope of each of the programmes and how they

can interrelate with each other. In the same way, the results obtained by these programmes are

shown, where there is a discrimination between the objectives achieved by the Fondo Emprender

programme and the other three programmes that constitute the entrepreneurship group, for which

information is gathered which refers to the population served and achievements, where only 2,951

companies have been supported between January and August of 2016, representing the creation of

1,328 new formal jobs.

C.1 Fondo Emprender Programme The Fondo Emprender was created as a seed capital fund, created by the National Government in

compliance with Article 40 of Law 789 from 27 December 2002, "by which regulations are adopted

to support employment and expand social protection". This fund is constituted as a special and

independent account attached to SENA, whose resources are specifically destined to finance

business initiatives from and developed by trainees, university or professional practitioners who are

developing or have completed their training process in higher education institutions recognised by

the State (SENA, Fondo Emprender, 2016).

The main objective of this programme is to support the creation and strengthening of productive

projects that integrate the knowledge acquired by the entrepreneurs in their training stage, whether

it has been developed in SENA or another recognised higher education institution by the State.

Support is reflected in the leverage of the creation of new enterprises and the generation of new

formal jobs, contributing to human development and insertion into the productive sector. The fund's

achievement of this objective is supported by SENA, which differentiates it from other seed capital

funds through the 117 entrepreneurship units located in more than 630 municipalities throughout

Colombian territory, along with the collaboration of 600 support managers who are available to the

beneficiaries of the programme (SENA, Entrepreneurship, sf).

Unlike other seed capital funds, the Fondo Emprender programme does not require its beneficiaries

to have any initial resource in evaluating and adjusting the business plan of the new company but

may be able to condone 100% of the capital (SENA, ¿WHY IS THE FONDO EMPRENDER IMPORTANT

FOR COLOMBIANS?, 2015) coming from SENA. This can extend the coverage of this programme,

mitigating a budget barrier for young entrepreneurs who do not have the necessary resources to

develop their business project and are interested in receiving guidance regarding the direction they

should take in order for their projects to have a structure according to the conditions and

characteristics of the productive sector.

Despite these financing facilities, at least as far as the business plan is concerned, not everyone can

access the benefits of the Fondo Emprender programme. In order to access these benefits, the

entrepreneur must comply with a set of requirements that go hand in hand with the nature of the

fund. The fund’s whose resources must be allocated to projects carried out by trainees or

professionals coming from higher education institutions legally recognised by the State. The person

interested in being a beneficiary of the programme has to fulfil one of the following requirements in

order to have access to the resources of the Fondo Emprender:

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training

1. To be a SENA student enrolled in a Qualified Training programme, who has completed the

teaching stage of a training programme, as well as being a graduate of these programmes

and has obtained the title within the last 60 months.

2. To be a student who has been studying the last two semesters in an undergraduate higher

education programme recognised by the State in accordance with Laws 30 of 1992 and 115

of 1994 and others that complement, modify or add them.

3. To be a student who has completed subjects within the last twelve (12) months of a higher

education programme - first undergraduate, recognised by the State in accordance with

Laws 30 of 1992 and 115 of 1994 and others that complement, modify or add them.

4. To be a Professional Technician, Technologist or University Professional, whose title has

been obtained during the last 60 months, from a higher education programme recognised by

the State in accordance with Laws 30 of 1992 and 115 of 1994 and others that complement

or add to them.

5. To be a student who is studying specialisation, masters and/or doctorate, as well as having

graduated from these programmes, and who has completed and obtained the certification

within the last 60 months.

6. To be a SENA student, from the Rural Youth programme and Development Leaders Training

Line, who has completed 200 hours of the training programme or is a graduate of this

programme, whose title has been obtained within the last 60 months.

7. To be graduated from the SENA training programme for Population in a situation of

displacement due to violence, that has completed 90 hours of the training process and

whose title has been obtained within the last 60 months.

8. To be a Colombian who can prove that he has spent at least three years abroad and has

voluntarily returned to the country. In this case, it is sufficient for said citizen to certify they

have any of the qualifications referred to in Requirements 4, 5 and 6, regardless of when he

obtained the respective degree.

Once the entrepreneur meets any of the requirements set out above and accesses the resources of

the Fund to develop his business plan, he will have the support of one of the 600 managers of SENA

who will accompany him in the creation and implementation of the company for one year. After this

period of support, the company will be able to access the services of another of the

entrepreneurship promotion programmes, in this case the business strengthening programme,

which seeks to increase the competitiveness and stability of the company so that it can be kept

within the productive sector.

With regard to the results of the programme, one can refer to the number of business initiatives that

have received support and funding from the Fondo Emprender; since its creation in 2002 up to

September 2015. The Fund's resources have benefited a total of 4,557 entrepreneurship projects,

which in turn have generated 15,759 new formal jobs, so that one can speak of the fulfilment of the

primary objective of the programme which is, in addition to encouraging the creation of new

companies, the of boost the labour market with the emergence of new formal job vacancies.

To achieve these results, the programme has allocated a total of $310,146,710,524 Colombian

pesos, which are distributed among the new companies depending on the number of new jobs that

will be generated according to the entrepreneur’s business plan. Financing can range from

$51,548,000 pesos to $115,983,000 pesos (SENA, 2015).

These resources come from 80% of the monetisation of the trainee fee, which includes interest for

late payment, fines for monetisation delays and penalties for not hiring trainees. In other words,

those entrepreneurs who decide not to have SENA trainees within their workforce indirectly support

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training

the revitalisation of the labour market by financing the operation of the Fondo Emprender

programme.

C.2 EmprendeT Programme In the event that a person interested in developing an entrepreneurship project requires the help of

SENA support programmes, whether it be during the brain storming process, in the adjustment of

the business plan or in the implementation of the company, but does not meet any of the

requirements to be a beneficiary of the resources of the Fondo Emprender, then he can access the

support offered by the EmprendeT programme.

The ultimate goal of this programme is to accompany every entrepreneur interested in crystallising

his idea of a company as a real and competitive option within the market, and then ensure its

stability and permanence within that market in order to boost the labour market of the country and

ensure the creation of new formal jobs. For this, the programme receives the same type of support

provided by SENA to the Fondo Emprender, represented in 117 entrepreneurial units located

throughout the country (SENA, SENA, 2016).

Although, this program pursues the same objective as the Fondo Emprender programme, which

seeks to support entrepreneurship projects by giving guidance on the formation of companies and

the implementation of the programme, the EmprendeT programme does not demand any

requirements for those interested in receiving support from the programme and the assistance

provided to entrepreneurs is limited to professional advice, which means that the entrepreneur

must obtain his own start-up capital to start his business project, since seed capital from 80% of the

monetisation of the learning quota is exclusively for the target population of the Fondo Emprender

programme. Despite the lack of financial assistance from the EmprendeT programme, its

beneficiaries can be referred to other sources of funding such as contests or financial institutions.

C.3 Business Strengthening Programme As stated in the Fondo Emprender programme, after consolidating a business plan that is reflected in

the creation of a new company, it can continue in an advisory process within the context of the

entrepreneurship support programmes for which it can be involved in the Business Strengthening

programme, although it is not necessary for the company to have been part of other programmes

provided by SENA. The business strengthening programme was set up as part of the Employment,

Labour and Entrepreneurship Management strategies to provide advice and support to micro and

small enterprises that may become the source of formal employment for part of the population.

This programme aims to support entrepreneurs in increasing their income levels and

competitiveness in the market, focusing them on obtaining visible short, medium and long term

results, recognising the possible failures in the management of human capital, control of processes,

customer service or profitability of the company, and collaborating in the formulation and execution

of the corresponding action plan to correct those flaws. To achieve this objective, the programme

assigns to each of the companies concerned a professional manager who is responsible for providing

advice in the process of recognising needs and formulating solutions to give greater stability to the

company within the market (SENA, Entrepreneurship, sf).

Unlike the other three programmes to support entrepreneurship, the latter focuses on providing an

advisory service to companies that are already established, seeking to consolidate within the

productive sector through a business diagnosis that can recognise the needs of the company in each

of its areas, which is possible thanks to the presence of three types of advice that focus on structural

aspects that can increase the competitiveness of the company:

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training

1. Financial advice: Here the financial situation of the company is analysed in order to

recognise the actions that can maintain its viability in the market.

2. Advice on strategic thinking: This provides support to the entrepreneur in the formulation of

his business project, which allows him to obtain a higher level of stability to remain in the

market.

3. Market advice: It is responsible for collaborating in the identification of the relevant market

of the company, its competitors, its customers and its stakeholders, so that, with this

information, the entrepreneur is able to optimise their participation in the market,

satisfaction of its clients and generate a model of sustainable development. (SENA, SENA,

2016)

To access the advisory services of the Business Strengthening programme, it is only necessary to

have a company registered with the Chamber of Commerce and to be interested in consolidating it

within the market, for which the representative of the company should approach one of the 117

entrepreneurship units that are located throughout national territory. In addition, it should be taken

into account that the costs of executing the action plans must be borne entirely by the company,

since the programme does not offer any type of financial support, but focuses on making the human

talent of professional managers available to the beneficiaries.

C.4 SENA Rural Empreneur Programme (SER) Recognising that the Colombian rural sector is fundamental to the development of the Colombian

economy, SENA, with the help of the SER programme and accompanying entrepreneurship projects,

seeks to alleviate extreme poverty in the rural areas of the country, self-sustainability and creation

of companies. The main objective of this programme is to promote income generation among the

rural population through the development of their capabilities and productive competences. In

analysing the objective of the SER programme, it can be recognised that, unlike the other support

programmes for entrepreneurship, it seeks to serve its target population from the training process

to the development of their job skills or the development of an entrepreneurship initiative. This

characteristic of the programme is reflected in the two service routes that are presented in the

programme:

1. Rural Entrepreneurship: It focuses on the support and backing of entrepreneurship projects

of self-consumption, biocultural projects and creation of companies related to the

agricultural sector.

2. Employability in rural occupations: This route focuses on training young people to specialise

in technical and operational skills in agricultural activities (SENA, 2016).

In the case of the second service route, SENA presents an educational supply line focused on rural

development and service to the vulnerable population, among which training programmes related to

agriculture, livestock, agroindustry, forestry, tourism and the environment are highlighted. On the

other hand, it offers programmes focused on cultural aspects of certain regions of the country

through the special LASO programme (Social laboratories of cultural entrepreneurship) that seeks to

stimulate the human talent of the Afro-descendant population and the vulnerable populations, with

regards to music and audio-digital production (SENA, SENA, 2016).

Since the objective of the programme is specifically focused on meeting the needs of the rural

populations and rural entrepreneurship initiatives, the individuals who may aspire to be

beneficiaries of this entrepreneurship support programme are those who are part of one of the

following three groups:

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training

1. Rural youth population aged 15 to 28, levels 1, 2 and 3 of SISBEN.

2. Vulnerable rural populations, older than 15 years. (Displaced due to violence, displaced by

natural phenomena, disabled, reintegrated, working adolescents, Afro-Colombian, Afro-

descendent populations, Raizal communities, Palenqueros, indigenous people, vulnerable

young women, female heads of household, the elderly population, farmer soldiers that are

survivors of land mines).

3. Small and medium agricultural producers (SENA, 2016).

As can be seen in the target population, in addition to seeking to support the needs of the rural

population, the SER programme focuses on assisting vulnerable populations who have been affected

by violence or who are considered minorities with special needs. This support to both populations is

achieved with the help of the presence of 117 entrepreneurship units located in 32 departments,

covering 1,077 municipalities throughout the national territory. With respect to human capital

resources, the SER programme has 32 regional leaders, 39 support managers of the

entrepreneurship programme, 6 national managers, 106 managers focused on strengthening the

rural areas of the country and, because the programme also seeks to professionally train the target

population, there are 1020 technical teachers and 200 commercial teachers. The operation of the

programme is financed by one of the BPIN assigned places provided by National Planning, which for

the case of the SER programme in 2016 was allocated with a value of $63,419 million (SENA, 2016).

C.5 Results of the programme In Graph 21, it is possible to observe the evolution of the resources allocated to the

entrepreneurship programmes and their contribution to the formation of new business initiatives

and employment generation. It can be observed that the amount allocated has been steadily

increasing from 38 thousand to 68 thousand million pesos, at a rate greater than 70%. This inter-

annual change between the years 2014 to 2015 is due to the fact that part of the resources of the

last meeting in 2014 was paid out during 2015.

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training

Graph 21: Resources allocated to business plan initiatives (figures in billions of pesos)

As mentioned above, the number of business plans financed by the Fondo Emprender depends on

the amount collected from what companies are obliged to pay for non-compliance with the learning

fee11. Graph 22 shows the sustained increase in resources destined to support new business plans,

specifically for 2015 when resources increased by more than 70% over the previous year. The

increase in resources has been directly reflected in the increase in the business plans supported as

well as new jobs generated (Table 16), the correlation between the budget, jobs and business plans

show part of the effectiveness of the entrepreneurship programmes. For example, by the year 2015,

4,365 new jobs were created compared to 2014 when 1,468 jobs were created.

_______________________

11 Law 119 of 1996, Companies obligated to meet the learning quota may, in its absence, pay SENA a monthly quota

resulting from multiplying 5% of the total number of workers, excluding independent or temporary workers, for a legal

minimum wage. 80% of the proceeds by monetisation will be destined for Fondo Emprender.

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training

Source: SENA, OLO calculations (data updated August 2016)

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training

Table 16: Number of business plans, jobs and resources allocated to business planning initiatives by region

DEPARTMENT ALLOCATED RESOURCES JOBS SUPPORTED BUSINESS PLANS

AMAZONAS ANTIOQUIA ARAUCA ATLÁNTICO BOGOTÁ BOLÍVAR BOYACÁ CALDAS CAQUETÁ CASANARE CAUCA CESAR CHOCÓ CÓRDOBA CUNDINAMARCA GUAINÍA GUAVIARE HUILA LA GUAJIRA MAGDALENA META NARIÑO NORTE DE SANTANDER PUTUMAYO QUINDIO RISARALDA SAN ANDRÉS SANTANDER SUCRE TOLIMA VALLE VAUPÉS VICHADA

$ 764,000,000 $ 11,500,000,000 $ 4,040,000,000 $ 6,850,000,000 $ 16,200,000,000 $ 4,350,000,000 $ 10,100,000,000 $ 5,310,000,000 $ 13,600,000,000 $ 1,500,000,000 $ 14,300,000,000 $ 4,710,000,000 $ 1,230,000,000 $ 3,190,000,000 $ 10,300,000,000 $ 743,000,000 $ 1,800,000,000 $ 32,800,000,000 $ 2,460,000,000 $ 994,000,000 $ 3,440,000,000 $ 13,200,000,000 $ 5,030,000,000 $ 3,010,000,000 $ 5,540,000,000 $ 6,280,000,000 $ 1,920,000,000 $ 9,290,000,000 $ 9,900,000,000 $ 10,700,000,000 $ 17,500,000,000 $ 317,000,000 $ 96,700,000

31 624 210 392 868 199 552 405 812

73 1061

252 50

159 612

32 119

2735 141

38 180 817 282 153 360 314

84 607 616 483

1054 16

6

9 149

43 81

200 61

134 73

148 16

196 73 17 35

135 11 28

452 31 13 41

170 72 41 64 83 24

112 111 131 231

5 1


At the end of 2018, 200 billion pesos of seed capital will have been allocated to those who have a

business idea and their production project has been endorsed. The goal is to open 2,471 new

businesses in various economic sectors in all regions of the country. To achieve this goal, SENA will

apply efforts through the following measures:

Improvement of current processes and procedures, raising the level of satisfaction of

entrepreneurs.

Reduction of operating costs through the optimisation of economic resources.

Enhancement of the trainees’ entrepreneurial capacity.

Improvement of the quality of services to the entrepreneur, shortening the response times

for the entrepreneurship route.

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training

Under this strategy, it is projected that between 5 and 6 direct jobs will be generated through the

Fondo Emprender and direct employment through companies advised on entrepreneurship by SENA

and created by other sources of funding. In addition, it is estimated that the companies created by

the Fondo Emprender generate 7 or more indirect jobs, thanks to the implementation of the

programme, as well as participation in the production and sales processes. It is important to clarify

that indirect jobs will begin to be measured when the SBDC (Small Business Development Centres)

methodology is implemented and the companies created by the Fondo Emprender are in the

business strengthening stage (SENA, 2015).

D. Scientific and applied research in SENA vocational training Applied research, technological development and innovation are central elements for the relevance

and quality of vocational training. Law 119 of 1994 assigns to SENA the objective of participating in

technological, occupational and social research and development activities that contribute to the

updating and improvement of comprehensive vocational training.

At present, the SENA Vocational Training Centres already carry out applied research in the daily

process of learning, experimentation and interaction between trainees and teachers. At SENA, all

research groups supported by a knowledge network and registered with COLCIENCIAS have basic

research results. These results will allow them to identify and prepare a project for an applied

development that is coordinated with the vocational training guidelines, as well as the increasing

quantitative and qualitative challenges to the research and practice that in this case takes the BIBB

as its reference and its international work in the transfer of knowledge and contents.

D.1 Scientific research SENA, which is focused on comprehensive vocational training and the use and appropriation of

technology and innovation at the service of Colombian people and companies, has assumed a

significant role in this strategy (Lugo and López, 2013). The innovation model that SENA handles is a

non-linear model, given that it is a model that considers market conditions as a starting point for

technological development, regardless of whether the response comes from a scientific or

technological type of effort. In this model, companies use the knowledge that is within their reach to

respond quickly and in a timely manner to a changing market (Velásquez, Mejía, & Castro, 2014),

thanks to Agreement 16 of 2012 SENA.

In line with the above, and in order to strengthen the skills aimed at the use, application and

development of advanced technologies through TecnoAcademies, SENNOVA generates a culture of

innovation and competitiveness in secondary school students. In addition, it encourages the

development of scientific research from secondary education with the application of new

technologies as a local and regional development pole, SENNOVA:

Organises events for the dissemination of science, technology and innovation, such as

forums, seminars and conferences with experts, which aims to make the country more

competitive.

It has scientific and technological publications, as well as an intellectual property manual and

a wide portfolio of services available.

It intends to strengthen the standards of quality and relevance in the areas of research,

technological development and innovation, of the professional training provided at the

Institution.

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Through this strategy, the Institution brings together the different lines, programmes and projects of

culture and innovation within its structure, among them TechnoAcademies, TechnoParks, applied

research, research in professional formation, programmes to promote business innovation and

technological extension.

The trainee participates actively in the research of SENA from the following instruments:

1. Research hothouses

2. Applied research groups

3. Development of applied research projects and technological development by networks of

knowledge in training centres

Likewise, Research in Vocational Training supports the relevance model of the institution in subjects

such as: data and statistics on training; costs and benefits of the different training models,

anticipation of needs, monitoring and technological foresight and follow-up of graduates.

D.1.1 Analysis of the most in-demand occupations in the market

The Occupational and Labour Observatory of SENA monitors the trend of occupations, starting from

various sources of labour market information, especially the information collected through the

Public Employment Agency within the framework of the statistical operation "National and Regional

Trend of occupations" provides the information that allows to measure the behaviour of the

occupations at national and departmental level, based on the register of enrolees (job seekers),

vacancies (human resource requirements by companies) and individuals placed into employment

(successful employment affiliations), in order to guide training actions related to the qualification,

re-qualification and certification of human resource competencies as well as vocational guidance

actions and policies for the reduction of frictional unemployment (by rotation and search).

Scientific research services are divided into three groups:

Statistical information: Research is carried out according to the trend of occupations, measuring the

trend of occupations at national and departmental levels, based on the information of registrants

(job seekers), vacancies (human resources requirements by companies) individuals placed into

employment (successful employment affiliations).

Occupational Classification: The Occupational Map is developed describing the occupations by area

of performance and level of qualification of the sectors, subsectors and/or productive areas of the

Colombian labour market. The Occupational Map is one of the guides to take into account in order

to identify changes in the structures of the occupational profiles.

Study Methodologies: The Occupational and Labour Observatory presents the occupations

separated into four categories that rank or position the occupations according to the behaviour of

the labour demand (number of vacancies) and the labour supply (number of enrolled) registered in

the Public Employment Agency.

I. Occupations most requested by employers and by job seekers

II. Occupations most requested by employers and less requested by job seekers

III. Occupations less requested by employers and most requested by job seekers

IV. Occupations less requested by employers and job seekers

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Table 17: The 10 most requested positions in the labour market

YEAR 2015 FIRST SEMESTER OF 2016

OCCUPATION VACANCIES OCCUPATION VACANCIES

Sales – Non-Technical Sales Marketers and Sales Generators Work Training Instructors Information and Customer Service Assistants Construction Workers and Assistants Security Guards Sewing Machine Operators Warehouse Assistants Cleaners and Domestic Service Kitchen and Cafeteria Assistants

45659 23665 23552 19322 16700 11492 10937 10748 10543

9633

Sales – Non-Technical Sales Work Training Instructors Construction Workers and Assistants Marketers and Sales Generators Cleaners and Domestic Service Accounting Assistants Administrative Assistants Sewing Machine Operators Information and Customer Service Warehouse Assistants

24973 23441 14152 12114

8409 8120 7650 7504 7134 6670


D.1.2 Sectoral research

The Sectoral Boards are instances of sectoral or cross-cutting national coordination that contribute

to the improvement of the qualification of human talent and the relevance of training for work and

the competitiveness of the productive sectors. They are made up of the productive sectors that are

composed of companies, associations, research centres and centres for technological governmental

development both national or territorial order, including the regulating and academic entities such

as the higher education institutions, institutions for work-related training and human development,

educational institutions and research centres.

At present, the 85 existing boards benefit sectoral research with the aim of aligning the supply of

training with the requirements of the productive sector and in the identification of technological

advances and the repercussions for training through the provision of updated and permanent quality

training programmes.

D.2 Applied research and technological innovation Applied research consists of original works carried out to acquire new knowledge geared primarily

towards a specific practical objective. This is the broader mission that SENA must develop and is in

which all Vocational Training Centres are called to build knowledge from the formation of research

groups and hothouses as training tools developed by SENNOVA through different training projects.

Likewise, in the Vocational Training Centres, applied research is already carried out in the daily

process of learning, experimentation and interaction between trainees and teachers. In SENA, all

research groups endorsed, attached to a knowledge network and registered with COLCIENCIAS

possess basic research results, which will allow them to identify and prepare a project to carry out

an applied development.

In terms of technological Innovation and Development, the systematic work that takes advantage of

existing knowledge obtained from research and/or practical experience is directed towards the

production of new materials, products or devices; to the implementation of new processes, systems

and services, or to the substantial improvement of existing ones. For this reason, the trainees’

research projects become new technologies and productive opportunities, and through the

Technopark Colombia Network, it is the central axis of the SENNOVA system and materialises these

projects taking into account that Technopark is the link between training centres and the science,

technology and innovation system.

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The innovation and technology programme is materialised in four functional lines: Electronics and

Telecommunications, Virtual Technologies, Engineering and Design, and Biotechnology and

Nanotechnology. This network seeks to support the development of innovative technology-based

projects to generate products and services that contribute to the country's economic growth and

competitiveness. In this sense during the 2015 period the following results were obtained:

41 open innovation projects

824 projects completed with functional prototype

272 scientific outreach events

376 products or services placed on the market

26 macro-projects

114 applied research groups connected with the Technopark network (SENA, 2015)

E. Towards a Dual Vocational Training The increasingly accelerated technological advance generates constant changes in the modes of

production and organisation of the companies. The educational entities, more precisely those of

Vocational Training in charge of supplying the productive sector with Human Talent, fail to assimilate

these changes in time which is why a gap is created between recently graduated professionals and

the professional profiles that companies require when affiliating their Human Talent.

Here, a gap is understood as the difference that exists between the availability (supply) and the

requirements (demand) of Human Talent by the productive sector. In Colombia, the lack of Human

Talent renewal occurs in occupational areas such as the construction of civil infrastructure (roads,

tunnels, bridges), the textile sector, agriculture, BPO (business process outsourcing) and in general

productive activities that integrate state-of-the-art technologies. In this sense, the fundamental

purpose of the Comprehensive Vocational Training provided by SENA is to provide qualified Human

Talent to the productive sector in a dynamic way and, in turn, to contribute to the construction of

the personal dimension in a pertinent way and coherently with the productive activity, in a context

of globalisation, technological advancement, and knowledge.

Dual training was created to respond to the need to adapt vocational training to the real needs of

the labour market, so that it can have a positive impact on youth employment (Bertelsmann

Foundation, 2016). This type of training has been consolidated as an innovative educational model,

based on the training of trainees, which combines theoretical training in the study centres with

practical training directly within the company. Germany has been the pioneer in implementing this

model for work-related training, and today approximately 60% of young people receive training

under the dual training system and more than 20% of companies are involved in this type of training

(BIBB, 2016).

In line with the bilateral collaboration established since 2011 with the Federal Institute for

Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) in Germany, SENA has resumed the dual training strategy

since 2014, which aims to make the most of the role of co-trainer of companies. For its

implementation, the institutional context of this strategy has been adapted based on the analysis of

diverse experiences at both national and international level, accompanied by a process of

conceptual, methodological and operational characterisation for Dual Training, which draws on

experience and knowledge of SENA with regard to the development of competencies in order to

offer the Colombian productive sector Comprehensive Vocational Training processes through the

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Dual Training strategy with the intervention of trainers from the company, with conceptual and

methodological unity criterion within the framework of current institutional regulations.

E.1 Concept Dual training, also known as alternate learning and alternate training, is the type of learning that

alternates between the training institution and companies as learning environments (SENA, 2016).

This strategy seeks to meet the requests of companies in relation to the training of their Human

Talent with high standards of pertinence, quality, opportunity and flexibility, in order to positively

impact their levels of productivity and competitiveness. In addition, it aims to encourage the

learning contract and decrease monetisation by companies and increase the chances of access to

work of the Human Talent trained. In this way, it is expected that the Human Talent formed through

this strategy, with greater relevance, quality, flexibility and opportunity, will gain access to the

productive sector at a percentage of 100%.

On the other hand, companies aspiring to Dual Training processes with SENA must meet the

established conditions, otherwise they will continue to be served through the portfolio of regular

supply services that SENA plans to offer companies.

In order to access Dual Training processes with SENA, the companies applying must comply with the

following conditions:

1. To have carried out previous analysis of the aspects related to the current state of the

competences of its Human Talent and the expectations and alternatives for its training with

greater levels of pertinence, flexibility, quality and opportunity.

2. Have analysed the characteristics and conditions of Dual Training in the current concept of

SENA

3. Express interest in developing Dual Training processes with SENA for the training of its

Human Talent.

4. To be in possession of Learning Environments - including resources and training materials for

the training process when it is carried out in Learning Environments of the Company.

5. Assign trainers and facilitate their pedagogical and administrative training in the context of

F.P.I. and Dual Training.

6. To jointly agree with SENA the Training Programme in accordance with the needs and

training requirements of the Company.

7. Agree on the alternation scheme. This scheme determines the moments in which the

training process will be developed in Learning Environments of SENA and/or the Company

until the total duration of the Training Programme is completed. The total time allocated for

the training process in the Company will equal or exceed 50% of the total duration of the

Training Programme.

8. The Company will assume, in quantity and quality, a number of learning outcomes

proportional to the total time established for the training process in SENA and in the

Company as contemplated in the alternation scheme.

9. The Company has priority over the general conditions of the application and selection of

trainees. In any case, it will have the advice and support of SENA through the Public

Employment Agencies for the purposes of the application and selection of trainees.

10. The company will sign the "Agreement of Wills" with SENA before starting the training

process.

11. The Company will formalise the learning contract with the trainees from the first to the last

day of the total time of the training process. The amount of support will be determined

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according to what is established in Article 2.2.6.3.4 of Chapter 3 of Decree 1072 from 2015

(page 197). Likewise, to comply with the current regulations for the affiliation of the trainees

to the EPS and ARL.

12. The Company, through its appointed tutors, will develop, together with the SENA teachers,

the Pedagogical Plan, the Learning Guides, the Evaluation Instruments and the didactic

resources required for the training process in the Learning Environments of SENA and of the

Company.

13. The company, through its trainers, will carry out the execution, monitoring, control,

registration and joint evaluation of the training process.

14. The company will participate in the follow-up and adjustment of the Dual training process.

This will be done together with the SENA teachers and delegates, a joint team (Dual Training

Monitoring Committee) made up of the trainers and representatives that the company

consider necessary. Representatives of the trainees should attend this committee.

If the company manifests its interest in carrying out Dual Training processes together with SENA, and

fulfils the conditions established by SENA, the respective "Voluntary Agreement" document must be

signed. In this agreement, the number of trainees for Dual Training processes is established between

twenty-five (25) and thirty (30). In addition, the company must formalise learning contracts for

trainees, which will be settled and paid in equal monthly instalments and will cover trainees from

the first to the last day of the agreed training process.

As mentioned earlier, the training process combines both theoretical and practical aspects, using

SENA and the company as learning environments. According to each particular situation, be it the

learning process in SENA learning environments or in the learning environments of the company,

emphasis may be placed on the theoretical or practical aspect, but in all cases the theoretical-

practical focus will be maintained. In other words, the process will always have a formative character

and will have to rely on the monitoring and regulation of the learning of the group, in charge of the

company, from the point of view of the actions of the trainers assigned in the teaching and

evaluation processes and of the trainees in their learning processes according to that which is

established in the pedagogical planning.

E.1.1 Training levels

The SENA offer with dual training is only being developed for operator, auxiliary and technical

training levels, taking a training time of 6, 12 and 15 months respectively. The company, in addition

to contributing to learning environments, must also provide trainers that are methodologically

trained by SENA who can assume training processes in a proportion equal to or greater than fifty

percent (50%) of the total duration of the agreed training programme.

Specifically regarding the automotive sector, the dual training programme started in 2014 with the

participation of one company, exclusively for the technical level (duration of 15 months), with which

two technician have already been trained. For this specific case and according to the respective

human resources of the participating company, this programme has been successful because:

• The first cohort of graduates were 48 trainees.

• Of the 48 trainees, 27 were directly affiliated with the company.

• The other 21 were affiliated with providers.

This programme is developed in the following way (Table 18):

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Table 18: Distribution of company training hours - SENA, Technical level; Automotive Sector

HOURS TOTAL HOURS % OF TOTAL HOURS

AUTOMOTIVE COMPANY INDUCTION TRAINING COMPANY

110 1122

1419 60%

SENA INDUCTION ENGLISH SENA TRAINING

40 180 561

781 30%

SENA – COACHING – COMPANY

187

187 10%

TOTAL 2200 2200 100% Source: SENA

The students developed 60% of their training, which was a total of 2200 hours, directly in the

automotive company, 30% was SENA training, and the remaining 10% consisted of joint work with

both institutions. As for the financing of this type of education, the company covers the costs of the

trainers, the material and places that are required to develop the training process in the company,

similarly for the training given by SENA, it will cover these costs.

The following table shows key data from the dual training provided by SENA and allied companies

for 2016. The eight companies that form part of dual training belong to the agricultural, textile,

automotive and services sectors. The training that is being taught for the moment is for the levels of

operator and technician. In addition, 90% of the dual training is being developed in Bogotá while the

agricultural sector programme is developed in the region of Antioquia (SENA, 2016); finally, it is

worth noting that the formal sector affiliation rate is approximately 60%.

Table 19: Dual training data 2016

Number of companies

Registered trainees

Certified trainees

Affiliated trainees

Affiliation rate

8 937 508 305 60% Source: SENA 2016.

E.1.2 Sectors

In Colombia, SENA has been involved in dual training in the automotive, textile, agricultural and

services sectors, starting with a company in the automotive sector since 2014, where today there

are 48 technical graduates. The results of this exercise, presented in the previous section, show the

strengthening of the company that implemented the dual training programme within its facilities.

The fact that the training focuses on the needs of companies and students understand first-hand the

productive process of the sector contributes to great advances in sectorial competitiveness,

productivity and employability.

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E.1.3 Dual training strategy

A. DURING THE PLANNING PHASE:

1. Introduce the Dual Training strategy to the Company. (Responsible party: SENA).

2. Gather information on the training needs of the Company. (Responsible party: The company).

Collect the structure of expected performances for the trainees within the auxiliary/operator

or technical complexity level. Use the analytical method and the linguistic form of the Verb

(infinitive + object + condition).

Verify the profile required by the company in relation to the National Classification of

Occupations and the Labour Competence Standards.

3. Appoint SENA technical experts (Area Teachers). (Responsible party: SENA).

4. Appoint the trainers of the company. (Responsible party: The company).

5. Cross the information of the training needs of the Company with the SENA Regular Supply Training

Programmes (Joint Responsibility).

Agree on the Training Programme(s).

Sign the Agreement of Wills and Commitments document.

6. Methodologically train the trainers of the Company. (Joint Responsibility: SENA and the company).

7. Carry out the application, selection and entry process of candidates for the training process. (Joint

Responsibility: SENA and the company).

8. Jointly enrol the training process. (Joint Responsibility: SENA and the company).

9. Perform follow-up and joint and permanent adjustment to the Dual Training process.

B. DURING THE IMPLEMENTATION PHASE:

10. Jointly execute the training process. (Joint Responsibility: SENA and the company).

C. EVALUATION PHASE:

11. Jointly evaluate the training process. (Joint Responsibility: SENA and the company).

12. Jointly evaluate the overall process of Dual Training (Joint Responsibility: SENA and the

company).

E.2 Benefits The benefits of Dual Training for companies lie evidently in the availability of Human Talent trained

according to their needs, which ensures a high level of relevance. With this, companies can increase

their productivity and competitiveness levels in the medium term, save time and effort in terms of

affiliating new Human Talent, and have workers with greater identity, loyalty and organisational

commitment. Likewise, companies benefit from the methodological transfer of teaching-learning-

assessment process management in the approach for competency development. For trainees, Dual

Training represents a much more motivating and effective educational process and increases their

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possibility of access to employment once the training process is completed, which in turn positively

impacts their life projects.

In the same way, SENA is benefited by technological transfer processes by high impact companies,

which affects the updating of the Labour Competence Standards and of the training programmes

while positively impacting aspects of SENA's Comprehensive Vocational Training such as pedagogical

planning and administrative programming as well as didactic strategies for its implementation and

the criteria and strategies for monitoring and evaluation of the formative processes. In general, the

Dual Training positively impacts the quality, opportunity and flexibility aspects of the Comprehensive

Vocational Training processes taught by SENA, which allows Colombia to count on effective

processes of generational renewal of Human Talent, reducing Human Talent gaps and economic

reactivation in certain regions, in addition to facilitating the realisation of the corporate social

responsibility commitment.

It is clear that the Dual Training strategy, in the precise sense of the term, differs in some aspects

from the normal processes of Comprehensive Vocational Training called "Regular Supply", which

also rely on the participation of companies in a number of the cases. The fundamental difference is

that in the case of Dual Training the company provides learning environments and experts from the

technical areas that, once trained methodologically by SENA in terms of management of training

processes in the competency approach, acquire the status of trainers of the company and carry out,

jointly with the SENA instructors, the tasks of planning, executing and evaluating the training process

of the trainees.

The following illustration classifies the benefits for each of the stakeholders in this type of training.

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Figure 3: Benefits of dual training, according to the stakeholders involved

Finally, dual training brings two great advantages for vocational training. The first great advantage is

that it allows all dual training beneficiaries to experience the reality of companies in their daily lives.

This process will give students the ability to develop and perfect the skills needed to perform well

within the company. In contrast, regular SENA training does not guarantee all students a learning

contract, which is a major determinant of the formal employment relationship with a company. The

second advantage is greater flexibility in the training of beneficiaries, since students have greater

flexibility in terms of time in the company and in the classroom, which allows to identify weaknesses

in the daily life of the company and to strengthen them in a focused manner in the classroom.

Flexibility is also reflected within the company, which allows them to capture a more comprehensive

vision of the sector and to evaluate in which area or part of the production process each person fits

better, given their skills and abilities.

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E.3 Challenges Although the development of dual training by SENA has had positive results and a great acceptance

by companies, it is necessary to identify the problems that affect its implementation in order to

focus efforts on overcoming these problems.

Physical and human resources: One problem that may affect the implementation of a dual

training model in Colombia is the investment that the productive sector must make in order

to ensure the success of this training strategy. Companies interested in being part of this

strategy must have physical and human resources to provide all the necessary elements for

the development of training under this model. This implies, under certain scenarios, having

an employee abandon their regular functions within the company's production process to

dedicate themselves to the training and development of students. This is a more relevant

issue if one takes into account the management of SENA in the pilot dual training projects,

since SENA has invested great efforts in providing pedagogical tools to the trainers in order

to carry out training.

Recognition of benefits: In some companies in Colombia, there is a fear of investing in the

training of their employees due to the fact that the competition absorbs the skilled and

trained workforce, so at the end of the process the company that invested in the training of

its workers does not reap the benefits. To overcome this problem, a successful design and

implementation is enough to begin to understand the costs associated with dual training as

an investment in the company and in the productive sector.

Absence of an institutional legal framework: Another problem is the misunderstanding of

the dual training strategy by the productive sector. The concept can be misinterpreted and

allow for the company to only be in search of cheap labour, with no interest in training the

trainees in the productive activities of the company. A strengthened institutional framework

is necessary to prevent this from happening, which allows the channels of communication

between the different stakeholders involved in the training process to be effective. Finally, a

very important factor in the success of a good dual training strategy is a good coordination

between the different stakeholders as well as with the dependencies within SENA. A well-

coordinated institution must be an effective and efficient institution in its response to the

needs of the productive sector, while at the same time it must be more responsive to the

inconveniences and necessary adjustments that occur in the implementation of a dual

training programme.

For the quadrennial of 2015 to 2018, SENA plans, at an internal level, to reach an

institutional conceptual unit and institutional methodology, to structure and implement an

Institutional Policy, including normativity in pedagogical, administrative and legal

procedures, that allow for the institutional formalisation of Dual Training in SENA, and

establish at the level of the General Directorate and the regional offices of SENA, the

organisational infrastructure of physical, human, economic and information resources that

enable the development of Dual Training.

Finally, it is expected that relations will be formalised with the productive associations in

order to design and implement awareness-raising policies aimed at achieving the

commitment and affiliation of Colombian companies to develop, together with SENA, Dual

Training processes. Likewise, it seeks to establish relations with government agencies, both

public and private, aimed at generating policies that regulate and facilitate the

implementation of Dual Training in Colombia (SENA, 2015).

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Acronyms and Abbreviations

APE Agencia Pública de Empleo (Public Employment Agency)

CEPAL Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (Economic Commission for

Latin America and the Caribbean)

CIIU Clasificación Internacional Uniforme (International Standard Classification)

CNO Clasificación Nacional de Ocupaciones (National Classification of Occupations)

DANE Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística (National Administrative

Department of Statistics)

DNP Departamento Nacional de Planeación (National Planning Department)

MEN Ministerio de Educación Nacional (National Ministry of Education)

MNC Marco Nacional de Cualificaciones (National Qualifications Framework)

MNC Marco Nacional de Cualificaciones (National Qualifications Framework)

NCL Normas de Competencia Laboral (Labour Competence Standards)

OIT Organización Internacional del Trabajo (International Labour Organisation)

OLO Observatorio Laboral y Ocupacional del SENA (SENA Labour and Occupational

Observatory)

PILA Planilla Única De Liquidación De Aportes (Single Form of Liquidation of

Contributions)

RH Recursos humanos (Human Resources)

SMLV salario mínimo legal vigente (current legal minimum wage)

SENA Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje (National Service for Vocational Education)

SENNOVA Sistema de Investigación, Desarrollo Tecnológico e Innovación del SENA (SENA

Research, Technological Development and Innovation System)

SISBEN Sistema de Potenciales Beneficiarios para programas sociales.

(Potential Beneficiary System for social programmes)

SNATC Sistema Nacional de Acumulación y Transferencia de Créditos

(National Accumulation and Transfer of Credits System)

SNET Sistema Nacional de Educación Terciaria (National System of Tertiary Education)

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Definitions Public Employment Agency (APE in Colombia): It is the free tool for public labour intermediation so

that Colombians can participate in employment opportunities and employers can find the human

talent they need to fill their vacancies. Likewise, it supports the implementation of active

employment policies, contributing to the achievement of the objectives set by the National

Government for the benefit of the Colombian population.

BIBB - Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung (Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training in

Germany)

Service channels: These are the citizen services provided by SENA through two methods: Procedures

such as Contracting, Registration and Requests and online payments. Also of General Interest such

as PQRS, Characterisation, Frequent questions and web contact.

International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC): According to the DANE, it is a classification of

economic activities by productive processes that classifies statistical units based on their main

economic activity. Its purpose is to provide a set of categories of activities that can be used for the

collection, analysis and presentation of statistics in accordance with those activities.

Learning Contract: It is a special form of Labour Law that seeks to facilitate the development of

learning acquired during the theoretical training stage for trainees and university students, in

exchange for a sponsoring company to provide the means to acquire professional, methodical and

complete training in the trade, activity or occupation. (Law 789, 2002)

Certified training: This type of training is aimed at preparing people to perform trades and

occupations required by the productive and social sectors, in order to meet the needs of the new

talent or qualification of workers - whether or not they are affiliated with the labour market - at the

operational, technical or technological levels. It lasts between 880 and 3,520 hours.

Day Shift: Alternative timetable between 6:00am and 6:00pm.

Morning Shift: Between 10:00pm and 6:00am.

Mixed Shift: Alternative timetable between 6:00am and 6:00pm or between 6:00pm and 10:00pm.

Night Shift: Alternative timetable between 6:00pm and 10:00pm.

Budget Act: According to the Ministry of Finance it is the annual Budget Act for the public sector

which is made up of the following parts: The income budget, the expenditure budget or

appropriations law and provisions. It presents the income estimation as the maximum authorisation

of expenses that the entities must administer throughout the fiscal validity conserving the

destination, object of expense and rent level.

Individual Contribution Liquidation Form (PILA in Colombia): According to the Ministry of Health

and Social Protection – PILA, the template, is an intelligent format that allows all individuals and

companies to pay their contributions to the Social Protection System, i.e. for Health, Pensions,

occupational risks, compensation fund, SENA and ICBF.

Vulnerable Population: According to the Ministry of National Education, it is defined as the group of

people who are in a state of lack of protection or incapacitation in the face of a threat to their

psychological, physical and mental condition, among others. In the educational field, this term refers

to the population group traditionally excluded from the education system because of its

particularities or socioeconomic reasons.

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Technopark Network: This is a SENA technological innovation programme aimed at all Colombians

interested in developing research, development and innovation (R+D+I) projects materialised in

functional prototypes in four technological lines: Electronics and Telecommunications, Virtual

Technologies, Engineering and Design and Nanotechnology Biotechnology, which promote

technology-based entrepreneurship.

TechnoAcademy: Learning scenario, equipped with emerging technologies to develop innovation-

oriented skills through project training. Its target population are the students of basic and secondary

education from public and private educational institutions, as a complementary part of their formal

education and alternative activities for the development of skills in science, technology and

innovation, as well as promoting the development of applied research at an early age with the

application of new technologies as a local and regional development pole.

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COLOMBIA DATA REPORT ON VOCATIONAL ... COLOMBIA DATA REPORT ON VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING 2016 Information and analysis that contribute to the development of Colombian vocational