Exploring links between vocational computing education

and employers in Scotland, Denmark and Japan

Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Travelling Fellowship Report

Karen Scott

Churchill Fellow 2014

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Acknowledgements

I have learnt so much through this project and it has been a privilege to be able to meet so many

teachers and students who have inspirational stories and innovative ideas. It has been a journey of

incredible discovery of the work of individuals, colleges, employers and national organisations which

benefits students now and the economies of the future. The travelling Fellowship would not have

been possible with the support of many people. I thank the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust for

believing in me and awarding me the Fellowship and Jamie Balfour, Julia Weston and staff for their

support. I enjoyed an extraordinarily warm welcome and amazing kindness from everyone I met on

my journey. I would like to thank the following people who gave their time and shared their

wonderful stories.

In Scotland:

Matthew Smith, Frank Duffy, Margaret Millan, Barry Skea and Fiona Mumin of New College

Lanarkshire. Lynn Bain and Scott Fleming of West Lothian College; Gerry Dougan of the College

Development Network who put me in touch with Scottish colleges; Gillian McGovern, of Dundee

and Angus College, who shared ideas with me on my first day in Scotland; Gillian Farrell and

Margaret Crozier, for their feedback on projects.

In Denmark:

Benny Wieland at Frederiksberg Technical College for his comprehensive explanation of the EUX

programme; John Hansen, Hanne Meldgaard, Ib Haubo and staff at Mercantec for a comprehensive

introduction to the data technician course and EUX in practice; Steffen Møller-Birkeholm and Carl

Ove Bridge at Aarhus Tech; Brian Floridon Petersen, Susanne, Ben, Jannik and staff at Syddansk

Erhvervsskole who added an extra dimension by facilitating an employer visit.

In Japan:

Professor Ito, of Suzuka College, whose help with the organisation of my trip was invaluable; Heiga

Zen, senior researcher at Google and ex-student of Professor Ito, who put me in contact with

Professor Ito; Professors Kanadera and Chiba , my guides at the programming contest, and Dr Chida,

its Chairman; Professor Kawaguchi, who took me to visit the university, Professor Nakai and staff at

NIT Suzuka College who helped me to understand the kosen system and links with industry; Dr

Kuwabara, president, and Professor Okabe of NIT Miyakonojo College whose help was vital in

clarifying my understanding; and my interpreters, Keiko, Michio and Ayako.

In the UK, I had help and inspiration from: the Japan Foundation; Tim Driver and Rosie Clayton at the

Studio Schools Trust; Darren Christie at Peterborough Regional College; and the many employers in

Medway who interest in supporting my students inspired this journey.

I need to thank MidKent College, my employer, for supporting me in my work and allowing me the

time to make this journey; thank you also to my BTEC Extended Diploma students for working hard

while I was away.

Lastly, I couldn’t have completed this journey without the love and support of my husband, Brian,

and without the encouragement of my three children Dan, Ben and Bex who constantly inspire me.

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Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 4

Itinerary ................................................................................................................................................... 4

Background to the project ...................................................................................................................... 5

What did I want to learn? ....................................................................................................................... 6

Why Scotland, Denmark and Japan? ...................................................................................................... 6

Scottish projects ...................................................................................................................................... 7

Knowledge Transfer Hub ................................................................................................................ 7

RBS Apprenticeship Scheme at New College Lanarkshire .............................................................. 8

Education into Enterprise (EiE) at West Lothian College .............................................................. 11

Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 12

Denmark Colleges of Technology .......................................................................................................... 13

EUX ................................................................................................................................................ 14

Practice Centres ............................................................................................................................ 20

Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 24

Japanese kōtō-senmon-gakkō (kōsen) – a system of vocational engineering education .................... 25

Kōsen in Japan and colleges of further education in UK compared ............................................. 27

All Japan Programming Contest (Procon) ..................................................................................... 28

Relationships between kōsen and employers .............................................................................. 31

Lessons learnt ....................................................................................................................................... 36

What next? ............................................................................................................................................ 39

Contact details ...................................................................................................................................... 39

References: ........................................................................................................................................... 40

Appendix 1 – Get Britain Smiling Project .............................................................................................. 41

Appendix 2 – Jack’s Garage Project ...................................................................................................... 42

Appendix 3 – Competitions as a form of ‘real world’ experience ........................................................ 43

Appendix 4 – Student involvement in research projects as a form of work experience ...................... 44

Appendix 5 – Student, teacher and employer views on participation in national competition ........... 45

Appendix 6 – All Japan Programming Contest Themed Competition entries ...................................... 47

Appendix 7 – All Japan Programming Contest Original section demonstrations ................................. 49

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Introduction

I was awarded a Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship for 2014 to explore how colleges of

technology work with employers for the benefit of students who have: opted for a vocational

pathway; are studying computing/information engineering/information technology (computing);

and will have the option to progress either to university or straight into the workplace in a related

career. I visited colleges in Denmark, Japan and Scotland to investigate the computing curriculum

and how local employers, especially small enterprises, are involved in its delivery. My report records

snapshots of projects and programmes from the perspective of colleges, teaching staff and students.

The programmes I observed had some common features:

they gave students a potential progression pathway into higher education

students remained on programmes up to the age of around 20

students could make a reasonably straightforward transition into the world of work, in their

chosen career area, equipped with most of the essential skills.

I was originally looking for computing courses for 16-18 year olds, resulting in a potential move into

the workforce. However, the programmes I found all concluded four or five years after compulsory

schooling so 16-21. On all programmes, student could choose to leave after two or three years

(effectively at age 18) and in Scotland and Japan this option sill afforded the choice of university or

work as a progression route.

It was only possible to make contact with a small number of employers through the colleges.

Consequently, this report focuses on the teachers and students of vocational computing/IT/digital

media courses and their perception of links with employers. It is purely observational; recording

what was seen and explained during the course of the Fellowship travels and reflecting on its

significance within the UK vocational system.

Itinerary

June 2014 Scotland

Visits to:

Annual Computing IT and Digital Conference, College Development Network, Stirling

New College Lanarkshire, Motherwell Campus

West Lothian College, Livingston

August 2014 Denmark

Visits to:

Frederiksberg Tech, Copenhagen, Zealand

Mercantec, Viborg, Jutland

Aarhus Tech, Aarhus, Jutland

Syddansk Erhvervsskole, Odense, Funen

October 2014 Japan

Visits to:

All Japan Programming Contest, Ichinoseki, Iwate Prefecture

National Institute of Technology, Suzuka College, Suzuka, Mie Prefecture

National Institute of Technology, Miyakonojo College, Miyakonojo, Miyazaki Prefecture

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Background to the project

In England, a significant proportion of the delivery of full-time learning for the over 16s takes place

within Further Education (FE) provision (House of Commons Education Committee, 2012). Students

taking a full-time vocational computing course, such as the BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma, which is

recognised as preparation for undergraduate study and has a UCAS tariff will often view the course

as a stepping stone into a career in the digital industries.

Many of these students will not want to progress to university, but the full-time vocationally related

course gives them a broad set of knowledge and skills rather than specific industry ready skills.

Consequently, a student who leaves college at 18, after completing a BTEC Level 3, is likely to find it

difficult to secure work in their chosen vocational area. Small to medium sized enterprises often

don’t have the resources to train a young employee and there will often be few trainee/junior

positions with large employers. Student are, however, well equipped to transfer to a higher level

apprenticeship and may be more attracted to a higher level full-time vocational education

programme, such as HND or Foundation Degree where it has a significant element of work-related

learning.

Nationally, demand for computing skills is high, and as the digital economy grows demands will

increase. In order for it to grow successfully, a skills pool must be available. University graduates will

contribute to this pool but with the rising cost of tuition fees and a reluctance to go to university in

some very able students, an increase in alternative means of preparation for a career in this area are

desirable. Vocationally-related full-time courses allow students to gain a deeper knowledge of their

vocational area but, with a narrow curriculum, this can come at the expense of a broader, more

general education which may be useful in preparing students to be more flexible and adaptable in a

changing digital arena. Real work-related experiences can help to broaden the student experience

and to build skills that are valued by employers.

For students on full-time college based courses, opportunities for positive collaboration with

employers, and for realistic work-related experiences, are variable and not guaranteed. The

initiative for employer collaboration is rarely taken by industry (OFSTED, 2010) and, although it is

recognised that students benefit from positive involvement from employers, where funding is not

linked to employer liaison, it may not be a high priority activity for a college to take that initiative.

The systems and resources required to support positive employer liaison are not always in place and

types and levels of engagement are varied across the sector (McCoshan and Otero 2003).

The following report describes projects and systems where successful liaison is evident. Sustained

projects, supported by management, resourced and linking employers with students were observed

in Scotland. In Denmark, a national system, culturally ingrained and so supported by industry,

government and colleges, was already in place. It was possible, however, to observe a new system,

initiated by industry, which attempted to broaden the educational experience of apprentices while

still following an apprenticeship framework, so mixing full-time education with work-based learning.

In Japan, the system was entirely college based with strong involvement from employers through

funding, support for competitions and in careers and progression systems.

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What did I want to learn?

Since 2012, vocational study programmes in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have a

compulsory work-related learning component. This introduced increased levels of employer liaison

for colleges at a time of cuts in funding, leading to problems with resourcing. Finding a work

placement for large numbers of students in one area is difficult and I wanted to find examples of

successful and sustainable work-related activities that were not resource hungry, especially those

that involved the digital industries where the required skills may be less well understood.

For my students, it is often difficult to land that first job and their career path can take them in a

very different directions. Students who find it easier to enter the workplace are generally those who

have taken their learning beyond the classroom, taught themselves extra skills and are therefore

able to show enthusiasm and capability in their vocational area. More students might do this if they

are inspired by contact with industry, can relate it to their learning and can see a purpose to learning

beyond the classroom.

There is much that can be learnt from other vocational subject areas but I wanted to look first at

what is already being done in my own subject area. This may help to illustrate how practice from

other areas might be useful. For example, is it feasible to run a web/app development version of the

training kitchen? If so, how can it work in practice? The Skolepraktik (practice centres) I observed in

Danish technical colleges provided some interesting examples of how this might work in the UK.

Why Scotland, Denmark and Japan?

Scotland’s vocational education system is similar to that of the rest of the UK but, against the

backdrop of a vote for independence and no tuition fees for students up to first degree or HND level,

it was possible that there might be schemes there that were particular to Scotland or to individual

colleges.

Danish colleges of technology have a long tradition of offering vocational education and a new

qualification (referred to as ‘an education’ rather than ‘a qualification’) had recently been

introduced. A new type of course, ‘EUX’ combines academic and vocational education with work-

based learning. I was keen to find out how this was implemented and how colleges worked with

employers in connection with this qualification.

After contacting members of a London group of Japanese software developers I learned about the

‘All Japan Programming Contest’, Procon, to be held in October 2014. Employers were directly

involved in a funding and support capacity and used the event as a recruitment or talent-spotting

opportunity. Competing students were from kōtō-senmon-gakkō (kōsen) colleges of technology,

specialised technical colleges which offer a broad, technical education with excellent progression

into technical careers.

In all three countries I saw full-time vocational education systems of at least four years, which gave

students qualifications that deemed them ready to enter the workplace with minimal training but

also maintained a real progression route to a Bachelor’s degree should they choose to take it.

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Scottish projects

In a report to the Scottish government, commonly known as the Wood Report (2014), it was

recommended that college provision should be ‘increasingly industry facing with significant

elements of work experience and, where that is not practical, work simulation built into all courses’.

I saw examples of this in practice through the New Lanarkshire College ‘Knowledge Transfer Hub’,

cited in the Wood Report (2014) as an example of good practice, an innovative bespoke

apprenticeship program at the same college and, at West Lothian College, an ‘Education into

Enterprise’ scheme which had provided more potential projects from employers than there were

students available to complete them. These initiatives aimed to build opportunities for the

development of ‘real life business projects for students’ and ‘industry relevant case studies and

projects’ (Wood Report, 2014).

Out of the Knowledge Transfer Hub, a student project had been developed. HND in Interactive

Media students were developing a website for a local community project. This was a real, live

project with a brief and with involvement of the project co-ordinator, Gillian, who had been

introduced to college staff through the hub. Another project, Get Britain Smiling, had also arisen

from contacts made through the hub.

Another initiative, which is described below, saw the introduction of a bespoke apprenticeship

scheme developed between the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and New Lanarkshire College. College

lecturer, Frank Duffy had worked with RBS staff to develop a scheme that joined an existing full-time

course with work-based training to allow a group of students to be trained as new employees while

gaining a higher level qualification at the same time. This was an innovative response to a particular

need.

Knowledge Transfer Hub (reported by Matthew Smith, Head of Faculty, Computing and Creative Industries)

Opportunities to provide work-placements and work-related projects for the faculty’s students arise

from two main sources: Matthew’s role as Head of Faculty involved a requirement to liaise with

local industry. Matthew had an obvious belief in the value of this part of his job role and was pro-

active in this area. He was an important part of the Knowledge Transfer Hub, a college initiative that

brought local employers into the college for breakfast meetings and other activities. It was a

business networking initiative, organised and hosted by the college with accommodation specifically

allocated for the purpose.

The hub was set up in 2009 after the merger of three Lanarkshire colleges and when the new college

moved into its current building. At the time of writing it had been established for around five years.

The hub model consisted of monthly breakfast meetings held in a designated room in the college. A

meeting would typically start with a talk or a demonstration on a particular, generic, topic such as

employment law. This would be followed by a networking session which allowed business people to

discuss the topic or to exchange ideas. Some attendees, like Matthew, were members of college

staff who were able to bring a different perspective to the discussions.

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The hub room was made available to small businesses for use for meetings and other events as long

as the business was an active member of the hub, attending regular meetings.

Two notable projects have arisen directly from the hub: a National Certificate (NC) student project to

design a web and social media presence for a fundraising campaign, Get Britain Smiling (Appendix 1);

a HND student project to develop a website for a new Community Interest Company, Jack’s Garage

(Appendix 2).

The Knowledge Transfer Hub was a resource that facilitated the finding of projects with real clients

that could be used for learning and assessment purposes but could also lead to possibilities in taking

the projects forward to completion and eventual business use. Not all projects were

suitable. Clients may sometimes have expectations that were too high. They may have had a real

need to set deadlines that were too short or it may be obvious that the client would not be able to

give personal feedback to the students. Time was needed for staff to build a relationship with the

client in order to ensure continued support and the hub facilitated this.

Points to take forward from the Knowledge Transfer Hub

The hub is a two way collaboration between college and local businesses which, with the right

resources, could work in any college. A college would need to allocate human resources to making

the hub work, attracting local businesses, organising networking events and co-ordinating projects

that arise. Local businesses could then benefit from access to a pool of students with ability to take

on small projects and might expect advice from the college on what might be feasible for a student

project, what might be expected in terms of timescales and where potential funding might come

from. This requires someone like Matthew, with the right knowledge or the ability to identify and

access those with the right knowledge, and a sufficient amount of time allocated to this part of the

job role. The college can benefit from the knowledge shared by local businesses, who also benefit

from this, and can expect that a business that benefits from the hub would actively engage. A key

feature of the hub is the breakfast meeting with talks and networking opportunities. Again, human

resources are required to organise and co-ordinate an event like this and a hub represents a financial

investment that can be evaluated against improvements in employability development.

RBS Apprenticeship Scheme at New College Lanarkshire

New College Lanarkshire and the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), a major national employer with a

large presence in southern Scotland, had developed a bespoke apprenticeship scheme with an

emphasis on software development.

In 2012, RBS took on 10 new software development apprentices. Apprentices entered a scheme

that required them to attend New College, Lanarkshire to complete a Higher National Diploma

(HND) in Computing (Software Development). This arrangement was not, in itself, unusual but it was

not common for apprentices to complete a full HND in two years, the same length of time required

for a full-time student. After two years an apprentice would be expected to have reached a state of

competence and ability required to participate fully in the RBS workplace.

The scheme had a number of benefits:

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an apprentice had options after completion: progress to a full position with RBS; move to

another organisation having achieved a qualification with some currency; continue to the

third year of a degree course through college-university partnership agreements;

RBS had a pool of qualified talent after two years, all of whom had developed the skills

required by RBS in its software development activities, the average age of the software

development workforce would be reduced;

the local economy would eventually benefit from a growing pool of talent to aid expansion

of small, medium and large organisations with a software development function in the area

(that talent would have a breadth of understanding beyond what might be expected of

someone with a standard work-based learning qualification).

The New College Lanarkshire software development apprenticeship programme was developed by

Frank Duffy who, through the support of his Head of Faculty who had facilitated a culture of

flexibility, was able to design and develop the course to suit the needs of both the college and

RBS. As a recognised qualification, the HND attracted funding for the units delivered and this helped

to keep the cost to RBS relatively low, allowing them to take on a higher number of apprentices.

The programme covered the full content of the standard, full-time HND course by dividing the

learning between the college and the workplace. Those parts of the learning that could be done in

the workplace, because they fit naturally with the work that RBS needed the apprentices to do, were

facilitated in the workplace and assessed by observation of working practice and product, borrowing

a technique from NVQs1. Those parts of the course that required written assessment or examination

were assessed at the college.

The HND course needed to be delivered in half the time normally allocated for this type of course.

Some units covered skills that were used routinely in the apprentice’s workplace and these units

were condensed. Other units, where possible, were combined.

Apprentices spent the first four weeks of their placements in college all week. After that they

attended for one long day per week (7.5 hours). To extend the time that apprentices worked in an

educational context, they were set a project to be completed over the summer, when college is

traditionally closed. This was a managed project and required team work and project management

skills. The projects were set by RBS and so had all the characteristics of a real life project but

organised in such a way that it was possible to assess the required skills and knowledge for the

HND topics of project management, testing and development methodologies. RBS ensured that

the projects were relevant for the students; Frank and his team ensured that projects were

completed in such a way that evidence for assessment of the required areas was generated.

Frank reported that the summer projects allowed students to show their initiative and were a good

example of a collaborative project between the college and an employer. This was the first year that

the projects had been run. Frank and his team, students and RBS agreed that the project was

successful and, with modifications, would improve year on year. Frank felt that the evidence

requirements could have been made clearer to students from the start, this would have allowed

them to ensure that they generated evidence as they completed the project rather than, in some

1 National Vocational Qualifications are competence based qualifications use for assessment of work-based

learning throughout the UK.

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cases, having to find ways to evidence something they had already completed. Student projects

were showcased at RBS with positive feedback.

In order to be able to facilitate this project, Frank took a course in Java programming to ensure that

his knowledge was both brought up to date and refined in line with the needs of RBS who use Java in

their software development activities. This then benefits other students in the college whose

learning may be influenced.

Apprentices were selected by RBS, 10 in the first year, 15 in the second. This allowed RBS to select

candidates who met their expectations of a new employee. The success of the scheme will be

measured over a number of years. The ability of RBS to sustain the process of recruiting new

apprentices year on year will be dependent, in part, on the outcome of the first set of apprentices.

As apprentices approached the end of their course, their employers were already able to make a

solid evaluation of their skills and knowledge, course certification was then a further endorsement of

this. At the end of the first two year cycle of apprentices, RBS chose to take all 10 apprentices into

full-time employment. These new young members of the RBS workforce were guaranteed

employment on completion and would have the option to apply internally within RBS for a transfer

to another department or to apply for employment with another organisation. RBS were already

planning a larger cohort, of maybe 40 apprentices, to start later in the year.

Frank and his team were aiming to expand the apprenticeship scheme into a rolling programme and,

in the first instance, to cope with a larger number of RBS apprentices. Then they would aim to start

a similar apprenticeship scheme for a class of apprentices from a mix of local small

employers. There was already agreement with the Open University and with Edinburgh Napier

University to guarantee progression for the scheme’s apprentices to a top up year on a relevant

degree programme, which would give a prospective student the option of distance learning, full-

time study or further day-release study with their employer.

Points to take forward from the RBS apprenticeship scheme

RBS were an Oracle developer and the apprenticeship scheme at New College Lanarkshire was being

used as a pilot for future, similar schemes elsewhere. Other colleges may have the opportunity to

take part in the scheme as it develops and will benefit from learning about it in advance.

As of 2015, the scheme would include apprentices from other financial institutions, bringing some

new challenges in terms of linking the college learning to a number of different workplace

experiences. This has the potential to enrich the course as student share their experiences.

An important part of the expansion of the scheme is dissemination of information about it. I was

introduced to the scheme through Frank’s talk at the Annual Computing IT and Digital Conference,

College Development Network, Stirling and he has since presented at other events where

information can be disseminated to employers. The current scheme is aligned with financial

institutions and with Oracle but there are useful lessons to be learnt for other organisations and

development platforms, especially where a large organisation is able to take the lead and where a

college is able to expand provision to smaller organisations. I hope that this report can be used as a

further vehicle for disseminating information about the potential of the scheme.

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Education into Enterprise (EiE) at West Lothian College

EiE was a three year, business led, work placement programme that provided access to project

based work placements for students studying at Higher National (HN) level or above. This Scottish

Funding Council (SFC) initiative ran from August 2010 until July 2013. The programme was

implemented at West Lothian College, Adam Smith College and Forth Valley College and the

University of Abertay, with support from the Scottish Chamber of Commerce, the Federation of

Small Businesses and the Alliance of Skills Sector Councils. Lynn Bain was employed by West Lothian

College to co-ordinate the scheme, liaising with employers to identify suitable projects for college

students to be involved in. Her role extended to supporting students in preparation for a placement

or project, dealing with issues during the life of the project, and carrying out follow-up activities such

as improved CVs and making new contacts. Lynn worked with academic departments to assess the

suitability of projects and placements for particular sets of students. Through this process a number

of work placements and projects were identified and completed by college students.

The demand from local businesses for students to fill work placements, and for student projects,

outstripped supply. West Lothian College placed 154 students during the scheme. This success was

accredited to the unique approach to partnership working across a range of small-to-medium-sized

enterprises (SMEs), institutions and industry sectors. The reputation of the college among the local

business community, and wider stakeholders, was enhanced and the college gained recognition for

its achievements from the College Development Network and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of

Education.

Employers were enthusiastic about the programme and opportunities to develop working

partnerships further were evident. Projects were supported and led by the needs of businesses,

were outcome focussed and were time bound, meeting both the business requirements and student

availability. Micky Cooper, a local employer, stated: “…In a time of economic downturn small

businesses are reliant on programmes such as this to support their business as it strives to grow as

much as it is important for the student to gain a reference and experience working in the corporate

field. … I sincerely hope this project is extended and I will continue to support the College as much as I

can.”

The success of the programme was heavily dependent on having in place a dedicated, full-time co-

ordinator who, through programme funding, was able to provide the time and resources to fully

prepare students for the work placement experience. Student engagement, as a result, was strong.

Liaising with academic staff, Lynn was able to gain understanding of the curriculum, course content

and students’ skills and requirements. This helped her to source meaningful placements and to be

able to advise on the content of project based placement outputs so that they could be used for

course work submission. Academic staff had an important role to play in evaluating potential

projects, matching the skills at the level that their students had so far developed with the projects

that require those skills. They also benefitted from improved access to links with industries relevant

to their sector specialism and they were encouraged to increase engagement with employers.

The co-ordinator’s liaison role helped to build strong, sustainable relationships with local business

and organisations, being beneficial to the reputation of West Lothian College and providing an array

of opportunities for partnership working. These organisation included West Lothian Council, Job

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Centre Plus, the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations and Servoca Events & Security. Work

placement opportunities, specifically among the SME community were particularly valued and some

students were paid for their work or subsequently gained employment.

Student feedback was ‘exceptionally positive’ with students identifying the development of soft skills

as the greatest benefit. These skills included: understanding of their chosen industry; a boost in

confidence; the opportunity to apply their learning; CV/portfolio development; and supported

coursework submissions.

Points to take forward from EiE

The outcome of this scheme suggests that there are plenty of opportunity for students to find real-

life projects if resources are allocated to having enough manpower available to find and develop the

opportunities. The EiE scheme created many opportunities, although not many of these were fully

related to computing. A scheme aiming to target computing students would require some expertise

to be placed at the interface between students and businesses.

This scheme was funded by the Scottish Funding Council whose equivalent south of the border at

the present time is the Skills Funding Agency. From 2013, colleges in England are required to

provide ‘Study Programmes’ which must include at least 30 hours of work-related experience.

Investment in a scheme similar to EiE would help colleges to put the resources, targeted at particular

vocational sectors, in place to meet this target.

Summary

The two colleges I visited in Scotland afforded the opportunity to learn about a number of initiatives

where individual departments or members of staff had worked to build relationships with employers

in order to identify and implement projects for the benefit of students. Even the Enterprise into

Education initiative, funded at a higher level, depended heavily on the co-operation of staff within

the college to make the connections and to work together to ensure that projects benefited

students both in terms of work-related learning and in terms of their college based vocational

learning and assessment. Similarly, the Knowledge Transfer Hub, the projects that have arisen from

it, and the RBS apprenticeship scheme, have relied for their success on the work of individuals who

have ensured that student projects provided effective work-related experiences, while at the same

time enhancing their learning and assessment. Each initiative has depended on someone having

some time, subject knowledge and drive, to develop relationships, to ensure that projects are

suitable, and to sustain these relationships going forward.

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Denmark Colleges of Technology

Denmark has a solid tradition of vocational education provision. There is a national committee of

three partners: industry, vocational colleges and the Danish Ministry of Education. Industry is

represented through professional bodies, sector skills councils and trade unions. Each partner is

able to bring its own perspective to the table to review and reform vocational education and to

advise the Ministry. The Ministry then holds the power to set the laws and the budget for

education.

Vocational education is valued by industry, by government and by the population. All young people

who have completed nine years of compulsory schooling are entitled to participate in upper

secondary school education. Over 50% of young people, who stay in education after completion of

compulsory schooling, will complete some form of initial vocational education and training (VET).

The rest will follow a three year academic pathway designed to prepare them for entrance to

university, this education may be technical (højere teknisk eksamen, HTX), commercial (højere

handelseksamen, HHX) or general (Studentereksamen, STX). Despite this, and in line with our

education system here in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, if a student is considered capable of

completing an academic education they are likely to be strongly encouraged to do so. Vocational

training in technical education colleges is almost entirely delivered through a system of college

education coupled with extensive work placements. Each vocational student is expected to agree a

contract with an employer for an apprenticeship that will last the full term of their vocational

education. The term is variable, depending on the vocational area and may last between two-and-a-

half and four-and-a-half years. Courses are arranged in alternating blocks of college learning and

work placement, culminating in a college block where the student undergoes their final assessment.

The skills councils and the unions for each industry sector will decide the length of the course and

the length of each of the different types of block.

This type of course has been in existence for a number of years now and employers are keen to take

on apprentices for two main reasons: they know what the student will be learning and what they can

be expected to be able to do at each stage; there are national financial incentives for taking on

apprentices. All companies employing at least one skilled worker must pay into a training fund.

When a company employs an apprentice they must pay the apprentice a standard youth wage for

both the work placement and the college learning blocks. The cost of the wages can be reclaimed,

through tax rebates, from the training fund. Thus, there is no great cost to the company. Public

organisations such as hospitals, universities, schools, councils and others, are obliged to take on a set

number of apprentices in each relevant vocational area in proportion to the number of full-time

workers in that area. This means that there are almost enough places for every student who needs

to find an apprenticeship position and that places are not confined to large companies. Even a very

small business will be part of the contribution system and is entitled to a funded apprenticeship

place. Country-specific recommendations, from the European Union, for reform of education

systems, suggest that the number of apprentices should be increased further.

I visited three colleges in Denmark to discuss and observe a new type of vocational programme, the

EUX, in practice. Mercantec, in Viborg was a pioneer of the EUX programme which I also saw in

action at Aarhus Tech and Syddansk Erhvervsskole in Odense.

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EUX

The idea for the EUX Diploma was initiated by industry. Five large companies, all with a tradition of

taking on large numbers of apprentices and including Grundfos and Danfoss, identified a common

problem with the technically educated workforce which stemmed in part from the two separate

education pathways through which a Danish worker might progress. The technical academic

programme (HTX) is aimed at those students who will progress to higher education, in a similar way

to our GCE Advanced Level programmes. The education focuses on academic skills and is knowledge

driven. Students develop good theoretical knowledge and qualify to become engineers and

technical managers. This group may include innovators of the future. However, these students have

little or no practical experience, particularly lacking in the skills in those areas in which they work.

For example: a mechanical engineer may have no experience of welding; an architect may have no

experience of carpentry or construction. This can mean that the engineer or architect may design or

plan something that either can’t be made or will not function as expected. A skilled welder or

carpenter will know the materials and the processes but may not have the vocabulary or knowledge

to see the overall picture.

VET programmes, such as the Data Technician programme for the IT industry, and similar

programmes in other vocational areas, allow students to progress their basic education and to learn

theory and practice relevant to the IT and Data industry. A student will complete a 20 week basic

course, which will cover some general education (Danish, mathematics, technology, English, social

studies) and specialist IT study. At the end of this period of basic training the student must have

reached a level of competence specified by the agreed competencies and skills for that vocational

area. The student must pass the basic course in order to progress to their main course and take up

an internship. The main course for Data Technician lasts for four-and-a-half years, in alternating

blocks of college based and work based learning. The proportion of each is set by the data industry

skills council. The programme has two pathways: network infrastructure and software. A college

may offer one or both pathways depending on local industry needs.

A student educated in this way will have useful skills that will qualify him/her, both intellectually and

practically, to work as a skilled worker in his/her chosen sector. In Denmark you cannot work as a

skilled worker without an appropriate qualification. However, the student will not have a

qualification that will allow him/her to progress to become an engineer or a middle manager. To be

able to do this they will need to take a course of higher education, for which they will need to take

the high school diploma (HTX, HHX or STX). This would require them to go back to high school and

to complete another three years of study.

The EUX qualification is designed to fill the gap, to improve the relevant skills of future engineers

and managers and to increase the opportunity for skilled practitioners to progress to university

without further study if they choose.

In 2005, Mercantec was the first technical college to run a hybrid qualification which essentially just

combined the three year HTX and an initial VET programme, erhvervsuddannelser (EUD). This

resulted in a programme that could last as long as seven or eight years depending on the vocational

area. This pilot programme ran with a small group of students with contracts at Grundfos which

they kept throughout the course.

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Realising that up to eight years is a long time for a student to be aiming towards one qualification

and a long time for a company to be supporting them as an apprentice, a shorter alternative was

designed, the EUD-HTX (EUX). This course keeps all the characteristics of the four-and-a-half year

Data Technician VET course but adds an extra year to its length, during which an academic education

similar to the HTX is integrated. What this means is that a student has to complete the academic

part in significantly less time than the three years normally allocated for HTX. It is assumed that the

gaps will be filled by learning that happens naturally in the workplace but, in essence, this course is

aimed to attract the brightest students into vocational education as well as to give those students

capable of an academic education, but preferring to take the vocational route, another option.

EUX students complete an initial school based year (around 40 weeks) in which they complete the

normal 20 week basic course for the Data Technician VET course along with 20 weeks of academic

study. To pass this first year, a student must pass the basic course and must pass six HTX subjects

(Danish, mathematics, English, social studies, physics and technology) at C-level (which is the level a

student in high school would be expected to achieve with around 75 hours of teaching). A EUX

student would spend less than 75% of this time on each subject area. On successful completion of

the first year, EUX students then start an adapted Data Technician internship programme with a

company lasting four-and-a-half years and incorporating a higher proportion of college based

learning.

To make time for the academic part of the course, the time spent working in a company is reduced

meaning that the student is away from the workplace, while still being paid by the company, for an

extended amount of time. This brings some problems in terms of getting companies to take EUX

students, especially where there is a plentiful supply of VET Data Technician students who require

much shorter blocks of college based learning.

The course is still in its infancy and student numbers are still small nationally but it has the firm

support of some large employers, unions and the Danish government.

A EUX programme needs careful planning. There are a number of different EUX groups taking

different technology subjects with varying course lengths. Each group has to spend the required

number of blocked weeks with the HTX department. In the first year of each student’s course the

HTX teaching for EUX students is different from that for the HTX students in two ways:

EUX students have their HTX study modules geared towards their vocational area (for

example, carpentry students will study mathematics relevant to carpentry).

EUX student must progress more quickly in the subjects they study in common with

students on the HTX study programme as they have less study time but must reach the

same level as other students in order to pass the examinations in each subject.

Each HTX subject teacher, whether they teach Danish, Technology, Mathematics, English or Social

Studies, needs to be able to plan their lessons for the vocational field for the class and to be careful

not to cover outcomes that are already covered in the basic course. Members of teaching staff, of

necessity, work flexibly and may have a very full timetable for a number of weeks followed by a very

light one.

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College based and work based blocks must be planned so that a manageable number of classes are

in school at any one time. Logistically, this is highly complex and a EUX co-ordinator is employed to

ensure that all this is in place and then to ensure communication with every department in order to

ensure that everyone knows who will be taught when. The EUX co-ordinator is also responsible for

ensuring quality through liaison with sector skills councils and with vocational and academic

teaching staff, marketing and planned management of college resources to enable programmes to

run smoothly.

EUX courses, as well as VET courses, depend on the availability of suitable internships. Students are

responsible for finding and applying for internships and colleges need to build and maintain close

links with industry in order to help ensure that internships are suitable and are available. Any

college offering VET and EUX courses will need an employment consultant (employer liaison officer)

as well as a EUX co-ordinator for each vocational area. These two roles are crucial in helping to

ensure that enough work placements are available and that employers are willing and able to take

on students.

I was able to discuss the implementation of the EUX program in three colleges of technology:

Mercantec, in Viborg, Aarhus Tec and Syddansk Erhvervsskole in Odense.

EUX at Mercantec

At Mercantec I visited the House of Technology, led by John Hansen. The number of EUX students at

Mercantec was quite small at the time but the programme had firm government support and

numbers were expected to rise. As numbers rise, so the complexity of the co-ordination would

increase.

Kristine was employed three days per week, during which she maintained a complex spreadsheet

showing the organisation of all EUX groups throughout the year. At any one time some students

would be in college and some would be on placement. A Data Technician EUX student would

complete six college based blocks of learning after their initial year. During each block a student

would complete vocational learning in the IT and Data department and academic learning in the HTX

department. This must be carefully co-ordinated so that all members of teaching staff knew which

groups they had in any given week. The plan for the year was confirmed before the year began and

the plan for the following year would be finalised as soon as possible after this. A member of the

vocational teaching team would have students at different stages of their learning and a member of

the academic team would need to manage the teaching of subjects to the same level for HTX and

EUX students but in different ways and at a different pace. A EUX student would expect their

academic learning to be more tailored to their vocational subject area and would have less time to

reach the same standard as a HTX student.

At Mercantec, around eight to ten people were employed full-time as educational consultants,

whose role it was to liaise with employers in order to create new work-placement opportunities.

This helps to expand the core business of the college. Some funding was available specifically for

finding internships.

Ib worked three days per week as an employment consultant, working the other two days each

week teaching in the technology department. This meant that he was able to maintain an

17 | P a g e

evaluation of student abilities and, maybe, suitability for particular types of internship. Ib’s job was

to find new internships and to maintain existing ones. He used a national database to find

companies who did not currently have an apprentice. Some companies may have had apprentices in

the past and just needed a little persuading or negotiation to take on another. Some companies may

not yet have been approved to take apprentices and Ib might help them through the approval

process.

The job involved a fair amount of persuasion to encourage companies to take on an apprentice. Ib’s

approach was to help companies to think about where they got their trained, skilled labour force

and where these workers were trained. He might then suggest that the company had benefitted

from another company investing in the training of an apprentice and that, maybe, it was now their

turn to help out.

The ideal situation was that a student would negotiate an internship for the duration of their course.

For a Data Technician, this was four-and-a-half years. During this time there would be long periods

of time when the student was not available for work as he/she would be completing college based

blocks. Where this might cause a real problem for a company, a small number of students might

complete an apprenticeship with a number of different employers.

Where a job would require a particular level of skill before a student was able to function usefully in

the workplace, which was particularly pertinent to companies that take on programming apprentices

from the Data Technician course, a student may only start an internship part way through their

course. For this reason, it was sometimes the case that a student completes an internship for the

first two or three years of their course and then was taken up by another company for the final two

or three years. Alternatively, the student may have spent some time in the college practice centre

before taking up an internship.

A company may agree to take a series of students at a particular place in their vocational course (for

example, four final year students for one year each rather than one student for four years). Ib was

constantly looking for flexible solutions to these problems. The practice centre was one small part of

a flexible solution.

EUX at Syddansk Erhvervsskole

Syddansk Erhvervsskole had an intake this year of 50 EUX Data Technician students onto its

programme supervised by Brian Floridon Petersen. At the time of writing there were no entry

requirements for a VET or EUX course at a Danish college of technology, except for the completion

of nine years of compulsory education and not all would pass the basic course2. Those who did pass

the basic course would then be expected to find or take an offer of a placement and to sign a

contract with a company.

Pietr was the employment consultant for the IT department who would source new companies,

checking that any company taking on an apprentice was able to give them access to the right skills in

relation to the course they were doing, this role was vital in ensuring the success of either VET or

EUX qualification as without the work based learning element the system does not work. It

2. From 2015, all students progressing to a VET or EUX course need to have already achieved grade C in Danish

and in mathematics.

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was generally more usual for companies to contact him than for him to make cold calls although

companies would generally be looking for VET students rather than EUX, especially those students

on the shorter IT Supporter course3 rather than the lengthy EUX. Pietr needed to convince

companies that they should take on EUX apprentices. This was quite difficult as a EUX student

would spend significantly more time in college than would a VET student and this could be a

problem for the company which would then encounter lengthy periods of time when there were

fewer employees available. Companies taking on a EUX apprentice would also be taking on a

commitment to support the student for four-and-a-half years. A VET student would often be taken

on for the two-and-a-half year IT Supporter part of the course and then would be retained, if

successful, for the Data Technician part, giving the company a bit more flexibility. These problems

were reported by all colleges visited. Ben, who co-ordinated the EUX, would keep track of which

students were in college and which were on placement and it was possible to coordinate placements

so that a company could have students on a rotational basis, keeping posts covered for as much of

the year as possible.

There were some policies in place that were helpful to the college in terms of encouraging

employers to take on apprentices. A large, publicly funded organisation such as the University of

Southern Denmark must have a minimum of 10% of their relevant workforce (those areas where an

apprentice can work) as apprentices. Any private contractors working at the university must also

have 10% of their employees as apprentices. These policies helped to reinforce the importance of

training of the future workforce and the responsibility of industry to be fully involved in this process.

EUX at Aarhus

Students at Aarhus Tech would start a Data Technician VET or EUX course at age 15 starting, as at

the other colleges, with the basic course. Aarhus Tech offered, among its many courses, the two-

and-a-half year IT Supporter VET, the four-and-a-half year Data Technician EUD, which incorporated

the IT Supporter, and the five-and-a-half year Data Technician EUX, which had a higher proportion of

academic learning and allowed progression to higher education with no further qualifications

needed.

At Aarhus Tech there was a large intake on the first year of the VET and EUX courses but the

numbers would reduce in later years. This was caused by a number of factors but a significant factor

was the availability of work placements. On completion of the basic course, all students were

expected to start on a period of work based learning with an employer who they would stay with for

the duration of their course. The two-and-a-half year IT Supporter course was often well

supported. Placements were short and the type of work required, mostly maintenance and

configuration of computer systems, was responsive and fairly constant. It was knowledge-based and

required problem solving skills but the work was within the capabilities of a first or second year

student and there was a good turnover of this work. All students started by completing the IT

Supporter curriculum. Those students who then progressed to the Data Technician course must

either continue their placement, the preferred strategy, or find an employer who was willing to

support them through the next two years of the course. From the employer's point of view, the

student must be productive enough to earn the position. At this stage much of the work, for a Data

3 This is the first two-and-a-half years of the Data Technician programme and is a VET qualification in its own

right, although not for EUX students who follow the programme but don’t qualify.

19 | P a g e

Technician following the software pathway, might be software based and students would be

expected to work on projects. The organisation of the course could then mean that the student

starts working on a project part way through or that they leave to take a block of college learning

before the project has ended. This was not the most satisfying situation for employer or student and

meant that it could be more problematic to find placements for a Data Technician student, especially

one specialising in software.

Head of Department, Carl Ove Bridge, explained that technician level careers, such as IT supporter,

required a basic education and relevant skills training but that technologist level careers, such as

data technician, required a vocational diploma and at least a high school education. The EUX fit this

model well and gave students the option of a shorter route into higher education, or a higher

starting point in the employment market. However, even in the established industries such as the

motor industry, there was still some way to go to persuade employers that the EUX course was a

good thing and that they should support it by providing work placements.

A significant problem, again, was the length of time that a EUX student needed to spend in school. It

left an employer with a gap that was difficult to fill as it needed also to be left open for the student

to come back to. This problem could be lessened if there were two intakes per year. A six month

work placement could be continued, when the student returned to college, by another student just

starting their block. There would be some problems with a hand over from one student with six

months experience to another with no experience but it might alleviate the problem of filling spaces

on projects. However, if this were to happen, then a higher intake than currently existed would be

required.

If a EUX student did not secure a work placement by the end of the first year, then they may not be

able to continue. Some of these students may have achieved the Danish and mathematics grades

needed for higher education in this first year and so the year would not have been wasted and for

others a transfer to the VET course, where the work placement may be easier to find, might be an

option.

Aarhus Tech had an aim to get half of all students into overseas placements each year and

international co-ordinator, Steffen, was employed to source and help organise placements.

For some students the employer contract was successful and a placement was maintained through

the entire length of the Data Technician course, four-and-a-half years. One VET student had a

contract with a small company which employed six people and provided IT support to around 100

customers. He had been employed with the same company throughout the course, completing the

network infrastructure pathway, and would be employed by the company at the end of the

course. The company would have a new full-time employee whose skills were known and were

tailored to the needs of the employer. This was the ideal progression scenario. This company may

not have been able to take a EUX student due to the time organisation of the course.

The EUX was still in the early stages and numbers may rise, allowing a second intake and the

possibility of shared placements. Important aspects of the EUX programme of study were the

academic curriculum, delivered alongside the vocational curriculum, the lengthened blocks of

learning and the practice centre which provided a safety net for a limited number of able students

who might otherwise have had to leave the course due to lack of a placement. Although the role of

20 | P a g e

the practice centre was to provide the safety net and to have a small reserve of able students who

could take up immediate work placements as they arose, Steffen was able to identify some areas of

development that might allow the practice centre to expand its activities and maybe to then cater

for a larger number of students. It was felt that due to the nature of the Data Technician curriculum,

for either the software or the network infrastructure pathway, a higher level of knowledge and skill

was required before the student was able to do any useful work. A company that could provide a

placement for a student once they are in the second half of their course may not have anything

suitable for a younger, less experienced student. In this case, the practice centre could provide a

simulated environment which would allow the student to progress and build their skills during the IT

Supporter stage and to be ready to take up a work placement in the Data Technician

stage. Although there was no discrete 'IT Supporter' stage in the EUX course, a similar pattern

applied and a student may not be ready for a particular placement until they had completed enough

learning and work experience.

Points to take forward from the EUX system

An EUX student gets a broad mix of academic and vocational education alongside the practical

experience afforded by the internship. This course bridges the gap between vocational and

academic in a very practical way. I see this idea being implemented in England through the 14-19

curriculum, to a certain extent, through the University Technical College system where education

and industry are expected to work together to provide a practical, work-related vocational education

alongside an academic component. The UTC scheme, however, may be limited by the level of

maturity of its students covering, as it does, Key Stages 4 and 54. EUX offers an example of a system

covering Key Stage 5 and undergraduate level study which makes accessibility to the workplace less

problematic and results in graduates who are mature enough to make a successful transition to the

workplace. There is potential to develop existing Level 3, 4 and even 5 courses to work in a system

such as this, in a similar way to the RBS apprenticeship scheme at New Lanarkshire College. A

mixture of private funding, from the industries benefiting from the scheme, and public funding,

targeted at ensuring the delivery of a high quality academic and vocational education, could work.

This type of scheme is, I feel, particularly needed in software development industries where a high

level of problem solving skill, developed through experience alongside education, is essential. The

success of such as scheme would, in part, depend on having a dedicated co-ordinator able to ensure

the availability of a range of academic and vocational subjects within the wider college system.

Practice Centres

The practice centre was a small but key part of VET and EUX programmes. Each vocational area has

a practice centre in each college with a limited number of places. Students can be allocated a place

in the practice centre if they have not been able to secure a contract with an employer but they will

need to apply and be selected in a similar way to the application for a contract. Students in the

practice centre will need to be flexible, independent and ready to take on a variety of projects.

4 The Key Stage 4 curriculum leads to GCSE level qualifications and Key Stage 5 to Advanced Level equivalent.

21 | P a g e

Practice centre at Syddansk Erhvervsskole

The practice centre was a simulated work environment provided for students who had not been

successful in gaining a placement. It provided projects for students to work on, sometimes with real

clients, and was supervised by a technician who was an ex-student. Having been a student on the

same course as his apprentices, Kenny was able to consider things he felt would have been

beneficial to him as a student and was able to implement new ideas.

The practice centre had run projects such as promotional events for the college, involving the use of

equipment, and showcase demonstrations for schools. Students had also provided user support for

a scheme aimed at helping the elderly to become computer literate and to access the internet.

These projects allowed students to develop customer service skills, which an apprentice in the work

place may not have had the opportunity to develop. One student, Martin, had been ‘rented out’

(sic) to the local hospital for a two week placement where he had helped to provide user support for

a new mobile IT system. The hospital had just rolled the new system out and there was,

consequently, a higher than normal need for user support. The opportunity to allow apprentices to

be rented out, to fill a need with a local organisation, was a model that was being built on. Short

term placements could fulfil an immediate manpower need or might allow a company to try out an

apprentice for a short while without making a full commitment. If the trial went well it may then

lead to a full placement being offered where the company knew what they were getting.

Another student, Mustafa, was repairing a server computer for the college’s IT teaching department

(in effect, he was providing a technician role for the department, separate from the college’s main IT

department). Mustafa had completed two years of the Data Technician VET course and had

experienced one of the problems encountered by apprentices, that their placement was suitable for

the first part of the course, IT Supporter, but did not have the depth of coverage suitable for the

more demanding network infrastructure part of the Data Technician course. He felt that there were

benefits to working in the practice centre, despite having a lower income (students were still paid as

apprentices but at a lower rate). He had, he said, the opportunity to participate in a wider range of

projects than might be possible when working for one company and also to work with a wider range

of hardware platforms. His work, similar to other students in the centre, involved

repairing/refurbishing hardware for use in classrooms for teaching hardware maintenance. He also

went out to local schools and events to set up equipment for demonstration purposes.

Mathias, was about to start a placement through the ‘rented’ apprenticeships scheme for two

months during which the company would decide if they would be able to take him on as a

permanent apprentice. He had just built a demonstration unit to take to schools and science fairs to

show how a computer works. He was a little disappointed that although he had been part of the

building team, he would not be available to show the product at forthcoming events due to taking

up his ‘rented’ out placement.

The practice centre had limited places and was reserved for better students, those who worked hard

and were good independent learners. Students must apply for a place in the practice centre as they

would apply for a place at a company. For most it was seen as an interim solution while they tried to

secure a contract for an apprenticeship. Students in the practice centre must demonstrate that they

had applied for 10-15 placements each month and must apply for any placement that the college

22 | P a g e

passes to them. Although the practice centre was not a financially viable company, it did have its

place and was being built into a useful resource for the local community.

Practice centre at Mercantec

Each school within the college set up its own practice centre and students who had not been able to

secure an internship would spend some of their work based blocks here. This was not a centre for

all students who did not have an internship, there were too many of them. Only the best students,

who had not yet secured an internship, or whose internship had not continued for some reason,

were employed here. The working conditions were designed to mirror the workplace and students

were given projects to work on, which may have come from outside organisations, from a need

within the college or from an existing project.

At Mercantec, apprentices in the practice centre were working on a project to refurbish computers

to send to Africa. Computers were repaired and prepared for new use in African countries. When

the computers were ready for sending a deal must be made to ensure that the same number of

computers were brought back. These might be further refurbished, if this were possible, or disposed

of following appropriate regulations. Apprentices were fully involved in the activities required for

this project.

Another project involved apprentices developing a website for a young enterprise project in a local

school. The school children had the enterprise idea and the apprentices built them a website.

These projects were initiated and supervised by those who worked in the practice centre as

supervisors. There was a member of staff in place at all times in the practice centre, to manage it

and to supervise the work that students did. Students would have similar experiences of dealing

with customers or of working on projects to deadlines as in a real workplace, although the practice

centre could not have paying customers and lacked a specific business focus. Any student who was

given a place in the practice centre was expected to apply for all relevant apprenticeship vacancies

as they came up.

In the practice centre I met Peter, a EUX student who was developing a portal for a coaching

company. He was writing C# and XML code and he told me that he was self-taught in these

technologies. Mathias was developing an iOS app that would show videos, events and a

newsfeed. He was using php which he had taught himself, and Swift which he was currently

teaching himself. He was working with Tobias who was also teaching himself Swift and was

developing the login function. Mathias and Tobias were able to support each other

These were real, or simulated real, projects although a realistic deadline was difficult to set as the

self-teaching nature of the skills development meant that a set finish date was not within reach at

the moment.

Marco, who was following the network infrastructure pathway, had a variety of tasks, mostly user

support within the college, and he supported hardware problems where the opportunity arose. He

was able to provide support for any platform necessary having taught himself about various

technologies. He felt that the basic course, completed as part of his vocational course, had helped

23 | P a g e

to improve his knowledge and that opportunities to solve different types of problem were helping

him to expand his knowledge of different technologies.

Practice centre at Aarhus Tech

Data Technician students were expected to complete a full apprenticeship for the duration of their

course. For most students it was a condition of continuation on their course of study that they had

an employer with whom they spent the work based blocks of their course. For some students, the

employment contract did not work out and there were some very able students who may have lost

the opportunity to complete their course because of this. Aarhus Tech had a practice centre where

a member of staff, called an 'inspector', who had completed the IT Supporter qualification himself,

worked with the brighter students who did not have placements. The idea of the practice centre

was to simulate the workplace and students here maintained computers for use in the IT

classrooms. These computers were not 'college' computers but lab computers used for learning of

practical maintenance and installation skills within the classroom setting.

This group of learners also maintained computers for use by an organisation that delivers a 'Senior

Computers' program, similar to a scheme called 'Silver Surfers' that I have observed in Kent,

designed to demystify use of the internet for the older population. This scheme was funded and run

by the local community and the work was carried out by agreement rather than by contract. It was

felt that this function could be extended to agreements to provide and maintain equipment for after

school clubs and other similar activities. This would promote the work of the practice centre in the

community and could then open up the possibility of other agreements. A vital aspect of the

organisation of the practice centre was that it must have someone in charge with the skills needed

to ensure that the jobs taken on by the centre could be completed properly. The 'inspector' had

completed the vocational education and work experience required to take on this role.

Points to take forward from the practice centres

A practice centre would be a valuable asset for any college of further education. UK further

education colleges tend to offer courses in a wide range of vocational areas. In my own college we

have a training hair and beauty salon, restaurant and travel shop, all of which are customer facing.

An enterprise, funded by the college, brings in digital design and web development work from

commercial customers for short term student projects.

A practice centre that affords the opportunity for students to work alongside a full-time professional

software developer with a strong guarantee of a flow of projects from charities and community

groups funded through grants, as well as a few projects from paying customers would, I believe, be

feasible. The EiE programme in Scotland demonstrated that there are plenty of potential projects

and the Knowledge Transfer Hub showed that businesses can be attracted into working with the

college. A practice centre may be able to provide some software development services to

companies and, potentially, could provide a pool of talent to be ‘loaned’ or transferred. With a

suitably experienced person dedicated to working with the local community to pull in projects and

interest, it would also be possible to set up a scheme where experts can work on short term projects

with students, the idea of ‘visiting experts’ to work with students in the training centre. This person

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would need to have knowledge of the industry, of software development and of the ability of the

students and so would need to work closely with the college as well as the community and local

employers.

Summary

The EUX programme was an interesting one to observe. Running alongside a well-established

apprenticeship scheme its objective was to widen the general education of vocational students, to

prepare them for more managerial positions later in life, while maintaining a solid, work based

learning programme, characteristic of an effective vocational education.

The co-ordination of vocational and academic teaching in alternating blocks with work based

learning was supported by the practice centre, which compensated for some of the problems

introduced by the lengthy college based learning component. The practice centres offered some

interesting examples of opportunities to expand employer links beyond the traditional internship

relationship to community based projects.

This model might relate easily to countries such as the UK with a very different system of vocational

education. However, funding for vocational education in the UK falls quite a way behind that found

in countries such as Denmark and a mixture of private and public funding would be necessary. A

small social enterprise working alongside a college, effectively operating as an employer for

apprentices completing their education at the college, would be a feasible model, a software

development version of Jack’s Garage (see Appendix 2).

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Japanese kōtō-senmon-gakkō (kōsen) – a system of vocational engineering education

The purpose of a kōsen is to provide technical training through a combination of theoretical

knowledge, general education and technical practice. A kōsen graduate is sought after by industries

requiring engineering skills, with an average of 15-20 job offers being made for each graduate

looking to move into the workplace at the end of each academic year. This figure was reported by

both kōsen I visited, and by kōsen teachers I met at the programming contest.

There are three kinds of kōsen: public, private, national; categorised by funding and governance.

Public kōsen are supported by the prefecture or city in which they are situated, private kōsen are

independent and national kōsen are members of the National Institute of Technology (formerly the

National Colleges of Technology). I visited two kōsen, Suzuka College, where I was guided by

Professor Ito to see this education system in practice, and Miyakonojo College, where the college’s

President Kuwabara, allowed me to learn about the same education system in a different context.

Both colleges are campuses of the National Institute of Technology.

The over-arching body, the National Institute of Technology, operates as one institution with 53

separate campuses across the country. This means that there is a national consistency between

graduates of kōsen, which allows industry to expect a particular level of ability and skill from

graduates wherever they are educated. Large companies may recruit from any kōsen, giving

graduates the flexibility to choose to work near home or to migrate to where work may be more

challenging and provide more opportunities. There is, however, an understanding that graduates

will not leave kōsen fully equipped with the required skills for whichever particular company they

choose to work for. A period of further training will be provided by the company.

The five year course comprises a general education and a vocational education, in one particular

field of engineering, combined. The proportion of general to vocational education decreases as the

student progresses through the course but there is an element of general education at all stages.

There is also a full programme of after school activities in each kōsen, in which students are

encouraged to participate.

After three years of study a kōsen student will have the option to transfer to university to start a

four year degree course, as they would if they had chosen to study at a senior high school. For those

that continue at kōsen, the vast majority, the course becomes more vocational in nature, while

retaining an element of general education. After five years a kōsen student can transfer to

university to the final two years of the degree course, effectively ending up in the same place in the

same amount of time. The vocational education received at kōsen in the final two years has similar

status to the first two years of the degree. Further, a student can remain at kōsen for two years

more to study an Advanced Course leading to a full degree. They can then progress directly to a two

year master’s degree if they wish to do so.

The general education curriculum

In the first and second years of kōsen, the majority of the curriculum will be general, with some

practical subjects taken from specialist areas. All students must study Japanese, social studies,

mathematics, science, English and physical education. Students can choose to study extra social

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studies, sciences, English, law or ethics in engineering and can further choose from a wide range of

small courses (these cover areas of general interest such as crafts, other cultures and languages).

Alongside the general subjects students take practical units in their own specialist area. For

information/computer engineering students this will include computer architecture and basic

programming. Some specialist units are compulsory and others optional.

The vocational curriculum

The purpose of a kōsen education is for students to receive a technical and practical education which

allows them to gain the skills and knowledge needed for a career in engineering. Consequently, the

curriculum will be driven by the needs of industry. The National Institute of Technology is

supported by industry as well as government both by funding and by governance. Individual

colleges deliver a curriculum that is designed to meet local as well as national needs; hence each

college will have a slightly different faculty structure. All kōsen have faculties offering mechanical

and electrical engineering and then between one and three further faculties. The faculty structure

will be based on the local industry.

Suzuka College has five faculties:

Mechanical Engineering

Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Electronic and Information Engineering

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering

Materials Science and Engineering

Miyakonojo College, situated in an area whose main industries are agriculture and forestry, has four

faculties:

Mechanical Engineering

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Chemical Science and Engineering

Architecture

Meetings to evaluate the curriculum take place every three years and involve a number of

companies at national and local levels. At Suzuka College a questionnaire is sent to companies who

have employed students for feedback on their satisfaction with skills. This is done every three years.

Due to the organisation of the recruitment process and the fact that students leave college with a

job already secured, tracking student destinations may be easier than it is in the UK.

Colleges are accredited by JABEE, an accreditation body for professional engineers. JABEE gives

professional accreditation to graduates of kōsen who have completed an accredited course from 4th

grade upwards. Re-accreditation of courses takes place every six years.

These processes help to guide the curriculum to ensure that the vocational education received by

kōsen students will equip them with the skills that industry needs and will give them professional

accreditation in their vocational field.

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Kōsen in Japan and colleges of further education in UK compared

Key differences between the kōsen system of vocational education and the system in colleges of

further education in the UK, covering Level 3 and 4 computing and engineering disciplines are:

the timetable for all students, even those on the Advanced Course, covers five whole days

(over 30 hours of contact per week) whereas a full-time course in UK at the moment is

around 15 hours of contact per week;

entrance criteria are high for selecting an entry of only 1% of the national cohort so kōsen

will tend to attract high ability students who have a keen interest in engineering; although

entrance criteria are set appropriately in UK, there is, perhaps, less competition for places;

kōsen specialise both in engineering and in a particular level of study, they are not multi-

subject, all ability colleges whereas most colleges in UK are;

colleges are attended by students from all areas of the country and some international

students, therefore a kōsen will provide dormitory accommodation, this practice is not

widespread in UK;

there is a significant proportion of general, alongside vocational, education during each of

the five years a student attends kōsen; the proportion of general education, however,

decreases each year; beyond Year 11 in UK, general education takes a minor role in

vocational education and is generally restricted to English, mathematics and ICT;

there is an emphasis on a high level of educational attainment for kōsen vocational teaching

staff, with a majority of teachers holding doctorates in their chosen field and actively

engaged in research (see Appendix 4), teachers do not, however, have industrial experience;

in UK educational attainment and industry experience is variable in the teaching workforce.

assessment of kōsen students will take a variety of forms, including examination, both

internally set and marked and externally; students who do not pass the summative

assessment for an academic year will often repeat the year; repetition is not common

practice in UK, especially in vocational education;

kōsen class sizes are large by comparison with UK colleges, with observed classes containing

around 40 students and reported class sizes of up to 60 students.

Key similarities between this system of vocational education and systems covering the same

vocational areas and levels of education in colleges of further education in the UK are:

there appear to be similarities in the content and level of vocational education for students

at the same stage of education within their course (this is only within my own subject area,

computing, as I am not qualified to judge other subject areas)

the five years of study at kōsen seem to relate to the English Year 11, two years of Level 3

vocational study (National Diploma) and two years of what would, in the vocational college,

be something like a Higher National Diploma

there is a marked under-representation of female students

Student numbers are limited to 200 per department in each kōsen and so an intake of 40 students

per department per year is standard. This helps to keep the standard of the intake high as there is

competition for places. Students value their place at the kōsen feeling that their employment

prospects are increased. It was not within the scope of the project to explore the destinations of

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those students who do not graduate to kōsen, especially those who move to colleges catering for

other vocational areas.

Student views of kōsen

At Suzuka and Miyakonojo colleges, students generally felt that the kōsen was a good choice of

education for a variety of reasons, illustrated below:

Kento, 2nd grade student, was a very keen programmer and had started to teach himself Javascript.

He chose to come to kōsen because of the amount of programming in the course.

Kusuhara, 2nd grade student, had chosen to come to kōsen because she was interested in working

with computers and understood that this was a good place to learn.

Haruka, 2nd grade student, had an elder sister who was a student at kōsen and Haruka knew it was

good because of the reports from her sister. Her main interests were in computer science,

mathematics and science. She liked the range of after school clubs and had attended a dance club in

her first year. This year she was going to a club where she learnt a Japanese form of cheer leading

and she would be performing in a forthcoming festival at the school.

Sakai, 2nd grade student, had chosen to come to kōsen because he believed it would help his job

prospects. He belonged to a computer club in junior high school and was attracted to kōsen because

of its involvement in the National Programming Competition, which he learned about at an open

day.

All Japan Programming Contest (Procon)

Competition as a means of linking students with industrial partners was a theme in all three

countries. In Scotland, students at New College, Lanarkshire had been successful at the WorldSkills

competition (described in Appendix 3). Participation in national competitions was a good alternative

form of work-related experience. Students enter WorldSkills competitions each year and, through

these competitions they work to a high standard, under pressure and they get exposure and the

opportunity to be talent-spotted.

Danish colleges offer vendor qualifications such as CISCO® and Microsoft® certifications to their data

technician students on the network infrastructure pathway. Students learn independently from

online learning materials that are written in English, which adds a level of difficulty but helps with

the element of the course that require students to learn English. These students are encouraged to

participate in competitions such as WorldSkills once they have completed at least one work

placement block. Participation encourages students to hone their skills and is a valuable extra-

curricular activity. Students entering WorldSkills benefit from exposure to employers and top

competitors are often talent spotted.

The All Japan Programming Contest 2014 was held in Ichinoseki, in Iwate Prefecture. This area was

heavily affected by the devastating earthquake and tsunami of 2011 and the theme of the contest

was around dealing with disasters. Both Suzuka and Miyakonojo colleges had fielded teams at the

contest. At both colleges competition is strongly encouraged between departments, and with other

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colleges. The Procon national programming competition, is well supported by national government

and by large employers such as Toshiba, Fujitsu, Toyota, Nextware and others. Success in the

programming competition can help a student to be talent spotted.

Another national competition, Robocon, a robotics competition, broadcast on national television.

Kōsen students build and program robots to compete with each other. Again, large employers

support the competition and many will talent spot. Students will often attend robot club and

programming club from 1st grade in order to prepare for selection to the college’s team for either

competition. One student at Miyakonojo College, Yoneyoshi, told me that he had been attracted to

kōsen because he had seen Robocon on TV and wanted the chance to compete

Procon is a programming and app design/development competition for students from National

Institutes of Technology (kōtō-senmon-gakkō - kōsen ). Students are aged between 15 and 22 and

compete in teams. The size of the team depends on the section of the competition, three per team

for the main programming competition and 4 per team for the other sections. The competition is

organised by Procon, which is a committee formed from representatives of kōsen , some from

universities and some from companies, including Toshiba and Fujutsu. Procon does the

organisation, provides the judges and maintains the funding for the competition. It is a huge

competition with teams representing all of the 53 kōsen in Japan along with teams from one or two

Japanese universities (freshman year only) and five international teams from China, Mongolia,

Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand

Format of the competition

There are three separate competitions:

1. The programming competition, called ‘Find your piece of mind’ was the main event and 67

teams took part. Teams of three students compete on stage to solve puzzles in the quickest

time and in the most efficient way (measured by least swaps). The puzzles are pictures

which have been cut into a matrix of 6 x 4 blocks. Students must rearrange the blocks to

make the picture (which they have not seen prior to starting the puzzle). They can only

rearrange the blocks by swapping consecutive blocks and their experiments with this will

create an instruction for the movement of each block by first identifying the block (e.g.

column 0, row 1), then describing its movement to where it will eventually stay (e.g. 4 right,

1 up). On the way it will be swapping with other blocks and the team would want to try to

leave a block that was currently in the correct position by not swapping it on another block’s

path. When the team think they have solved the puzzle they submit their answer and will

try to do this more quickly than other teams. If the answer is correct they will be

automatically entered into the next stage which was to have their solution analysed for least

number of moves. Either way, they can have another go and can continue to do this until

they are happy with a submission or the five minute time limit was reached. The

competition was fast and furious and quite exciting to watch. The student computers are

controlled by a server which posts the puzzles to their screen and aggregates the solutions,

so that the overall progress of each team can be showed on the big screen throughout the

contest. Sixteen teams at a time compete and there are heats, semi-finals and a final.

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2. The themed section was a technical innovation competition. Students worked in teams of 4

to generate a design idea of some technology that could be used to help in the event of a

natural disaster. They had to create a working prototype and a technical manual. They

delivered an eight minute presentation on stage, answered questions from the judges about

their presentation for a maximum of six minutes, then demonstrated their working

prototype to the public in an exhibition hall, and submitted their technical manual to the

judges for assessment. Students would have worked on their entry for at least six months

prior to the competition and would have been selected to take part in this final competition

having successfully competed in regional heats. Only an entry with a fully working prototype

qualifies for judging. There were 21 teams in this part of the competition. Appendix 6

contains a description of some of the themed section entries.

3. The original section has the same format as the themed section but the idea can be on any

theme. In this section there were 20 team entries. Appendix 7 contains a description of

some of the original section entries.

Competition Organisation

The competition has a number of heats, semi-finals and final. Each heat happens on stage, watched

by an audience with the contestants’ screens being shown on the big screen as they solve the

puzzles. There are 16 teams in each heat, mostly from kōsen but also some international teams

from Thailand, Vietnam, China, Mongolia and Malaysia. There were a few additional teams from

universities, but only first year university students. All students are aged between 15 and 22. The

teams prepare for up to six months to come to the competition, using their own software to develop

strategies.

Takayuki Teramoto was the project manager for the IT system for the competition. He had worked

on the competition systems for seven years. The equipment was provided by Procon who were

funded by the National Institute of Technology, by the universities and by a number of sponsor

companies, including Toshiba, Fujitsu and Microsoft. It takes a whole year to plan and organise the

competition, including developing the IT systems used. It took three months to develop the IT

system, which was designed specifically for the competition and was developed by a team of three

people. Two developers were from Tohoku University in Sendai and the other from

Ichinoseki College. They worked together, mostly remotely, to develop the system and server

software. The system had been fully tested and was ready for the competition.

All teams had the same puzzles and each heat required them to solve three puzzles, one after

another, five minutes per puzzle.

Employer views of the competition

Toshiba Solutions had a representative at the competition supporting the international teams. Yoko

Uchida, from Toshiba, highlighted the need for people in the information industries to be more

globally aware. This is why Toshiba support the international aspect of the competition. Toshiba

Solutions recruit students each year from kōsen but only those who have completed the advanced

course (two years after completing the main course). For large companies like Toshiba and Fujitsu,

the main role is to support competitions such as these to help ensure that they continue to run. She

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explained that smaller companies might provide financial and practical support for the competition

partly because it gives them the opportunity to talent spot.

Tatsuhiko Tanaka, from Microsoft, explained that Microsoft was a financial and practical supporter

of the National Institute of Technology, the overarching body for all kōsen . Microsoft wanted to

support the building of technical skills in kōsen as these are good places to recruit students from. Of

new employees coming from university, currently only 40% have a computer science degree, the

others have degrees in other subject areas. Consequently they need re-training. Kōsen students, on

the other hand, have the right skills for the IT industry. Microsoft does not directly sponsor the

competition but have a presence there for support and because they are connected to the national

organisation.

Points to take forward from the programming competition

There are many forms of digital design and development competition already in existence in the UK.

The key to success of the Procon competition is its size and its target competitor base. Kōsen

colleges from across Japan field teams in a competition that tests innovation, design, presentation

and problem solving skills and competition is part of the college culture. There are many

competitions already in existence in the UK, mostly on a smaller scale, with a narrower focus and a

wider audience. Competition is an effective way to hone skills and significant numbers of

apprentices and students enter WorldSkills competitions each year (see Appendix 3). Employers are

known to engage with WorldSkills. At the present time there is no WorldSkills competition aimed

particularly at the software developer, rather than designer, and this might be an area for

development. The British Computer Society, which currently promotes competition in schools, ran a

programming competition, aimed mostly at undergraduates, a number of years ago, and could take

a lead in a similar competition aimed at students or apprentices of 18 years and above. The British

Informatics Olympiad might present an appropriate competition format but is aimed at students

aged 18 and under. To target students in full-time vocational education, the Association of Colleges,

a supporter of WorldSkills UK competitions, may also have a role to play.

Relationships between kōsen and employers

Companies are keen to employ kōsen graduates. Among the reasons for this are: students graduate

at 20 so are more mature than senior high school leavers; students are educated to the equivalent of

the first two years of undergraduate level and have specialist knowledge; students are cheaper to

hire than university graduates.

For kōsen students the main concern on graduation is not finding a job but choosing the right job.

At the end of the last academic year, twenty students of Electrical and Information Engineering

graduating from Suzuka College had the choice of 480 positions. Each student graduating from

Miyakonojo College had between 14 and 15 job offers to choose from. Employment with a large

company is preferable for most as it is likely to have more benefits and to lead to more

opportunities. Once a student has taken a position at a smaller company, it can be difficult to move

to another company, branch or position. Young people are cheaper to employ than workers with

experience and so after a period of working at a small company, an employee becomes too

32 | P a g e

expensive to compete in the jobs market and, having specialist skills particular to the small company,

they might need re-training if they were to move.

Students from kōsen are perceived to be proficient in desirable skills and so they are a marketable

commodity. Students may be overwhelmed by the choice of opportunities available to them. Due

to the importance of choosing the right company and job role a number of college staff will have

responsibility for providing careers information. Each college will have staff in each faculty

responsible for careers advice in their particular vocational area and there will be support staff

responsible for giving advice and for the administration of careers information.

At Suzuka College a database of company information was maintained by the student affairs

department. This will include examples and a description of the recruitment process for each

company (companies must provide this information by law). Miyakonojo College have a career

support office where they carry out similar functions. Teachers, also, are a valuable resource for

students in getting careers advice and particular teachers are tasked with working with 4th and 5th

grade students to ensure that adequate careers information is available. Students will do most of

the research into companies themselves but will often ask a teacher for advice before making final

decisions. Job offers are collected into files which are made available during classes for

employment.

Careers education was part of the main curriculum from the 3rd grade. Students from Miyakonojo

College visit employers such as Daikin, Cosmo Sekiyu (a fuel company) and Toray (a fibre company).

Students will take part in three or four visits to factories during their 3rd grade. During the 4th or 5th

grade, students will visit a jobs fair aimed at all Kyushu kōsen students. Companies wishing to

attract students will attend the jobs fair and will subsequently send job offers to the colleges.

Companies attending the jobs fair may come from anywhere in Japan, students will move for the job

if they want to). Around 40 companies per year may visit a college to bring a job offer, meeting with

the teachers in order to persuade them to promote the job to students. Other offers arrive by mail.

At Suzuka College during 3rd grade, students start to prepare information for the application process

in advance of a meeting with college staff. This meeting will be attended by careers advisors, tutors

and parents along with the student. A second meeting will take place in November of the 4th grade

to check progress. At this time, companies are invited into college to speak to groups of students

about what they can offer a new employee. Trips to visit company premises, especially of the

larger, multi-national companies, are organised for students in 4th grade. During the second week in

November, 4th grade students are given the opportunity to find out about local and national

companies and universities. Human resources staff from local companies, mostly smaller ones, and

some representatives from universities will visit the college. Most employers will hold interviews

with students. As most students may focus on employment at large companies, this system forces

them to consider others and all students must have an interview with three or four companies.

Some students may not eventually pass the entrance examination for their first company of choice

and students will need to have at least 2nd and 3rd choices.

Teachers liaise with companies to set up as many employer visits, talks and internships as possible

and will advise students to help them to make the most appropriate choice of employment

progression. Students at Miyakonojo College attend a jobs fair held in northern Kyushu which allows

employers to meet kōsen students from all over Kyushu.

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From December to February a number of companies will visit the college to give information about

their employment offer. Due to the importance of choosing the right company to work for,

companies of all sizes are encouraged to visit the college for this purpose. Alumni students will also

visit the college to talk to students. This can be an effective indicator of how good a company is to

work for. In January 2014 a total of 37 companies visited Suzuka College to talk to students during

after-school sessions.

Students will often choose a company based on the perceived benefits. One female student, in 5th

grade at Miyakonojo College, had chosen to take a position at Fuji-Denki as this company has a good

reputation as an employer of female staff. The company’s maternity arrangements and working

conditions make the package attractive for females. The student, Chieti, had researched this

company by attending the job fair (during March of 4th grade), searching on the internet, and getting

advice from her teachers.

Students may choose to study at kōsen because they know that their job prospects in an engineering

field will be secure. There is an element of standardisation across the engineering industries which

mean that standard tests can be used to assess students’ suitability for the industry. Many

companies use the Synthetic Personality Inventory (SPI), a test of general knowledge and personality

for selection of candidates for employment. Consequently, all students at both Suzuka and

Miyakonojo colleges take the SPI test, in May of the 5th grade. A file was created for each student in

which will be recorded results of tests and assessments, a reference from the college and other

relevant information. This was made available to potential employers.

The college years runs from April to March. Students would start to apply to companies in April at

the start of 5th grade for recruitment the following March. Large companies would generally have an

entrance examination and those who were accepted to take the examination, and who pass it,

would often be accepted into the company by June. For those students who did not pass the

entrance examination for their chosen company, a second round of applications would take place

after June. Once a student had been accepted by a company there was an expectation that they

would take up that place on graduation. College recommendations were used in the process of

selecting students to take the examination. This practice was changing and, in future, the

application process would be expected to start in August rather than April. This was to allow

students longer to study. However, it was anticipated that not all companies would change to

August and some applications might still need to be made earlier in the year.

Employer links

Students were encouraged to complete an internship during a college vacation. This might last for

one or more weeks and would be arranged by the student.

At Suzuka College students could elect to undertake an internship as a short course, assessed

through a three minute presentation given by the student. This was recommended to all students,

although not all participated, and the college would try to steer students into trying different types

of company to broaden their experience. In 2014 80% of students in the Electronic and Information

Engineering Department applied for internships, the other 20% choosing not to. Companies selected

students from those who applied and some companies required a lot of paperwork. In preparation

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for the internship programme, the college requested internships from 300 companies. Around 100

companies offered one or more places and there were more places than students to fill them.

At Miyakonojo College, students in 4th grade were encouraged to look for an internship, which they

would complete during their summer break. Teachers would recommend that a student choose a

particular field of work and then find a relevant internship. There were usually enough internships

for all students who wanted to take them and these were sometime with local, smaller companies.

Internships gave students the opportunity to see what it was like to work with a local, small

company and would allow some relationships to build that might then encourage the student to

work locally. Other internships might give a student the chance to try out a company (often a larger

one) to see if they would like to work there.

In contrast to the interaction between companies and colleges in the UK, there appears to be an

understanding that kōsen will produce students of the right calibre for employment. Consequently,

efforts to engage employers in order to let them see what students can do, and to find projects to

allow students to develop the skills that employers will require, are less significant. As kōsen

educate only a small fraction of the population, a demand has been created and a trust between

companies and kōsen developed.

Progression

Each year a proportion of students will move into the workplace and the rest will progress to

university. Of the students who choose to progress to work, 100% will be able to choose a position

in their chosen field. Of those students who choose to progress to university, their progression

chances are similar to a student who has graduated from high school as long as they are progressing

to a subject area related to engineering. Although students hoping to enter a medical, veterinary,

pharmacy or similar career will progress through the senior high school route, it is possible for a

kōsen student to transfer from kōsen to a law degree. A kōsen education is particularly useful for

law students specialising in patent law due to their technical knowledge.

In general, students prefer to find employment with large companies. However, Tasuku, a 5th grade

student at Miyakonojo, had secured a place at a local company, a smaller company that had come to

the college to attract students. He chose this company as he wanted to remain near his home and

so smaller companies offered a greater choice of employment to him. However, his choice was

influenced by the fact that this company also has a factory in Miyagi and was soon to open another

abroad. This might open up a chance to move later, when Tasuku may feel more ready to move on.

Student progression stories

Takumi, 5th grade student, would join Sumitomo, a car components company, on graduation at the

end of 5th grade. He had already passed the entrance examination for Sumitomo. He chose the

company because there were good opportunities to work abroad. On successful graduation, he

would move straight into employment with Sumitomo.

Akari, 5th grade student, had already secured a job with Fuji-Xerox in Tokyo as a field engineer for

photocopying machines. Juya, 5th grade student, had secured a job with Panasonic developing PC

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hardware. Haohao, 5th grade student, would progress to a women only university to study computer

science. When asked what were the benefits of studying at kōsen they cited lower tuition costs than

university, opportunities for international travel (one had been to Malaysia and one to Korea in the

2nd grade), links with the world of work including visits such as one to a recycling factory, and a good

social life for students living in the dormitories (around 50% of kōsen students). It was also cited as a

good route to university to study information engineering and related subjects.

The progression situation is similar in the UK except that some universities may opt not to accept

students who apply with a vocational qualification however good their grades are, even on a degree

course directly related to the subject of their qualification. This may be directly related to the lack of

general education studied alongside the vocational curriculum. In both countries students are

supported through the process of moving on. Progression to university is rather easier to support

than progression to work in the UK simply because the process is standardised through UCAS. In

Japan, a more standardised recruitment process, in which employers participate, may mean that

comprehensive careers support is a little easier to implement.

Points to take forward from the kōsen system

A key to the success of kōsen students in progressing into the workplace is national consistency

through a broad curriculum, rigorously assessed. Employers know what they are getting and their

expectations, in terms of the need for workplace training, are managed. Students enter the system

with an expectation of remaining in it for at least four years.

Culturally there are vast differences between Japan and the UK, especially in terms of the readiness

of employers to recruit young people. Development of consistency in the skills of young people

leaving college may help to encourage UK employers to actively recruit young people, especially

where young people have remained in vocational education for a four or five year period rather than

leaving at an earlier stage in their careers. As the age of participation in the UK is raised to 18,

encouraging a planned vocational route starting at 16 but extending well beyond 18 may result in

better skilled and educated young software developers who have progressed through an alternative

to the university route, have work experience, and have reached a maturity that makes them more

work-ready.

The polarisation of academic and vocational qualifications does our young people a disservice. As I

speak to digital employers, many say that they recruit only graduates or that they recruit people on

the basis of a portfolio of work that shows a natural ability. Where are the colleges and the

vocational courses, other than in offering modern apprenticeships? Kōsen is an example of an

educational system that can be selective, is highly vocational in its curriculum and provides an

education that the engineering and digital industries need, technical colleges providing a further and

higher education for the future digital workforce.

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Lessons learnt

This was an amazing opportunity to experience different educational cultures and to see or learn

about innovative and exciting projects.

The Wolf Report into vocational education (2011) highlighted the need for good quality work

experience to allow young people to develop the skills that are highly valued by employers and that

are more difficult to develop in a formal education environment. Work experience allows students

to experiment with different types of workplace to discover the type of work that most interests

them. A subsequent research report from the Department for Education (2013) identified and

implemented models for work experience provision. DfE research aimed to evaluate five work

experience placement models. These models included removing cost barriers for employers;

providing extra resources to colleges to enable the employment of key staff; and exploring

placement timings (block or day release).

Cost barrier removal was a feature of the vocational education system in Denmark where employers

paid a levy towards vocational education and were able to claim rebates for taking on

apprenticeships. National policies were key in this system and helped to encourage a sustainable

supply of placements. The system applied to all organisations, as long as they employed at least one

skilled worker and so encouraged small to medium-sized employers (SMEs) to participate. In Japan,

as in Denmark, the need to nurture the emerging workforce was culturally ingrained. In Japan,

employers knew the value of a young workforce and large employers had a good relationship with

kōsen and an established recruitment system. Involvement of SMEs was encouraged by the need to

compete for labour in a system where young people were more attracted to the benefits of working

for a large organisation. Consequently, SMEs would actively engage in the recruitment process by

offering internships, attending job fairs and visiting kōsen to meet students. The cost barrier was

effectively removed by the presence of competition in hiring new employees and this competition

had been encouraged by the success of the kōsen system whose students were the prize. In the UK,

at the present time, national policy aims at encouraging participation in a voluntary system and

works in a landscape of low expectations of vocational education and a vast array of different types

and levels of qualification that can be confusing and unhelpful for an employer. Employer

participation works well within this system when individual projects can be identified by qualified

and allocated people. The projects and schemes I saw in Scotland were representative of the UK

model, one-off initiatives whose success could be attributed to a small number of enthusiastic and

effective individuals working within a framework of support from their colleges or from funding

agencies. This type of scheme, in my opinion, is particularly important for vocational areas such as

computing/IT, where the required level of skill even for entry level is relatively high and where the

skills are knowledge based more than practical. Consequently, where national policy can help to

increase the number of placements overall, it needs to be developed with the needs of a variety of

industries in mind. The need to cater for individual projects in terms of ensuring some available

funding must be addressed.

In Denmark, the EUX programme required co-ordinators for the academic side of the course and

other co-ordinators to liaise with employers. Employer liaison was an established role in an

established system and there were a number of co-ordinators allocated to each vocational area.

Danish colleges of technology may have a ratio of around one full-time work experience co-ordinator

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per fifteen students. Co-ordinators worked in specific vocational areas so that they were more aware

of the needs of the specific industry and student population. This represented a large investment in

the role but existed within a college where the vast majority of vocational students were on a block

release scheme. Within the current UK further education system, where a large proportion of

vocational students are full-time students requiring short term placements rather than block release

schemes, the need for a similar level of co-ordination is no less as each student will need to be

placed individually. The need for subject specialism is key especially, in my opinion, in computing/IT

as employer needs must be matched to realistic expectations of a diverse set of skills. Otherwise, a

work experience placement will lack richness as the student is unable to understand what is going on

and unable to participate.

Placement timings present difficulties, especially for SMEs who do not have the human resources to

plan around a placement and would find it easier to take students when they have quiet times or on

a one day per week basis rather than for a full week. The EUX programme in Denmark presented

particular challenges for employers due to the length of time students needed to be in college and,

in my opinion, the practice centres may become more and more necessary as EUX student numbers

increase. In Japan, the involvement of employers in the progression of kōsen students happened at

the same time every year and there was an established programme nationwide. This helped to

ensure that planning was possible for SMEs as well as large organisations. Students were available

at particular times of the year for work experience placements and these took place at some time

during the final two years of study. This focused both student and employer on the suitability and

desirability of that particular work placement for the student and for the employer. For the UK,

there are lessons to learn from this. Students could be encouraged to take work experience

placements as they make their preparations for progression into the workplace, again in the final

two years of their education. Recommendations from the Wolf Report and the DfE suggest that

students below the age of 16 should not now be required to complete a work experience placement.

I would go further and suggest that students should have completed at least one year of post-16

education before a placement is taken. A student who is already preparing to leave full-time

education will benefit much more from a work experience placement than one who knows that they

will remain in education for at least one or two more years. This does not suggest that work

experience is not valuable to all students at all stages of their education but does suggest that

competition for placements would be less and placements would have more meaning if they are

targeted. Internal, rich, work-related experiences would benefit those students who are not yet

ready to progress into the work place. Ib, at Mercantec, suggested that employers expressed a

preference for taking students who had worked in the school practice centre, as they had already

started to build relevant skills.

The EiE, RBS apprenticeship scheme and the projects arising from the Knowledge Transfer Hub

demonstrated the rewards to be gained from effort to engage employers and to work with them to

develop a variety of opportunities, including work experience placements, fitting employers’ needs.

In my opinion, asking employers to fit with college organisational needs can only reduce the number

of placements that become available. In Denmark, school practice centres were able to provide

apprentices to fill short term placements to fill particular, time limited, employer needs and it was

the presence of the practice centre that made this possible. The key lesson to take from the school

practice centre, in my opinion, is the role of the professional who works in the centre. The presence

of at least one professional from the relevant vocational area, rather than, or alongside, a teacher,

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helps to ensure that it is possible for the practice centre to take on real projects for real clients with

a realistic chance of success.

Denmark, Japan, Scotland and the rest of the UK have similar goals in terms of providing a vocational

education system that prepares young people to be successful employees. Some very significant

differences do, however, exist. EUX students in Denmark and kōsen students in Japan enjoy ‘full-

time’ education much more in line with the time demands of employment, six to eight hours per

day, five days per week. In Denmark a significant proportion of this time is spent in the work place

for which students are paid by their employer, and in Japan there is no work based requirement and

an expectation that families will contribute to the cost of their child’s education where they can.

The curriculum is broad and students enjoy aspects of academic education alongside their vocational

education and training. For the digital industries, the preferred destination of computing students,

this broadening of the curriculum, to allow students to develop broader problem solving and

thinking skills, would allow them to be more flexible and adaptable, both vital characteristics for

success in a knowledge-based industry. In the UK, the vocational curriculum is narrow, courses are

under-funded and low in contact hours. Surely, we can be more creative in our thinking about

vocational education to come up with ways to keep our young people fully occupied and supported

during their studies? If it is not possible to support enough hours in education, then innovative ways

to allow employers to provide extra hours for students, maybe one or two days per week might be

explored. The voluntary sector may provide other opportunities, with a need to widen digital

participation and for charities to be able to use online resources for their activities, there must be a

wealth of opportunity for collaboration. This will only work if funding is provided for staff, not

necessarily in colleges but working closely with them, to work with employers, organisations, college

department and students to source and set up appropriate, useful work experience placements and

projects. With funding must come a guarantee of quality and this would be helped by investment in

one major qualification for the computing industry, which would, I hope, be vocational rather than

academic. The National Diploma/Higher National Diploma route is not the only route to a similar

level of vocational full-time education for everyone, but it is an established one. As it develops it

needs to be flexible enough to meet the needs of local industry but robust enough to allow

confidence to be established in the abilities of its graduates. Industry has a role to play in providing

enough experience for students to allow them the opportunity to build relevant skills and to ensure

that this is the right industry for them. Colleges have a vital role in ensuring the consistent quality of

a broader education, closely related to the relevant industrial sector. Relevance to the industrial

sector will be made easier as college-employer relationships are built through the co-ordinator role

and as real work-related projects are embedded into the curriculum prior to students completing

work experience placements.

Students in both Denmark and Japan sign up for a programme of study that lasts at least four years.

This, I believe, reflects a commitment to the length of time it takes to properly prepare for the digital

industries. There could be a case to combine National and Higher National qualifications into one

four year programme that includes some form of day or block release as standard. A course like this

would borrow aspects of apprenticeships to allow opportunities for work-based learning to be

included and assessed as part of the main curriculum.

All colleges I visited in Denmark and Japan had international offices supporting students to find work

placements in other countries. This is a difficult area but would help to increase the number of

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opportunities, as well as to offer a different type of experience for students about to enter a global

industry.

What next?

Employer liaison is found to work well when it is systematic, supported by management and

adequately resourced. The systems observed as part of this Fellowship are good examples of

successful employer liaison for the benefit of individual or groups of students.

I was particularly interested in the work of the practice centres, mainly because these are systems

that might work sustainably within our vocational education system if adequately supported. I

would like to explore the possibility of setting up a similar project here, possibly as an independent

social enterprise, supporting a small group of full-time students from a local college during the days

they are not required to attend college. The project would see students developing small online

systems for community groups, charities and, possibly, some paying customers. A vital feature

would be to have at least one full-time professional based in the centre to source and manage all

projects that students work on. Local employers may be able to support by releasing staff with

particular skills for short periods as required and by employing students from the centre on a short

term basis if and when they have suitable work available. Relationship building with local industry

would be an important part of the ethos for a practice centre and, through these relationships a

trust in the skills that could be expected of a graduate can be developed.

I hope that my report can be disseminated to organisations where innovative schemes and practices

such as those described above could be implemented, and to those people who may take inspiration

from the stories. The projects completed as a result of connections made through the Knowledge

Transfer Hub in Scotland are just the sort of projects that might work well in a practice centre like

those seen in Denmark. A mission to develop a system that engenders trust in the capabilities of

graduates of vocational computing courses, similar to the trust in the skills of kōsen students in

Japan, would be key.

There are similarities to be found between the various schemes and systems observed in the three

countries, as well as differences. There has been a lot to learn from all of them and it has been a

privilege to have had the opportunity to see and to learn from them.

Contact details

For further details, please contact me by any of the following means: Email: karsco73@gmail.com Twitter: @SmudgePoppy LinkedIn: LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/karen-scott/34/86/62

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References:

Department for Education (2013), Evaluation of the work placement trials, Research Report

https://www.nfer.ac.uk/publications/WEXX01/WEXX01.pdf

European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training, 2012, Vocational Education and Training in Denmark,

Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union

Four Upper Secondary Education Programmes in Denmark, http://eng.uvm.dk/Education/Upper-Secondary-

Education/Four-Upper-Secondary-Education-Programmes-in-Denmark

House of Commons Education Committee (2012) Participation by 16–19 year olds in education and training Fourth Report of Session 2010–12, The Stationery Office http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/pdfs/2011-CESC-16to19-year-olds.pdf Jørgensen, C.H.(2011), The dual system of VET in Denmark – a ‘blind alley’ on the road to Higher Education, Paper for the

Nordyrk conference Åland June 2011

http://rucforsk.ruc.dk/site/files/34893484/Chr_Helms_Paper_HQ_from_VET_to_HE_for_Nordyrk_conference_land_June_

2011.pdf

Kōsen Institute of National Colleges of Technology, Japan. http://www.kōsen -k.go.jp/english/

McCoshan, A, and Otero, M. S. (2003), Further Education Colleges’ Views on FE-Employer Links, Department for Education

and Skills

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130401151715/http://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownl

oad/RR442.pdf

OFSTED 2010, Good practice in involving employers in work-related education and training, http://base-uk.org/sites/base-uk.org/files/%5Buser-raw%5D/11-07/good_practice_in_involving_employers_in_work-related_education_and_training1.pdf PROCON, All Japan Programming contest Official Website http://www.procon.gr.jp/

The Tech Partnership (October 2014), Big Data Analytics, Assessment of Demand for Labour and Skills 2013-2020. https://www.thetechpartnership.com/globalassets/pdfs/bigdata_report_nov14.pdf Wolf, Alison (2011), A Review of Vocational Education, The Wolf Report

Wood Report (2014), Commission for Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce (June 2014), Education Working for All! , published by the Scottish Government. http://www.gov.scot/resource/0045/00451746.pdf

Website references:

WorldSkills UK: https://worldskillsuk.org/ British Computer Society (information on competitions): http://academy.bcs.org/content/useful-resources British Informatics Olympiad: http://www.olympiad.org.uk/ Association of Colleges: http://www.aoc.co.uk/

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Appendix 1 – Get Britain Smiling Project

Get Britain Smiling (reported by Margaret Millan, Curriculum Leader, Computing).

National Certificate students were required to take an ‘Enterprise’ unit in which they had to

complete a project. At the time a local organisation, Finance Enterprise Ltd, run by Bernie and

Margaret Crozier was running a fundraising campaign called ‘Get Britain Smiling’. The idea behind

the campaign was that new clients to the company could donate to charity at the same time as

saving money on their insurance. They asked the students to come up with new ideas to raise the

profile of the campaign through social media and through its web presence.

A brief was agreed and the students worked for twelve weeks, in small groups, on a presentation to

showcase their ideas. The presentation would be made to Bernie and Margaret, who visited

students at college during the process to give some feedback on their initial ideas. Once students

had completed their presentation preparations, Bernie and Margaret returned to the college and sat

on a panel with senior college staff to judge the presentations and to identify the winning ideas to

take forward. To emphasise the importance to the students, presentations were made in the

college’s board room.

Margaret reported that this project had been motivational for students and had allowed them to

gain experience of presenting in front of business people. For a number of students, this experience

was out of their comfort zone and helped to develop their confidence. The project led to some

publicity for the college, which is mentioned in a post on their website

(http://www.getbritainsmiling.org.uk/uk-campaigns/motherwell-college-project/).

Projects of this sort have many benefits but require time from college staff to set up the project and

to ensure that it fits the curriculum and the abilities of the students. The project required ideas

rather than high level technical skills (the students were not required to actually implement the

ideas) and so was a good project for National, rather than Higher National, level students.

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Appendix 2 – Jack’s Garage Project

Jack’s Garage website project (reported by Fiona Mumin, Lecturer, HND Interactive media)

Jack’s Garage was a Community Interest Company (CIC), newly started and wanting a website and

some branding. Second year HND in Interactive Media students were set this as a project to be

completed for their final graded unit (Jack's Garage website: http://www.jacks-garage.co.uk/ )

Due to the real life nature of the project, students were not steered in a particular direction in terms

of development. As a result, there was a variety of frameworks and techniques used, with some

students actively learning new techniques and some focussing on the design and using skills limited

to what they had already learnt. This helped with the grading. Fiona felt the client had given some

excellent feedback to the students for whom this had great value in terms of their confidence and

development.

Once the websites had been developed the client, Gillian Farrell, would choose the site design that

would be taken forward for final development. As Jack’s Garage was a CIC there was some funding

available to help them to take the site forward to final development. For this they would work with

the student whose site was chosen and who would now have completed the HND course and so

could be paid, at a reasonable rate, for their work, either by invoicing Jack’s Garage directly for the

work or by invoicing through the college. Gillian was a participant in the Knowledge Transfer Hub

where relevant members of college staff had been able to provide advice on how to access the

funding.

Fiona identified a number of benefits to this project

- it was highly motivating for the students - it raised quality - it provided good opportunities for differentiation and grading A potential brief of this sort does need to be carefully vetted to ensure that it is within the reach of

the students and that it will provide the necessary assessment and grading opportunities. Fiona

reported that there is a ready availability of suitable projects, the number being limited by staff time

and manageability. Fiona had, in the past, tried allowing students to choose individual projects but

found this to be unmanageable. From experience she has found that three project briefs for a class

group is the optimum number. This number allows choice for the students without management of

the project becoming over-burdensome.

Gillian reported that she was thrilled with the results of the project and that she also has benefited

from the collaboration:

‘Jack's Garage is an innovative way of offering training, employment and opportunities to people living in a

disadvantaged area. We can provide jobs and training and the opportunity for volunteering. The main ethos

of the project is to create income from a business (the diner and music venue) and put any profit back into the

local community. We engaged with the college for the website because it helped us to develop our relationship

with them, it increased their profile in the local community for future student take-up which benefits both

organisations and mainly because of the benefit to the students who benefited from engaging with a real

existing challenge and they can all see the end product of the work. We have also continued to use one of the

students as our website administrator.’

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Appendix 3 – Competitions as a form of ‘real world’ experience

WorldSkills (reported by Margaret Millan, Curriculum Leader, Computing, New College

Lanarkshire)

An alternative form of experience is competition. Computing students from New College,

Lanarkshire, have won their regional heats and have done well at WorldSkills in the following

national competition finals in 2013:

IT Support Technician (2 finalists gaining 1 gold and 1 silver medal)

IT Software Solutions (2 finalists gaining 1 gold and 1 silver medal)

Network Infrastructure Technician (2 finalists gaining 1 silver and 1 bronze medal)

Network Systems Administrator (2 finalists gaining 1 bronze medal)

By participating in these competitions, students gain valuable experience of working under pressure

and to a high standard. ‘WorldSkills UK Competitions inspire young people and adults to be

ambitious in their pursuit of skills to the highest level’ (https://worldskillsuk.org/news/worldskills-

uk-celebrates-uk%E2%80%99s-most-talented)

The competitions provide a good opportunity for students to show what they can do and give

valuable publicity for the skills of students at a college. WorldSkills has an established format and so

employers can get a good idea of what students can do from their participation, and success, in the

competition.

Students of courses related to the creative industries often have a showcase event at the end of

their course of study. This happens at New College, Lanarkshire and, indeed, last year an ex-student

visited a showcase event specifically to identify two students who could help with a project. For

students of computing subjects, however, the work is often less visible and less exciting to look

at. Showcase events are less appropriate but competitions like WorldSkills can provide a very

suitable showcase alternative. The exposure in these competition events is only for a few, very

talented students rather than all and can help to raise aspirations.

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Appendix 4 – Student involvement in research projects as a form of work experience

Student projects to realise research model (reported by Professor Ito, Suzuka College)

Due to the high level of academic attainment of kōsen teaching staff, they may often be engaged in

research. This has benefits for students, giving opportunities for them to work on leading edge

projects. At Suzuka College I talked to a small group of students who were working on their

graduate projects. These were Professor Ito's students and they were working on different aspects

of a problem that he had co-written a paper on. The paper, published in the Journal of

Biomechanics, described a model of muscle contraction with a controller to simulate muscle

movement. Professor Ito's students were working on different parts of the model. One had built a

circuit with a set of sensors which would pick up and record muscle activity, three were working on a

program to realise the model. Although not a workplace project, work such as this affords an

opportunity for students to participate in independent projects in a simulated academic workplace.

This is only possible due to the high level of academic achievement of the teaching staff.

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Appendix 5 – Student, teacher and employer views on participation in national competition

This is a collection of student, teacher and employer views on the value of being part of the

programming competition:

Chigita (17): It is important to compare our skills with others and meet students from other

colleges. For the competition entry the team used skills learnt in computer science, mathematics

and physics. There were five people in the team and they worked for six months on their entry as an

extra-curricular activity. Chigita wants to be a programmer.

Yamamoto: The competition is good experience. He hopes that companies will be interested in the

product his team have produced (which was a product to help students learn Java using a

tablet). He is hoping to work as a software engineer and hopes to join a company that has between

200 and 300 employees. He has learnt HTML and PHP and was recommended by his high school

teacher to go to kōsen because of his technical skills.

Heiyashi: The value of the competition is to allow his work to be seen by many people. He hopes to

progress to university where he will study programming for four years. He chose to go to kōsen

because he saw a story about an ex-kōsen student who went to villages to introduce lighting. This

inspired Heiyashi to study technology.

Ono (19): The competition is a good experience. It is good to create something and to show it to

others. Ono has one year left at kōsen and then wants to transfer to university to study electronic

information. Ono is one of four girls in her class and is studying programming. In her kōsen there

are 200 girls in a population of 1000 students.

Omori(19): It is good to work in a team and to publicise the end product to lots of people. Omori

has one year left at kōsen and then will go to work at a company involved in

civil infrastructure. Although he has taken computer science, his interest is in other areas. He did an

internship at a gas company and wants to work in this area. He has gained a place at a company and

will be trained for 1 or 2 years as his role will not be programming and will require new

skills. Companies recruit directly from kōsen and will select the students they would like to

employ. At this stage of the year, many students have already been recruited.

I spoke to one teacher, Professor Takahirao Tazoe, of Suzuka College, who told me that the

competition was very good for the students, especially those of high ability who could really stretch

themselves. The competition is good for colleges but its main benefits are for the students.

Toshiba Solutions had a representative at the competition supporting the international teams. Yoko

Uchida, from Toshiba, highlighted the need for people in the information industries to be more

globally aware. This is why Toshiba support the international aspect of the competition. Toshiba

Solutions recruit students each year from kōsen but only those who have completed the advanced

course (two years after completing the main course). For large companies like Toshiba and Fujitsu,

the main role is support to help ensure that competitions such as these continue to run. She

explained that smaller companies might provide financial and practical support for the competition

partly because it gives them the opportunity to talent spot.

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Tatsuhiko Tanaka, from Microsoft, explained that Microsoft was a financial and practical supporter

of the National Institute of Technology, the overarching body for all kōsen. Microsoft wants to

support the building of technical skills in kōsen as these are good places to recruit students from. Of

new employees coming from university, currently only 40% have a computer science degree, the

others have degrees in other subject areas. Consequently they need re-training. Kōsen students, on

the other hand, have the right skills for the IT industry. Microsoft does not directly sponsor the

competition but have a presence there for support and because they are connected to the national

organisation.

These and other companies sponsor prizes for the competition. Toshiba Solutions awarded their

prize to the Kanawa team for their practical, but also entertaining, entry. Fujistu presented their

prize to the Ichinoseki team for a communicative entry. Broadleaf, an app development company

presented their prize to the Kuhiro team. Toyota Communication Systems presented their prize to

the Tokyo team for a product that was totally balanced. Nextware presented their prize to the

Akachi team for showing good imagination. Sakura, an internet service company, presented their

prize to the Futsui team who they judged to have the best user interface.

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Appendix 6 – All Japan Programming Contest Themed Competition entries

A team calling themselves ‘Change’ presented a system that aimed to unite people in need with

people who donate. Their system included a ‘tree of donation’ where branches are associated with

particular needs of particular sets of people. They said that the system had been used in their school

and had seemed a good system for donating money and being able to control where it goes. They

were asked about how needs would be identified and how the money would be collected.

A second team, from Okinawa College had called themselves ‘Go! Up’ and they presented a system

that had two ‘compasses’: a shelter compass which would show you where you need to go, so if you

need to go up it will direct you to the nearest place where you can get to the height you need for

safety. It would give you information about how many minutes you have to get away from where

you are, which direction to go in and how long it will take you to get to a place of safety on that

route. They explained that the system uses GPS, map data and some mathematical calculations to

find the nearest high spot. They showed the maths they had used and explained that the map data

would come from open data from mapping services. When asked if the system had been tested they

seemed to respond that there hadn’t been a disaster and so testing had not been possible. They

were asked about accuracy and they stated the their system would reduce the 7m error inherent in

GPS systems as it combines GPS and open data, which can be accessed quickly using a particular

protocol.

Presentations were happening every 15 minutes throughout the day in one theatre while the

programming competition was happening in another theatre and the demonstrations were taking

place in two exhibition halls.

A further presentation was about a system that the team had named ‘Personal Orders Popping

(POP)’. This system aimed to provide help for people in temporary housing after a disaster. People

would send data, via a table, to the system to allow the system to identify and log their location and

needs. These needs might include childcare or healthcare and the system would return information

about those facilities around the local area. People would have a tablet that they carry with them

and they can be traced using GPS so that the information can be updated and current. The team

suggested that this app could have a use in schools as well (locating help with particular topics for

students struggling to understand). During questioning the teams stated that they were looking to

find a smaller system for the app as a tablet would be quite difficult to carry around in an

emergency. They responded, to another question, that they hadn’t yet identified what needs might

be more important in disaster situations.

Students from Tsuyama kōsen presented a system that aimed to make communication after a

disaster easier by enabling people in a disaster location to input and access information about

temporary housing, policing, internet access. The system would involve a team of volunteers using

email to collect and forward information over a temporary network. A Raspberry Pi would be used

as a server which would allow communication by Wi-fi or mobile data system, acting as an internet

server in difficult places. There would be a bulletin board function which would allow many people

to exchange information. The server is called a ‘Grouper’ server, a local server for use in emergency

situations where internet access is disrupted and for use as a communication network only. The

system had been developed for Android and development for other platforms, but not iOS, was

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planned. In the discussion session they described how the system was designed for a small number

of people, up to several hundred, in one area such as a refugee camp or temporary housing area and

would use some special numbers to allow people to connect using mobile technologies.

The next presentation, from Sendai kōsen, was about a system called ‘BBB’, a communication

system without internet. The students started by explaining that in a disaster situation, such as after

an earthquake, no communication systems are likely to be working. BBB uses Bluetooth to create a

Bluetooth hotspot. A Raspberry Pi was encased in a capsule which would be placed in an evacuation

area. People can connect using Bluetooth and communicate with others. Information about missing

people, lack of water supplies, etc., can be posted on a bulletin board and people can read

information posted by others and by local government agencies. Volunteers would be recruited to

take information from one spot to another to keep it all as up to date as possible. After the disaster

information is delivered to a variety of spots to make more information available more quickly.

When there is no disaster the system could be used for shopping coupons or for small

communication networks in remote areas. In the discussion sessions the students said that there

were limitations in the amount of data that could be stored and that verification would be

difficult. The students identified some of the technologies that would be used by the system.

The final presentation I saw was from students of Suzuka College. These students explained that

after a disaster aid would be sent from all over Japan but that it was then stored in warehouses and

not necessarily distributed as efficiently as it could. It can take a long time to distribute food and

water from the central stores and it is difficult to establish who needs what and where so that the

right provisions are sent to the right place. Their system would group products, allow needs to be

identified and allocate provisions for distribution.

A box would be placed at evacuation points. Information about the people (e.g. numbers) at that

evacuation point would be fed into the device, with particular requests for support such as sending

water supplies. The system would then pick from the products in the warehouse. Boxes of aid

would be bar coded so that they don't need to be opened. Some products may go straight from

producer to evacuees rather than being stored. A record of what has been delivered would be kept

so that they know when no more is needed. In the discussion session the students explained that

they had not had the opportunity to test the system. They explained that data would be stored in

the box to be used locally without networking. Usually it takes three days before networking is

recovered and so the system would need to be able to last three days.

49 | P a g e

Appendix 7 – All Japan Programming Contest Original section demonstrations

So that I could get a flavour of the whole competition, I moved between the different sections. In

the original section demonstration hall I saw a system that visualised the movement of air using

insect netting and an array of sensors. The movement, which was mapped to colours to show

strength, was then simulated on a computer screen. The simulation could then be used to show the

effect of different shapes on the flow, shapes included a wall and a sphere. The students in this

team explained that their system could be used for education about wind and air movement.

Students from Tokyo kōsen demonstrated an app that uses social networking channels such as

Facebook and Twitter and implements a monitoring type system. If someone posts something

offensive or dangerous then the app would detect the spread of that message and would also detect

other posts that match the one sent by that person. They explained that it takes less than two days

for a post to go worldwide and that this app aimed to stop dangerous or offensive posts getting that

far.

Students from Suzuka College had made a system called PostKey which used an app to send a signal

to a door lock controller to unlock a classroom for a particular student. The teacher would activate

the lock for a particular session for a particular set of students. The students explained the system

very clearly, even through an interpreter, describing how the signal is read at the door and sent to a

server to verify.

Other systems that I saw included Map Fixer from the student team of Kumamoto (Yatsushiro)

kōsen. Using open data they had set up a street map system that allowed route sharing. One

person could draw the route they would take on the map on their phone and the same route would

be shown on the map on the other person's phone while they were sharing using the app.

Finally, a team had erected a Cosmo Space tent and were demonstrating a simulation of space travel

allowing you to experience rocketing towards a planet and then orbiting around it.