Public Private Partnerships: success factor for skills development

Motivation of partners and suitable financial arrangements are crucial to ensure the success of public private partnerships for skills development. These are just some of the key issues emerging from a joint ETF and IIAS (International Institute of Administrative Sciences) event on 4-5 December 2019 in Brussels. Participants included policy makers and practitioners from the European Union and neighbouring countries.

“Public private partnership is at the forefront of the European Commission’s employment policy implementation” said Mr Sekmokas from the European Commission’s Directorate for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion. Meanwhile, Mr Masson from the Commission’s Directorate for Neighbourhood and Enlargement negotiations characterised such partnerships as necessary for the delivery of the European Union’s external programmes for the neighbourhood and enlargement regions.

The event was organised around several topics, including the contribution of public private partnerships to innovation in skills development and their benefit compared to other forms of cooperation in skills development.

Benefits of successful public private partnerships for skills development include increased accessibility to training, demand-driven vocational education and training provision, employment and economic growth.

An ETF study presenting 23 successful case studies from 14 countries provided critical input for discussions. Public private partnerships for skills development differ from other policy areas in that a stronger role and commitment from the public sector is needed together with private sector engagement focused on business sustainability rather than immediate investment returns.

The ETF is working in cooperation with the IIAS creating a knowledge base on public private partnerships so that existing practices and success stories may be learnt from and built upon in the ETF’s partner countries and beyond.