20 May, 2016

From 9 to 16 May, 2016, UNESCO-UNEVOC organized a virtual conference on return on investment in technical and vocational education and training (TVET). The virtual conference, moderated by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) in Australia, informed the wider TVET community about a collaborative research project on ROI in TVET and was an opportunity for the community to share their ideas, expertise and experiences with the research team to strengthen and validate the initial bases for measuring ROI and identifying indicators.

The discussions focused on identifying the uses of ROI in TVET in different countries, as well as the data sources available to measure ROI. Importantly, the virtual conference also addressed the challenges in comparing ROI across different countries, and provided country specific insights into problems faced while collecting data. Here, the use of quantitative and qualitative methodologies was discussed extensively, as well as possible ways to overcome obstacles related to data collection.

Two hundred and thirty participants from 63 countries attended the virtual conference, 83 of whom came from UNEVOC Centres.

Some key messages from the virtual conference include:

• Information on ROI is a valuable tool to convince stakeholders to invest in TVET.
• The objectives of the TVET system in a country should inform the way ROI is collected and interpreted. However, economic outcomes of TVET (e.g. employment-related outcomes) are seen as being critically important.
• Social aspects are also very important, and tie into the objectives of the systems, but these social measures are often indirectly linked to the economic ones.
• The diversity of TVET systems and contexts pose considerable challenges for cross-country comparisons of ROI.

To view the messages posted during the virtual conference, please login and go to the TVeT Forum. Alternatively you can read the short summary of the virtual conference. The full synthesis report will be published on the website in due time.

Making the case for ROI in TVET

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls on Members States to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” and sets a number of targets related to TVET. The vision encourages the education sector, of which TVET is an integral component, to contribute towards the transition towards equitable, inclusive and sustainable societies and economies, which consequently puts greater stress on, amongst others, the financing of TVET. The important role TVET plays in the fulfilment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) encourages governments and other stakeholders to explore the different types of benefits individuals, enterprises and governments obtain from investing in training.

In this light, it is important for the TVET community to understand the returns from investing in TVET. The information is useful to governments as information on the performance of the TVET system, and provides justification for the public expenditure on TVET. It is also useful for enterprises to justify their expenditure on training, and individuals can use the information to inform themselves on the training choices that they make.