16. Skills on Wheels: Raising Industry Involvement in Vocational Training in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary

The industrial renaissance in East Central Europe and the spectacular success of its automotive sector has been largely driven by foreign investment. Foreign firms import capital, technology, and even supplier networks; this leaves labour as the only locally produced resource and the most directly available “lever” for the host governments to ensure their countries’ long-term competitiveness. Yet so far, their success has been limited, if one is to judge by the growing alarm over labour shortages in the region. This chapter argues that part of the reason for the slow adjustment of the region’s skill systems has been the lack of commitment on the part of employers to commit to institutionalised involvement in vocational training. Instead, what we see is the emergence of policy experiments at various levels of governance. This chapter documents some of these policy experiments in Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic, in order to outline some of the more successful practices as well as to identify potential areas of conflict in the ongoing transformation of the regional vocational training systems.