Challenges

Brazil, like many developing countries, has had to face the challenge of how to grow its industrial sector, upgrade existing industries with cutting-edge technologies, and develop manpower capable of driving and managing the production processes. Preparing a qualified workforce from a very early age therefore became paramount through technical training and education programs, along with continuing training and education for seasoned workers.

Toward a Solution

The National Service for Industrial Training (SENAI), a non-profit organization, was established in 1942 to provide technical and vocational education and training in industrial areas of expertise and to promote applied research and technology transfer for the benefit of Brazilian industry and competitiveness. Nowadays, the institution has been considered one of the largest technical and vocational training institutions in the world, with more than 1,000 schools and mobile units, serving 28 industrial sectors, in addition to 25 Innovation Institutes in cutting-edge knowledge areas. Under the methodological and technological aspects, the institution keeps constant updating and renewing of its portfolio, supported by a solid network of international partnerships with more than 40 countries.

SENAI execute international projects sharing knowledge, methodologies and technologies with similar institutions abroad, both in the context of technical cooperation and consulting services. The exchange of best practices envisages the improvement of local capacity and competitiveness, contributing to enhancing industrial capacity and socio-economic development. Up to 2016, nine Professional Education Centers were implemented abroad in Africa, Asia and Latin America. SENAI is one of the major Brazilian players in South-South cooperation and has been internationally recognized as a model of technical vocational education and training in Latin America. Its cooperation with the ILO is done mainly via ILO/CINTERFOR and the Skills Department.

In its 73-year history, SENAI has qualified more than 61 million professionals and has educated more than 50,000 people through its distance education courses. Every year it attracts more than 3,5 million students, including those from developing countries, with a main focus on Portuguese-speaking African countries. Over 80 per cent of its trainees and students find employment. SENAI research and education focus on cutting-edge approaches and technologies, and knowledge transfer to technical and technological industries. Technology and innovation are covered in areas of technical assistance, technology transfer and applied research. SENAI adapts itself to present and future industrial trends by constantly modernizing its technological resources and infrastructure.

SENAI reaches a wide audience and promotes accessibility to its training materials for students with special needs. By offering a distance-learning platform, it gives access to hundreds of courses from initial and continuing education to graduate courses. It also offers solutions tailored to companies’ specific demands. These courses are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and cover more than 20 technological areas. Similarly, SENAI Mobile aims to enhance its educational technology, physical and pedagogic support through mobile applications, including new learning methods and kits. SENAI offers a vast network of expertise, know-how, skills training, and partnerships into which industries and countries are plugging to achieve a skilled, tech-savvy, employed and productive workforce.

SENAI promotes industrial innovation through applied research projects, technical consulting and a vast training and educational programs. Its contribution to the world of work is consistent with the main public policies on technical education and vocational training. Methods of implementation involve expanding the skills certification program nationwide; increasing courses’ supply in line with industrial trends through the use of prospective analysis; expanding SENAI distance learning network; developing programs to train teachers, technicians and managers; guaranteeing annual investments to keep facilities and technologies up to date; expanding the use of mobile technologies in distant regions; and consolidating a systematic evaluation of the educational process.

Capacity development and training are at the core of the SENAI approach, which guarantees the assimilation and uptake of new skills and their long- term sustainability. This project is sustainable due to its extensive and updated offer of technical education and vocational training in terms of apprenticeship, qualification courses, technical courses, undergraduate program and postgraduate programs. The SENAI educational and training program addresses student and industry needs in line with national demand and is therefore readily replicable in a new national context.

The main direct beneficiaries of SENAI are youth, enterprises, technical industries and government, with technical support from renowned institutions such as the British Council, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Fraunhofer Institutes, CITEVE, Tsinghua University, Acreo, University of Wisconsin, Politecnico de Milano.