80% of students recruited for work after graduating Hogar Fundación Institute

(MissionNewswire) The Salesian-run Hogar Fundación Institute in Vigo, Spain, celebrated its 75th anniversary with a commemorative day that included dignitaries, past pupils and teachers. Since 1948, the institute has provided vocational training in the city and its surroundings to ensure that youth have an opportunity to access skills for employment.

“These 75 years show that education is really a matter of the heart,” said Father Fernando García Sánchez, superior of the Salesians from St. James the Greater Province, at the celebration.

The institute offers nine training courses, including digital printing, graphic printing, welding, machining, electrical and automatic installations, telecommunications installations, production scheduling in mechanical manufacturing, industrial automation, and robotics and electronic maintenance.

Part of the success of the institute is its focus on employment. The institute has incorporated the dissemination of research and practical training into its business-oriented higher education model. The result is that 80% of students are recruited for work after they finish their studies.

A Salesian missionary noted, “Hogar Fundación Institute is always looking to adapt to not only students’ need but the needs of the community. During the most complicated moments of the COVID-19 pandemic and given the lack of medical safety equipment, the institute, at the request of its faculty and volunteer students, made masks and visors as a first protection barrier. Through a network, more than 14,000 were created.”

The institute continues to demonstrate that education and long-term stable employment are possible when there is collaboration among the social and entrepreneurial fabric of a city.

Close to 32% of young Spanish workers under the age of 25 are unemployed and a growing number of them can’t afford to buy enough food to live. Poor youth with few employable skills struggle the most to find and retain stable employment. Women in Spain face inequality in the workforce. They earn up to 14% less than men and represent only 34.5% of those listed as the highest earners in Spain.

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Sources:

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ANS – Spain – Salesians in Vigo: “These 75 years show that education is really a matter of the heart”

Salesian Missions – Spain

World Bank – Spain