CoRi VET

Vocational education and training (VET) in Costa Rica is receiving increasing attention due to the growing demand for well-trained skilled workers and the high youth unemployment rate. However, Costa Rica's VET system faces not only a shortage of qualified teachers but also an insufficient institutionalization of academic training for vocational educators.

The established and, so far, only Chair for Technical and Business Education at the National Technical University (UTN) has limited experience in the qualification of early-career researchers and teachers in vocational pedagogy and subject-specific didactics. It also lacks a strong academic tradition in VET research. Nevertheless, institutionalized VET research is a fundamental prerequisite for the continuous adaptation of vocational education to the country's technological, economic, and social developments.

Against this backdrop, the international research project CoRiVET aims to further develop study structures that ensure the qualified training of teachers for vocational education institutions in Costa Rica. It also seeks to strengthen VET research at the UTN. The project is being implemented through close collaboration between Osnabrück University (UOS) and the UTN.