The Vice-President of the Government highlighted in Angra do Heroísmo the importance of "vocational training and qualification" of Azoreans, considering them "fundamental to collective success."
 
Speaking at the delivery ceremony of diplomas to the graduates of Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Angra do Heroísmo Vocational Training School, Sérgio Ávila stressed that this the reason why the Regional Government is keen to invest in training.
 
"Only in the last three years, our vocational training schools opened 1,040 courses, which allowed the provided the training of 14,268 Azoreans," the Vice-President revealed, adding that the necessary public investment exceeded 70 million Euros.
 
In his speech, he stated that, in the same period, 259 long-term courses were opened, involving more than five thousand trainees. This has set a paradigm shift in vocational training since the main priority is to go beyond initial training as a complement to academic training.
 
According to Sérgio Ávila, the goal was to "provide, through the Reativar programme, more qualification to people who were already in the labour market but who lost their jobs."
 
"The results of this training are measured, because in the most difficult year, which was 2013, it ensured the placement of 70 percent of graduates," Sérgio Ávila said, stressing that "this figure rose to over 80 percent in 2015."
 
The Vice-President highlighted the role of Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Angra do Heroísmo in this process, who has taught more than a million training hours to nearly 600 trainees. In this context, he mentioned the paver application course, an activity with shortage of professionals.
 
In his speech, Sérgio Ávila alluded to "the vast, comprehensive and intense" range of support measures to post-training employability, revealing that, “according to December data, the Azores registered the lowest number of unemployed registered at employment centres in the past 38 months.
 
"Currently, 1,713 graduates are taking part in Estagiar L and T programmes, after the completion of vocational training or university degree; 644 training started their traineeships in January," stressed the Vice-President. In this regard, the government official added that, under the support programme for the Professional Integration of Trainees (PIIE), companies hired a total of 1,072 trainees, which adds up to 1,995 trainees hired under Integra programme; the latter also supports companies in hiring trainees.