Borås Municipality

The municipality of Borås (City of Borås)’s Working Life Department, Department for Adult Education are an associate member at EARLALL. They are part of the Working Groups: Ageing Population and Lifelong Guidance and Skills and Labour Market.

The City of Borås is located in the Västra Götaland region, in the western part of Sweden. With 113,000 inhabitants, Borås is the thirteenth largest city in Sweden.

Borås is part of a regional cooperation with seven municipalities in the surrounding area in the field of VET. Vuxenutbildningen Borås (Adult Education Borås) is the municipal adult education service for employed or unemployed people who need to develop their competences or who would like to undertake a career change. The organisation counts on about 5,500 students and 200 employees. Students have the opportunity to study full-time, part-time or via distance leaning, depending on their course choice.

The City of Borås has a special interest in upskilling and reskilling pathways for employees and the unemployed, and supports the collaboration between VET providers and companies. Adult Education Borås offers programs in specific fields where there is an explicit competence demand, such as textile or e-Commerce.

Main economic activities of the region: Logistics, Technology (digital solutions and services), Textile design, development, fashion and import; Creative businesses; Science park and innovation; Borås College University

Borås and Lifelong Learning

Two departments in Borås are involved in lifelong learning and represent the city:  the Department of Adult Education which  responsible for VET and the Working Life Department who works together with Department of Adult Education with NEETs and with the introduction of migrants. The city’s priorities are to work for inclusive labour markets, managing shortage of skills, providing language and professional training for migrants, including:

• Activating women, young people or NEETs in the labour market
• Projects that harness skills defined in specific contexts by representatives of labour or public authorities
• Policy initiatives where social actors shape working conditions or influence labour or social policy
• Activating young people or senior people in the labour market

Examples of projects in the municipality

DAMAS, 2021 – 2023

The DAMAS (Digital Apprentices Mobility in the Automotive Sector) project aims at testing virtual mobility in the automotive sector. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, developing virtual mobility has proven to be a key need in the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector. DAMAS will find an innovative solutions for the future, mostly by using digital tools. More information can be found here: https://www.earlall.eu/fostering-digital-mobility-in-vet-damas-project-kicked-off/

Get Ready in West, 2021- 2023

The project seeks to strengthen individual competencies for those who have not finished school and are unemployed to help them finish their degrees. It targets those Not in Employment Education or Training (NEETs) from 16-24 and is ran by the Department of Adult Education, Working Life Department and the National Employment Agency.