The Barcelona Food Institute and Mercabarna’s Guidance, Training and Job Placement Services, both located in the wholesale market, will start in 2025 as an integrated centre, with around 1,200 students. This will allow them to coordinate their training offer, take advantage of synergies, optimise resources, implement 100% dual vocational training – combining teaching with work experience in companies – and promote innovation in companies, especially in SMEs.
The aim is for the new centre to become, in the short term, the training body of reference in the metropolitan area of Barcelona for the industry and marketing of agri-food products.
The governing body of this new integrated centre will be the permanent commission, chaired by the director of the Food Institute, Albert Castillo, and which also includes the general director of Mercabarna, Pablo Vilanova, the manager of the Barcelona Education Consortium, Mercè Massa and representatives of the Employment Service of Catalonia, CCOO, UGT, Foment del Treball, PIMEC and other professionals from the centre.
From packing fruit to being the manager of the packaging plant
The integration of both centres, contemplated in the new model of vocational training based on lifelong learning, favours that any person can plan their training itinerary, as well as find the training that, for
each case, and at each moment, is most appropriate to their circumstances, expectations and needs.
In addition, in this new model, companies play a relevant role in the training of professionals through the so-called dual system, which combines teaching at the centre with internships in companies.
An example in the food sector would be that of a person without studies who begins by participating in a Grade B course in Packaging and Packing of Food Products and obtains partial accreditation of competence that allows him to
later take a Grade C (professional certificate) in Auxiliary Operations in the Food Industry, in which part of the training is carried out in a fruit and vegetable packaging company, which ends up hiring him.
The training offer, professional guidance and the job bank are coordinated
The integration of the Barcelona Food Institute and the Orientation, Training and Insertion Services of Mercabarna also means that the information and guidance services for people who wish to study and/or work in the food sector, the prospecting service for the development of dual FP (vocational training), the management of the job bank and the promotion of innovation in companies will be coordinated.
Mercabarna’s Guidance, Training and Placement Services
Mercabarna’s Guidance, Training and Placement Services were created in 1987 to respond to the emerging training needs of food trade professionals. It is a centre approved by the Catalan Employment Service (SOC) and organises professional and retraining training for around 640 students a year.
The Barcelona Food Institute
The Barcelona Food Institute, which began its activity in the 2021-2022 academic year in Mercabarna, is a public vocational training centre of the Barcelona Education Consortium network and concentrates the training offer for vocational training cycles in the field of food industry and trade in the city of Barcelona. The centre welcomes around 550 students a year.
More information
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- Nueva edición del certificado profesional de «Carnicería y elaboración de productos cárnicos» en el Institut dels Aliments de Barcelona
