Private and subsidized schools already account for a third of vocational training in Mallorca

PalmaVocational Training (VT) has become one of the great areas of growth for education in the Balearic Islands, but it is also a terrain where private initiative is increasingly gaining weight. The demand for professional studies is increasing and, while the public network expands places, teaching staff, and cycles at the pace it can, private centers take advantage of the gaps left by an administration that needs more time to launch new offerings. The result is that the private sector is no longer a marginal player within VT. In Mallorca, in fact, it already has more presence than the subsidized network.

The data from the Ministry of Education for this academic year dimension the growth of VT. There will be more than 21,000 students and 14,479 first-year places –464 more than last year and 1,507 more than the 2023-2024 academic year. The staff reaches 2,088 teachers, 81 more than a year ago and 359 more than two years ago. Also, 25 new cycles are being incorporated –five basic grade, ten intermediate grade, and ten higher grade– and two specialization courses. In total, the offer reaches 136 cycles from 24 professional families.

This growth is not exclusively public. In Mallorca, according to data provided by unofficial sources, the public network adds up to 346 cycle offers, compared to 74 in the state-subsidized sector and 76 in the private sector, counting basic, intermediate, and higher degrees. It is not a matter of 346 different qualifications: each center where the same cycle is taught is counted as one offer. Thus, if a qualification is offered in five centers, it adds up to five offers. In Menorca, the offer adds up to 51 cycles in public centers, 3 in state-subsidized ones, and 1 in the private one; in Ibiza, 68 in public ones and 2 in private ones; and in Formentera, 6 in public ones. According to the professor and researcher at the UIB Francesca Salvà –she is the lead researcher of the Laboratory of Research and Innovation in Vocational Training–, this increase in the private offer is part of a broader process of privatization of education. "Vocational training is within this package," she points out. In her opinion, the private initiative grows "when the public one does not respond to the needs of the population." "We have carried out campaigns to say that vocational training is very important to increase the educational level of the population, but the administrations have not done their homework. The private sector has seen a niche here," she states.

Speed is one of the keys

The Ministry admits that there are professional families where demand exceeds the available supply. The Minister of Education, Antoni Vera, points out especially Healthcare, Administration and Management, Informatics and Communications, Physical and Sports Activities, Sociocultural and Community Services, Electricity and Electronics, and Transport and Vehicle Maintenance. “We know that there are families on a waiting list, but the offer is made based on market demands,” he explains.

It is at this point where, according to Vera, one of the keys to private expansion appears. “For the Administration, it is difficult to activate higher degrees,” she acknowledges. Launching a new public qualification involves planning, teaching staff, equipment, and, in many cases, adapting spaces or creating new ones. The response may arrive, but not always at the same pace as the demand. Vera exemplifies this with healthcare. If the Administration expands intermediate nursing assistant studies, but does not simultaneously grow other higher degree specialties to follow up with, such as those linked to the dental field and parapharmacy, “the private sector sees the gap and enters.” The increase in private initiative does not necessarily respond to the creation of a new market, but also to the ability to occupy spaces where the public offer has not yet reached.

The general director of the ESERP business school, Xisco Enseñat, speaks directly of a business opportunity. “Landing here is profitable,” he assures. In his view, “the success of the degrees and the business opportunity are there because the university cannot keep up, nor can the public vocational training offer.” “Creating a private cycle is relatively easy and fast,” he explains. According to Enseñat, groups linked to the educational sector have been entering Mallorca because they detect a combination of demand for studies and a need for professionals. Training related to marketing, web development, healthcare, and the nautical sector are some of the areas where they see opportunities.

The director of CIFP Juníper Serra, Manel Aragonès, also points out this ability to react more quickly. The difficulty in creating new offerings, he says, varies according to the professional family: a course in automotive or hospitality, with specific facilities and equipment, does not require the same as a degree that only needs classrooms and computers. "We see that the private sector focuses a lot on areas such as healthcare and computing," he explains. "The professional market needs many hands," he adds.

For its part, the Ministry continues to expand the public network. In two academic years, there are 1,507 more first-year places and 359 teachers have been added. This September, 25 new cycles have been incorporated. Among the new features are studies in Environmental Health, a higher degree in Training for Safe and Sustainable Mobility, a specialization in Cell Cultures, and new training linked to machine learning, data management, and training. This expansion also has a social dimension, according to the Government. Vera defends vocational training (FP) as one of the ways to reduce early school leaving and provide a training alternative to young people who do not fit into conventional academic pathways. The early school leaving rate stood at 15.2% in May, five points below the 20.14% recorded in 2024.

Also distance learning

The private business is not necessarily in the creation of an offer completely different from the public one. A good part of the cycles taught by private centers also exist within the public network. The key to their expansion is the way they are offered. Private centers have strongly committed to distance VET, especially in higher degrees. This modality allows for capturing students who work or who cannot attend class every day and expands the potential market beyond the available in-person spots.

This is one of the reasons that explain why private growth is especially visible in higher degrees, according to Salvà. The distance offer allows reaching a larger volume of students and is easier to apply in these studies than in basic VET, where in-person attendance and the practical component have more weight. Enseñat defends that flexibility is one of their advantages. “The private sector has more leeway to reformulate a degree to adapt to what the market demands,” he states.

The difference between networks is not just about speed and modality. It is also about price. Aragonès calculates that taking a cycle in a private center can cost between 1,500 and 6,000 euros, while in the public sector the cost is approximately between 30 and 160 euros, and the charter sector, on paper, also operates at the same price points. “Paying thousands of euros is no joke,” warns Aragonès. The difference is relevant when demand exceeds available places. In this case, the issue is not just how many cycles each network has, but what happens to students who do not secure a public place and have as an alternative tuition that can cost thousands of euros. "There is a very great social inequality. Those who pay get in, and those who do not, lose a year," he laments. And he brings a reality to the table: the enrollment calendar for public and charter vocational training is the same for all centers, and the private sector knows this and takes advantage of the lead to enroll students before the official period opens.

Aragonès cites culinary studies as an example. In centers in Calvià, Alcúdia, and Sóller there may be unfilled spots, while in Palma there are students who end up on a waiting list. Some of these students end up turning to the School of Hospitality. “We get students with very high grades. This means that those who have average grades are left out,” he explains. “The risk is that there are students who end up in the private sector because they cannot get into the public one,” he adds. The debate over the privatization of vocational training is not just a question of the number of cycles, but also has to do with who can access the most requested qualifications when public capacity is not sufficient.

The role of the state-subsidized private sector

The private initiative is not the only one that has grown alongside the public one. The state-subsidized network also plays an important role in the expansion of vocational training. The president of the UCTAIB Education Sector and former director of a cooperative school, Kiko López, recalls that the Ministry asked state-subsidized centers to help expand the offer. "The very slow pace of the public Administration does not allow for their development and you need the support of the state-subsidized ones; if not, it would not be possible," he explains. For cooperative centers, he adds, vocational training has also been a way to create jobs and transform the centers. "The goal is to generate an impact on society and the center." But López acknowledges that the expansion has not always been carried out in an orderly manner. "We wouldn't grow this way now," he states.

The discussion is not whether private supply should exist. The private sector maintains that public supply must continue to have the main weight. "That there is public supply, good; state-subsidized, good; private, too," says Enseñat. But he adds: "That everything depends on the private sector is not the best," he says. "If it were public, better. The private sector must be complementary," he insists.

Salvà places the Balearic Islands in an intermediate position with respect to other autonomous communities. Madrid, Catalonia, and the Basque Country have a higher weight of private initiative in VET, partly due to the presence of large distance learning companies that offer studies to students from all over the State. The Balearic Islands share with territories such as the Valencian Community and Murcia a significant presence of private initiative.

Meanwhile, the Ministry maintains its commitment to expanding the public network. This academic year there will be more students, more teachers, more places, and more courses. But the Administration acknowledges that there are families on waiting lists and that launching certain qualifications takes time. VET is still mostly public in the Balearic Islands, but the private business is no longer anecdotal. In Mallorca, the private sector exceeds the state-subsidized one. And, as long as demand continues to grow, the question is not just how many studies each network offers, but to what extent the public capacity is able to absorb them and what happens to the students who are left out. VET has gone from being the poor sister of the educational system to being the sister with whom everyone wants to share a table.