In archipelagos, education is never merely about classrooms. It is about survival, continuity, demographic resilience, and the difficult art of preparing younger generations to remain on islands increasingly shaped by globalization, technological change, labor shortages, and migration. It is within that broader context that the Associação das Escolas Profissionais dos Açores (AEPA) has welcomed the planned reinforcement of vocational education offerings across the Azores, describing the measure as “a positive sign of stability and recognition” for professional education in the region.

In a statement released on May 15, the association praised the Secretaria Regional da Juventude, Habitação e Emprego for the recently announced expansion of professional training programs and highlighted the government’s effort to align educational offerings more closely with the concrete needs of the regional labor market.

For the association, vocational education occupies a strategic role not only in the qualification of young Azoreans, but in the long-term economic and social development of the archipelago itself.

Among the sectors identified as particularly critical for the future of the islands are tourism, the blue economy, digital transition, environmental sustainability, services, and emerging technologies — areas increasingly viewed as essential to the diversification and modernization of the Azorean economy.

Yet the statement also recognizes that significant structural challenges remain within the regional educational and training system.

The Associação das Escolas Profissionais dos Açores points to persistent concerns involving workforce qualification levels, early school dropout rates, shortages of qualified labor in several sectors, and the continuing need to make vocational pathways more attractive both to students and to families still influenced by older perceptions regarding professional education.

Despite those obstacles, the association emphasized the transformative role played by Azorean vocational schools over recent decades. According to the AEPA, these institutions have contributed not only to employability and technical training, but also to social inclusion, talent retention across different islands, and the capacity of local businesses to find workers with practical and specialized skills.

Particularly significant within the statement is the association’s call for greater rationalization and balance within the regional training network.

The AEPA argues that situations of direct overlap and competition between public schools and vocational schools should be avoided, especially in smaller territorial contexts where duplicated educational offerings risk weakening institutions and reducing the efficient use of public resources.

For the association, the collaborative model gradually emerging in recent years — based on greater articulation and complementarity between educational networks — should now be deepened and stabilized. Such an approach, it argues, would provide greater institutional security for schools specifically oriented toward professional education while also allowing more tailored responses to the distinct needs of each island.

The association also reaffirmed its willingness to continue institutional collaboration with the Regional Government and other social and economic actors, advocating what it described as a strategic, stable, and cooperative vision involving schools, government entities, social partners, and the business community.

In its concluding remarks, the Associação das Escolas Profissionais dos Açores stressed that the challenges facing the future of the Azores demand continued investment in the valorization of vocational education, stable funding models, pedagogical and technological modernization, and deeper research into the long-term social and economic impact of professional education across the region.

Beneath the institutional language of the statement lies a broader reality increasingly evident across the islands: the future of the Azores may depend less on attracting outside solutions than on cultivating internally the skills, confidence, and opportunities capable of allowing younger generations to imagine a future within the archipelago itself.

For small island societies historically shaped by emigration, that may be one of the most important forms of autonomy of all.

Translated and adapted from a story in Diário dos Açores – Paulo Vivieiros-director