Entities and companies

Participating in dual higher education training offers you significant benefits:

• Made-to-measure talent development: you will have the opportunity to train student-professionals with skills directly tailored to your needs. You will achieve this when you collaborate in designing their training programme.
• Tax incentives: employing the student on an alternating training contract can result in up to a 100% reduction in employer contributions. Furthermore, there may be additional tax reductions if you decide to make the student permanent once the process is complete, although you are under no obligation to do so.
• Social responsibility: by collaborating you demonstrate your commitment to the social sustainability of your community and distinguish yourself as an organisation dedicated to developing talent, promoting employability and contributing to the wider community through collaboration with the university system.
• Boost to innovation: by helping to train the professionals of tomorrow, you generate value for your organisation as a mechanism for innovation.
• R&D&I synergies: participating in dual higher education training promotes synergies in research, innovation and technology transfer between your organisation and the university.
• Future talent spotting: you will get to know student talent first-hand and be able to select the students who best fit your needs.

The following organisations can collaborate in a dual higher education training programme:

·  Companies

·  Institutions or public administrations

·  Social organisations or trade unions

It is essential for the professional activity of the collaborating organisation to be aligned with the profile of the relevant university degree. The collaborating organisation must also have the necessary resources to host the student and participate in the dual programme to the required quality standard. Any type of entity, regardless of its size or legal status, may participate in dual higher education programmes.

To participate in the programme, broadly speaking, you must:

1. Register your interest: The faculties and schools of the university that offer dual programmes publicise them on their respective websites and make contact with potentially interested organisations. If you are interested in participating, you can get in touch with the designated contacts.
2. Formalise the collaboration: a framework agreement for educational collaboration must be signed between your organisation and the URV. This agreement must comply with Law 40/2015 of 1 October on the Legal Regime of the Public Sector.
3. Define the training project: a training project must be drawn up to define key aspects such as the training pathway, the expected learning outcomes, the rights and obligations of the parties involved, the student's working hours, confidentiality and intellectual property clauses, and the monitoring and evaluation systems. The project must be designed jointly by the university and your organisation and must ensure a balance between academic training and professional practice.
4. Select the students: once the University has reviewed the offers and circulated them to interested students, the faculty/school makes an initial shortlist of candidates. Your organisation will then be sent the documentation for the shortlisted candidates (academic transcript, CV and cover letter). With this information, your organisation can carry out its own internal selection process and inform the university department of the person or people that it wants to join the dual training programme.
5. Onboard the student: your organisation must onboard the selected student to the organisation via a specific educational cooperation agreement that details the training project and a work contract for dual training. This contractual arrangement is intended to combine paid professional work with university-level academic training. It is essential to ensure at all times that the student will be able to alternate between training at the educational institution and at the collaborating entity. The dual higher education programmes at the URV are already designed to maximise this compatibility. Financial remuneration for the student is mandatory and must comply with the current legal framework.
6. Supervise the student: each student will have an academic tutor, appointed by the university, and a professional tutor, assigned by your organisation. Both must jointly supervise the monitoring and development of the training project and ensure that the learning objectives are met. The professional tutors are to receive specific prior training to ensure that they can properly carry out their duties.
7. Provide optimal conditions: your organisation undertakes to provide the student with the necessary support and to facilitate their use of the means, instruments or equipment required to carry out their duties. You must also register the student with the social security system before the start of the programme and comply with any tax and social security obligations, should there be any. Your organisation must take measures to protect the student's health and safety and to include them in occupational health and safety programmes.

Dual higher education programmes are governed by a regulatory framework that guarantees clear and secure collaboration between the university and the collaborating organisation. The main elements are:

• Dual higher education training. This is regulated by Royal Decree 822/2021, of 28 September, which establishes the dual training model and the possibility of incorporating the dual training distinction into bachelor's and master's degrees.
• Contractual relationship between the student and the collaborating organisation.  This is based on Article 11.2 of the Statute of Workers, as set out in Royal Decree-Legislative 2/2015 of 23 October, which defines the training contract. Technical development and the current regulation of the training contract are established in Royal Decree 1065/2025, of 26 November.
• Current labour law reform. The regulation of training contracts is also governed by the provisions of Royal Decree-Law 32/2021, which promotes training linked to employment and strengthens the concept of the training contract.

The relationship between the university and the collaborating organisation to jointly carry out the dual higher education programme in any field of study at the university is formalised by a jointly signed educational cooperation agreement, in accordance with the provisions of Law 40/2015 of 1 October on the Legal Regime of the Public Sector, and by a specific agreement, which must also be signed by the student. This latter agreement specifies the student's training project, the rights and obligations of the parties in relation to the training project, the material resources, the mechanisms for tutoring and supervision, the composition of the joint monitoring committee, the training activities and assessment systems, and the other conditions considered necessary for the proper development of the training project.