A Bulgarian team is in Zurich this week to help improve dual education under the DOMINO 2 programme, the education ministry says. The work is taking place at the CEMETS Global reform lab.
The team includes education deputy minister professor Senya Terzieva-Zhelyazkova, Rositsa Steliyanova from the Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association and Svetlana Doncheva from the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Polina Zlatarska, who runs DOMINO 2 at the education ministry, is also there.
The main question on the table is how to make dual education more useful for employers, and how the state and businesses can work together to manage the skills the economy needs, the ministry says.
CEMETS Global grew out of work at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich), where the research has been going on for more than a decade. The team is led by Ursula Renold, a professor at ETH Zurich who used to head Switzerland's federal office for professional education and technology. Her research team has helped push through education reforms in more than 30 countries, and over 1,000 people have taken part in its labs so far.
Under the Swiss model, companies get their money back even while training is still under way, which is one reason so many take part, the education ministry says. Business groups also have a direct say in what skills students learn. The ministry points to another factor too: the different levels of education link up with each other, so choosing a vocational path looks more attractive right from secondary school, dual training sits at a higher level, and the skills students gain are recognised in higher education as well.
DOMINO 2 stands for "dual education for the modern demands and needs of society". It's a joint Bulgarian-Swiss programme with a budget of 5.8 million Swiss francs, running from 2025 to 2029, and builds on the first DOMINO project, though this time businesses get a bigger role.
The programme launched on 2 October 2025, when Krasimir Valchev was education minister. "I'm confident that DOMINO 2 will get more schools, employers and students to take up dual education," he said at the time.
Next up is closer work with employer and trade groups to agree who does what, along with a study on how to make the Bulgarian model fit the economy's needs better.