In the current era, there are five key purposes for Professional and Vocational Education (PVE) to secure the social, economic and environment needs of the communities it serves.  These are: i) engaging young people with VET; ii) assisting them identify occupations to which they are suited; iii) preparing them for occupations; iv) continuing education across working life to meet changing needs and goals; and v) aligning workplace innovations with workers’ learning. To realise these purposes requires: i) being responsive to the communities served by those systems and ii) play a role in bring about change in those communities through supporting innovations, extending existing economic activities, and building capacities at the local level. Given the scope of these roles, VET, perhaps for more than any other educational sector, requires effective localised social, administrative, and educational infrastructures to achieve such outcomes. Social infrastructure includes partnerships that support work placements, work experiences, employment opportunities and articulate local enterprises’ requirements. Administrative infrastructure includes the intentional organisation and enactment of vocational educational provisions and their certification. Educational infrastructure includes the provision and alignment of expertise and resources to achieve these outcomes, including those of teachers and the ability to extend their efforts beyond the educational institution. These forms of local infrastructure are proposed as being essential for achieving five contemporary purposes of PVE. In making this case, presentation draws on the findings from a three-decade long program of research in VET provisions in countries with both developed and developing economies.