New partnerships between countries from North Africa and the UK during the British Council seminar on skills and international partnerships
Regional and international skills education providers, employers and policy makers from more than fifteen countries gathered in Casablanca to explore the ground-breaking role of skills and international partnerships in developing skills and employability globally.
The winner of the International Skills Partnership of the Year award is the Technical Industrial Institute al-Hoban in Yemen and Dudley College in the UK, both organisations beat 29 other international nominees to become this year’s winners. Their two year partnership has created impact beyond their institutions’ and has influenced national changes to the vocational education inspection process.
‘This workshop is all about partnership. Something that it is at the very heart of what the British Council is all about. Our experiences of delivering educational partnerships between UK organisations and counterparts overseas stretches back to over some 75 years.’ Nigel Bellingham, Director British Council Tunisia, told participants in his speech to the ‘Bringing the Learning Home’ seminar.
Bringing the Learning Home is an annual British Council global seminar focusing on international collaboration in the skills sector. This year’s seminar was attended by more than 80 participants over Nov 27-28 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Casablanca, Morocco. The seminar aimed to facilitate and develop innovative international skills partnerships in the skills sector between organisations in the UK and around the world which change lives, helping to enhance the skills, employability and opportunities of current and future workforce around the world.
From Egypt a delegation took part in the seminar: Moshir Aly Ismail Mohamed, Executive Director Ready- made Garments ETP; Walid Nabil Mahmoud Korish, Executive Director - Printing ETP; Mohamed Essam Eldin Tawfik Elzomor, Executive Director- Engineering ETP; Zeinab Adel Aly Abdel Razek, Head of International Cooperation The Egyptian Banking Institute; Ehab Shawky Ahmed Salem, Executive Director ETP - Chemical Industries "Kemt"; Anis Tawfik Zakhary Meikhaeil , Executive Director Building Construction & Housing ETP (BC&HE); and Sameh Samir Mohamed Gamal-Eldin, Executive Director Building Construction Civil Engineering ETP (BCCE).
The event provided a unique networking opportunity, bringing together established and new partnerships from around the world, it provided an excellent opportunity for organisations interested in getting involved. Participants shared their partnership experiences, built new connections and identified new opportunities to enrich their partnership work through the development of cross country relationships.
Nigel Bellingham said to the packed hall of participants in his speech, ‘We are very proud of what has been achieved through our Skills for Employability programme, not least through our international skills partnerships. To date we have facilitated over 70 such partnerships involving over 30 countries around the world, working in over 20 in different industry sectors.’
He continued ‘These partnerships have helped to transform participating institutions and have often had a life changing impact on professionals and young people involved. But more than this through the exchange of knowledge, expertise, and experience, and by working to tailored output focussed project plans, our partnerships have developed innovative approaches to a range of key challenges. From encouraging entrepreneurial attitudes in young people to enhancing the quality of the training they receive, from developing curricular fit for the 21th century to ensuring that young people receive proper guidance about their training and career options. From capacity building staff in the new pedagogical methodologies to ensuring that the skills their students learn are tailored to the needs of the industry.’
During this seminar it was announced that ‘Bringing the Learning Home 2014’ will be held in China in November.
For further information contact:
Rose marie Gad, Communication Manager, British Council Egypt
Tel: +(202) 3344 3076
Email: Rose.Gad@Britishcouncil.org.eg