Regional BIBB Partners Meeting identifies core areas of future collaboration

Following the invitation of BIBB, TVET experts from partner institutions in the Asia-Pacific region got together for the second regional BIBB partners meeting in Nanjing, PR China on 13-14 October 2016. The event took place in the context of Education+, the first exhibition in China with a focus on vocational education organized by Messe Nanjing, a subsidiary of the German based Landesmesse Stuttgart.

The meeting aimed at providing a forum for exchange of country experiences and discussion of good practices as well as challenges faced in the development and reform of TVET in Asia-Pacific and beyond.

The first day of the meeting took place in the context of the Education+ Summit. Discussions focused on topics related to the future of TVET in China and the overall situation of TVET in Asia-Pacific. During her keynote, Birgit Thomann, Head of the Department “Internationalization of VET & Knowledge Management” at BIBB, stressed the importance of international cooperation in the face of ever growing challenges due to trends of globalisation and technological developments going hand in hand with economic transformations.

“Human capital is considered a key determinant to ensure economic and social prosperity. As a matter of fact, the ability of education systems to meet skills needs is considered a crucial challenge that must be met in order to enable national economies to transform into knowledge- and technology-intensive industries. Thus, emphasizing the crucial role of TVET and enhancing the effective delivery of TVET against the backdrop of globalization and technological progress have become a major priority of many economies in the Asia-Pacific region. Here, governments in collaboration with stakeholders can play a vital role not only in the identification of key challenges but in bringing forward new ideas and suggesting solutions. Networking platforms such as the BIBB Partners Meetings can stimulate the exchange between relevant stakeholders in the region, strengthen existing collaboration, and ensure a better understanding of current developments and common topics of interest.”

The subsequent panel discussions on regional good practices in the reform of TVET systems were facilitated by Mr. Michael Wiechert, Head of the Division for International Cooperation & Advisory Services and the German Office for Cooperation in Vocational Education and Training (GOVET) and Mr. Michael Schwarz, Deputy Head of the Division. Overall the discussions showed that the relevance of mechanisms for the governance of TVET systems, such as empirically-based research and the institutionalisation of practice-oriented training standards and curricula, seeking to increase the quality of TVET, is now widely acknowledged. However, the panelists also pointed out challenges for achieving a sustainable and effective institutionalisation of those mechanisms in national contexts.

In her keynote, Mrs. Miki Nozawa, Programme Specialist at the UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre for Technical Vocational Education and Training, introduced the audience to the activities of the UNESCO-UNEVOC network. The overall goal of UNESCO-UNEVOC’s work is to foster international collaboration and strengthen the capacities of it network partners and TVET practitioners. In this context, the main activities of network partners on global and regional level include policy dialogue, research and capacity development. Mrs. Nozawa also highlighted the manifold opportunities of UNESCO-UNEVOC’s online services to enhance exchange and peer learning among the community.

The second day of the partners meeting focused on active exchange and discussion between the partner institutions.

During a world café the participants discussed country-specific experiences and topics such as

•  the development and implementation of national competency standards and competency-based curricula (moderated by TPQI),
• the Meister High School approach as a recent reform project in South Korea (moderated by KRIVET),
• the internationalization in TVET and the importance for international cooperation (moderated by CIVTE),
• Training approaches for TVET teachers and company trainers (moderated by FIRO),
• The experiences from the Philippines with cost-benefit-analyses in TVET (moderated by TESDA and PCCI HRDF),
• The development of green skills in VET (moderated by CIVTE)

During the wrap-up discussion the participants identified the following topics of common interest:

• Institutionalisation of TVET-related research, with a particular focus on
  • Monitoring & forecasting of labour markets and TVET systems
  • Governance of TVET
  • Financing of TVET
• Training and qualification approaches of teachers and trainers in TVET
• Practice-oriented standards and curricula in TVET

Equally relevant are questions related to trends of automatization and digitization of industrial processes and their significance for TVET. In addition, the concept of “Green Skills” discussed in the context of sustainable economic development is of great relevance to the Asia-Pacific region.
These topics could be subject of future bi- or multilateral projects in collaboration with BIBB and other stakeholders. Furthermore they could form a thematic focus of future partners meetings.

Conclusion

Summing up, the regional partners meeting received very positive feedback from the partners. Furthermore, the overall event proved to be quite satisfactory for all stakeholders involved in Education+.

All parties involved expressed their keen interest to participate in BIBB’s regional partners meetings in the future. As this year’s event proved, partners meeting can lay the foundation for closer exchange between stakeholders and enhance peer learning and collaboration on regional level.

All participants agreed that future BIBB Regional Partners Meetings in the region should take place on a regular basis. In addition, email exchange and other web-based tools could further deepen exchange and cooperation among the institutions.

Context

As of 2016, 30 cooperation agreements are in place between BIBB and partner institutions from all over the world, one of the main focuses in this regard being on the Asia-Pacific region.

The BIBB regional partners meeting 2016 brought together representatives from the following institutions:

• Central Institute for Vocational and Technical Education (CIVTE), China
• National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER), Australia
• Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), India
• Korean Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training (KRIVET), South Korea
• Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), Philippines
• Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry Human Resources Development Foundation (PCCI HRDF), Philippines
• Federal Institute for the Development of Education (FIRO), Russia
• Office of Vocational Education Commission (OVEC), Thailand
• Thailand Professional Qualification Institute (TPQI), Thailand