The private sector has an important role to play in promoting quality technical and vocational education and training, both as an employer and a training provider. While the world of work and training prepares for the post-COVID-19 ‘new normal’, aligning TVET programmes to industry demands has become an even greater priority.

UNESCO-UNEVOC recognizes the importance of fostering discussion and engagement with companies (global, local, small and medium-sized enterprises) to ensure TVET is demand-driven and future-focused. In April 2021, a survey was conducted with UNEVOC Centres to pinpoint their immediate (0-6 months), short-term and long-term training needs. Half of the respondents identified basic ICT skills as the most urgently needed, followed by 43% who felt that information and data literacy as well as the use of communication and collaboration tools were the main areas where capacity building was most needed. Similarly, when asked about transversal competencies, 37.5% of the respondents indicated that critical and innovative thinking (entrepreneurship, creative thinking and reasoning), interpersonal skills (communication, teamwork, collaboration, etc.) and intrapersonal skills (learning to learn, flexibility and adaptability) were areas where competencies were lacking.

Based on this assessment, UNESCO-UNEVOC is collaborating with a few private companies and development partners to provide training opportunities for UNEVOC Centres. In September 2021, a series of ‘matching webinars’ was launched as a platform for companies to share their trainings with interested UNEVOC Centres. The trainings offered focus on the needs of four target groups – teachers/trainers, institute leaders/coordinators, job seekers and students/trainees. In the spirit of cooperation, all participating companies are facilitating free access to their training materials and online teaching-learning platforms. In addition, as part of the strategic collaboration with UNESCO-UNEVOC, companies have also offered a series of capacity-building programmes, workshops and on-demand webinars for UNEVOC Network members.

Through these webinars and the private sector engagement initiative, UNESCO-UNEVOC aims to promote greater collaboration and engagement between UNEVOC Centres and the private sector.

Training courses from Lenovo

Zhejiang Technical Institute of Economics (ZJTIE), a UNEVOC Centre in Hangzhou, China, is currently working with global tech companies to develop future-oriented courses at its institute. One of these collaborating companies – Lenovo – is providing three in-demand courses in AI Technology and Application, Big Data Technology and Application, and Smart Manufacturing Technology and Application to their students. ZJTIE has facilitated the extension of this offer to other UNEVOC Centres. Usually these courses are delivered in a blended mode with a heavy emphasis on hands-on training. However, due to COVID-19 restrictions, training will be provided in a digital format. Lenovo has also offered to translate the courses in other languages based on demand. The training package includes free access to the course website, training material, live projects and Lenovo’s learning platform. Two ‘matching webinars’ between Lenovo and UNEVOC Centres have already been organized for Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean.

Cooperation with Atingi – a global learning initiative of GIZ

Atingi is a digital learning platform developed within the framework of the Global Project “Africa Cloud”, which is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ), on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The Atingi platform offers access to over 300+ open courses for vocational students, teachers / trainers, entrepreneurs and professionals. It also offers institutions (teachers/trainers) access to its Moodle Workspace, a customizable learning management system that allows self-paced, blended and other forms of e-learning.

In the first two ‘matching webinars’ organized for UNEVOC Centres in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean, participants learned about the Atingi platform and its benefits for TVET institutions. They also received information on registering for the platform as individual or institutional users. The next ‘matching webinar’, planned for 1 October 2021 at 9:00am (CEST), will cover the topic of “How to use the atingi course lab to design courses and enrich your own digital learning portfolio”. UNEVOC Centres and their affiliated institutes are welcome to register for the session using this link. UNEVOC Centres in the Americas can also request a recording of the webinar using the same link.

Find out more about our work on Private Sector Engagement.