One of the main factors inhibiting the rapid growth of African economies is the lack of adequate technical and business skills. The development of specific skills in the education and health sectors is critical if progress is to be made towards the Millenium Development Goals. Skills acquisition is therefore an important development issue.
Education partnerships have traditionally been in higher education. To date, few such partnerships have been in further education or skills development. Can the development of such partnerships help support skills development? What can be learned from the higher education experience? What are the benefits to both partners? Is their main value simply to access funds made available by international development agencies, or are there other inherent benefits? Can they include longer-lasting improvements in institutional capacity?
This session provides an opportunity to discuss these and other related issues. It will comprise of two presentations, one from an African further education perspective and one from a UK perspective, followed by an interactive discussion forum. The overall objective is to allow participants to share knowledge and experience and to help bridge the knowledge gap and build a dialogue between further education institutions in the UK and Africa
Dr George Afeti
