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The vocational educational system in Tunisia includes three levels:
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Certificat d’aptitude professionelle (CAP) |
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Brevet de technicien professional (BTP) |
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Brevet de technicien supérieur (BTS) |
Vocational training is considered to be a public service, and public institutions are totally subsidised by the state. The responsibility for vocational training is shared between the government and business. It is financed by: a vocational training tax, direct funding from the government (programme national de la formation continue) and direct funding from businesses.
In 2009, the number of graduates from vocational training reached 65,000.
There are 135 training centres, broken down as follows:
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47 sectoral training centres |
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60 training and learning centres |
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14 centres that train young women in rural areas |
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13 centres that provide training in handicraft professions. |
Vocational training centres offer 336 areas of specialisation covering all economic sectors, broken down as follows:
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Certificate of vocational aptitude: 118 |
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Certificate of vocational technician: 114 |
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Certificate of higher technician: 36 |
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Certificate of completed apprenticeship/Certificate of vocational training: 49 |
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Certificate of skills: 19. |
Tunisia is moving from being a developing country to becoming an emerging economy. It has enjoyed sustained economic growth since the 1970s and in 1995 joined the World Trade Organisation. Tunisia was exposed to further international competition when it joined the Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area in 2008.
The economy is becoming more open and modern but the need for further reform remains in all aspects of economic policy. The service sector, particularly tourism, is now Tunisia’s most important economic sector, in terms of contribution both to GDP and to employment.
Tunisia’s population growth has slowed in recent years, while the share of the population living in urban areas has increased from 40% in 1966 to 65% at the end of the 1990s. According to government statistics (INS internet), 72% of working age men and 24% of working age women are engaged in formal labour market activity. The national unemployment rate stands at around 15%, with pockets of up to 35% in parts of the capital Tunis.
There are relatively high numbers of unemployed among groups of first-time job-seekers, women and the highly educated. According to the UNDP (2000), Tunisia has succeeded in reducing poverty but, as with unemployment, certain pockets of poverty remain.
Tunisian government policy recognises the need to ensure that weaknesses in its education and training system do not constrain economic reform. Key indicators of weakness are Tunisia’s high rates of repetition and drop-out from education and low progression rates from primary into secondary education. Only 75% of Tunisian primary school pupils progress into secondary education (Commission scolaire de Montréal, 2003), a rate significantly lower than other emerging economies.
Those staying on face the problem that the education system has so far tended to be highly selective. Bridges between general and vocational education are being built, but large numbers of students remain segregated in low quality vocational streams. Growth in the Informal Micro-Enterprise (IME) sector compounds the weaknesses in the Tunisian education and training system.
Reform of the national vocational training system has been a government priority in Tunisia since the early 1990s. Governance of vocational training at this time was fragmented, with different ministries, such as Health, Tourism and Agriculture, responsible for vocational training in their respective fields.
Policies, programmes and curricula were defined from the top-down in accordance with available capacities (the supply side) rather than in response to labour market demands. Training was delivered in narrow specialisations rather than with broad-based curricula. This strengthened occupational segregation and restricted labour market flexibility.
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A national strategy for the reform of vocational training and employment in Tunisia, known as MANFORME (Mise à Niveau de la Formation et de l’Emploi), was launched in the mid-1990s. Its goal was to develop a demand-driven, flexible and cost-effective vocational training system, providing trainees with the skills required by Tunisian enterprises. Key elements in the MANFORME strategy, such as quality, relevance and the increased involvement of the private sector in vocational training policy, are examined in further detail here.
MANFORME has had a positive impact on the governance of vocational training and employment, but progress has sometimes been delayed and there remains much to do. For example, the development of a new decentralised management model, piloted in four sectoral training centres, was launched in 1997 but actual implementation only began in 2001.
The start of MANFORME’s current phase in 2002 saw the creation of a new Ministry of Education and Training (MEF), with responsibility for ensuring that positive reform elements were spread throughout the vocational training system.
An important MANFORME deadline was to ensure that the Tunisian vocational training system was fully modernised before the removal of market barriers in 2008 with the opening of the Euro- Mediterranean Free Trade Area.
Tunisia has developed an ambitious programme for decentralising the provision of public training services. A new management model for training centres has been created and is being tested on a number of training institutions.
In the future, the decentralised management model will be adopted by all centres across the country. Benefits from this experience so far include a better partnership between enterprises and training institutions, particularly in the development of curricula and in enterprise-based provision of training.
The experience also shows, however, that the quality of the participation of the private sector is uneven, with some private sector representatives unprepared to assume their responsibilities. Resistance to change can come both from within the training institutions themselves and from central agencies.
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The bulk of financing for training comes from direct budget allocations from the Ministry of Finance to the training authorities. This is supplemented with training levies collected from enterprises by the Ministry of Finance. The Tunisian training levy (TFP) was originally introduced in 1956 and was reformed in 1993.
It is levied on both public and private enterprises, with different tax rates applying for manufacturing firms (1% of payroll) and non-manufacturing firms (2%). Certain firms can gain exemption from the levy, e.g. those with a strong export base. The levy is complemented by a tax rebate system to reimburse firms for part of the levy paid when training expenses are incurred by firms to train their staff.
Expenses eligible for the rebate include:
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Identification of training needs and preparation of training plans |
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In-service training programmes for a firm’s personnel |
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Operational costs of a firm’s own personnel responsible for skills development. |
The levy and the rebate form a significant part of VET financing in Tunisia. In 2002, TND60 million was collected by the Ministry of Finance (50% of the total state VET budget). Of this, TND22 million was reimbursed, via the rebate system, mainly to public enterprises.
The rebate system has been criticised in the past for being too complicated and steps have been taken to simplify procedures. Doubts remain on how relevant the levy and rebate are, in particular to small and medium-sized enterprises in Tunisia.
One continuing disincentive for all participants in the levy/rebate scheme is that individual organisations’ take from the rebate is limited by the ceilings imposed by their own levy contributions. Participants cannot access unused funds contributed by other firms.
The fact that only around one-third of the total TFP is spent on continuing training is an indicator of TFP’s limited effectiveness as an incentive to promote training within firms. In an effort to diversify and expand their sources of income, public training institutions in Tunisia are beginning to sell services to enterprises.
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Both the quality and relevance of Tunisian vocational training need to improve if vocational training is to become a first-choice option for students seeking the skills demanded by Tunisian enterprises. The MANFORME strategy continues to tackle both issues.
Tunisia embarked on a fundamental shift towards competency-based curriculum development as part of MANFORME some years ago. Firstly, this was done on a pilot basis with foreign technical assistance.
Key elements in this approach improve vocational training relevance by:
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Identifying current occupational skills in use and in demand in today’s labour market and defining them in terms of competencies |
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Validating these competencies in close co-operation with relevant professional organisations to ensure their relevance to current labour market demand |
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Converting these competencies into training programmes, which are delivered in close co-operation with relevant professional and private organisations. |
Certain problems have been encountered in the shift to a competency-based approach. Key personnel at all levels (from government agencies to training centres) have been slow to adapt to new procedures. Dialogue between these key personnel and the private sector was slow to develop and, in the early stages of MANFORME, too much training was delivered purely in training centres.
It is only in more recent stages of the MANFORME programme that a genuinely alternative approach has been implemented, with training delivered both in training centres and in enterprises. A project to spread the competency-based approach throughout the VET system was launched by the government with foreign technical assistance in 2003.
The government has targeted the following three activities in the MANFORME programme to improve quality:
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Introducing and operating a quality process for key personnel at all levels in the training system (the ministry, government agencies and training centres), involving ISO standards and a quality charter |
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Defining standards for certification and assessment of training programmes |
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Establishing validation and certification procedures. |
The development of a qualification system based on standards that are accepted and recognised throughout the country by all key stakeholders is in the process of being developed but has yet to be established. International technical assistance has sought, so far without success, to support the development of such a system.
In line with its desire to develop a quality approach to vocational training, Tunisia is one of the few countries in the MENA region to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of government agency training programmes. A programme to observe skills development and employment was launched in Tunisia in 1996.
Pilot impact evaluation studies have been conducted, and these provided important feedback in developing a methodological framework for mainstream evaluation of vocational training programmes in Tunisia. Preliminary results still reflect methodological problems and provide valuable lessons for future studies.
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The role of the private sector
The increased involvement of the private sector in vocational training policy development and implementation is fundamentally important if the MANFORME strategies for reform are to succeed. The Tunisian government has made systematic attempts to promote public-private partnerships in training policy by signing conventions with 19 relevant professional organisations.
These conventions enable private sector involvement in key activities such as:
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Reviews of existing and proposed training centres |
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Definition of frameworks and competencies for new curricula |
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Validation of new draft curricula |
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Management of training centres |
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Participation in surveys, studies and training impact evaluation. |
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Encouraging participation |
Securing the active participation of the private sector has proved difficult. Many private sector organisations, including UTICA (the national union of private sector federations), had relatively weak organisations at the time of the MANFORME launch and no specialist skills or experience in vocational training policy or human resources development.
Very little public-private dialogue on training policy existed prior to the MANFORME reform launch in the 1990s. To overcome these constraints, the government is developing a methodological framework for feasibility reviews of existing and proposed training centres and is offering support to the private sector in the identification of skills needs.
A total of 160 enterprises in 16 sectors have benefited from this support, producing over 150 strategic professional profiles. Sectors such as textiles and electricity have acted as leaders in the partnership-building process. International co-operation, e.g. with relevant European federations, has also proved useful. Even when successful relationships are established with individual enterprises, a key difficulty is maintaining this relationship while moving onto the next stage of developing policies relevant to a sector as a whole.
Enterprise-based training is one of the areas where the effectiveness of the partnership process can be tested.
Alternative training can only be developed through a close working relationship between training centres and employer federations to:
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Validate skills needs |
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Develop new training programmes |
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Encourage enterprises to participate in this mode of training |
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Provide on-the-job training based on the curriculum to trainees |
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Monitor results in co-operation with teaching staff in training centres. |
A review of the introduction of alternative training shows that it develops best in centres where professional organisations are strongly involved. Some centres have managed to develop close to 100% alternative training with individual enterprises, by actively involving the federation and training centre management. Currently, 37% of trainees are learning through alternative training.
The MANFORME experience shows overall that social partner involvement in vocational training is possible, but requires support and encouragement. Tunisia is one of the few countries in the MENA region to support in-service training, i.e. training provided by an employer to both new and existing employees.
To counter the failure of the Tunisian training levy (TFP) to encourage training in SMEs, a new financing scheme, PRONAFOC, was introduced in 1995 with a focus on SMEs with 100 employees or fewer. This represents the largest segment of enterprises and employment in Tunisia.
PRONAFOC supports:
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Identification of training needs |
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Preparation and implementation of training plans |
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Monitoring and evaluation of these activities. |
Despite PRONAFOC’s focus on SMEs, a significant segment of beneficiary organisations involves medium-sized and large organisations. Outside the state vocational training system, the number of private training providers has grown steadily in recent years, although many suffer the same poor reputation as their public equivalents for second choice, low quality training. Despite this, the government has forecast significant growth in the number of students enrolled with private providers in coming years.
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Clear-cut information on the Informal Micro-Enterprise sector (IME) is difficult to obtain. Indicators suggest that between 20-35% of total employment outside agriculture is now in the IME sector and that this sector’s importance is growing. The sector is dominated by trade and includes important clusters in transport, manufacturing and repair.
Traditional informal apprenticeship training under a master is still very common in the IME sector in Tunisia. Surveys indicate that a large majority of IME operators acquire their skills outside the formal training system. Apprenticeships give practically-oriented on-the-job training but only in narrowly-defined skills. Apprentices have worked in the past with no contract and have paid for their training either directly in cash or indirectly by reduced wages.
The main shortcomings of traditional apprenticeships stem from the low levels of education of both masters and apprentices, which limit the transfer and acquisition of skills. The masters’ fear of new competition from the emerging apprentice and the continuing use of traditional technology compound these problems.
In 1993, the Tunisian government developed a series of measures to improve the terms of engagement of traditional apprenticeships, in particular through the introduction of compulsory apprenticeship contracts. In 1996, the government training agency (ATFP) focused on improving the quality of training provided by traditional apprenticeships.
A key objective was to break down the separation between apprentices in the IME sector and the formal training system by developing a compulsory dual system, where apprentices attend a state training centre (CFA) two days a week to learn both job-specific and general literacy and numeracy skills.
The CFA was given a new mediation role between master and apprentice with responsibility for:
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Placing apprentices |
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Agreeing apprenticeship contracts |
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Providing a CFA counsellor to monitor progress of apprentices. |
Government financial support was made available to pay for apprentices’ social security, accident insurance and transport allowance.
It is estimated that there are over 100,000 trainees in traditional apprenticeships in Tunisia, of whom only 45,000 have signed a contract according to ATFP norms. Of those with contracts, only 12,000 are benefiting from dual training in a CFA. This is due mainly to the lack of CFA capacity to deal with increased roles and responsibilities. A lack of apprentice motivation to attend CFA classes has also been observed, as has employers’ reluctance to release apprentices from the workshop.
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The Tunisian economy is on the threshold of significant change, with the prospect of exposure to higher levels of international competition. The Tunisian government has, since the mid-1990s, made important efforts to reform its vocational training system. Despite this, too much vocational training in Tunisia remains low quality and irrelevant to labour market needs.
Vocational training is presently part of the problem of social and economic inequality. It needs to become part of the solution if Tunisia is to become a dynamic, knowledge-based economy. A key challenge for the Tunisian government, therefore, is to translate the pilot reforms into irreversible systemic change.
Steps have been taken at pilot project level to develop a new decentralised management model for training centres. This model needs to be extended throughout the vocational training system. Governance of vocational training can no longer be the monopoly of the state.
Additional financial resources for vocational training modernisation cannot come solely from the state. New funding mechanisms, beyond TFP and PRONAFOC, are required, which also allow for increased cost recovery and greater financial participation by firms.
Improving vocational training quality and relevance
Important steps have been taken in competency-based curriculum development but, as with the decentralised management model, only at pilot project level. The Tunisian government has also sought to develop a vocational training quality policy, which would ultimately lead to the establishment of one commonly-accepted national qualifications system.
Improvements in vocational training quality and relevance require private sector involvement in both the design and delivery of training. This participation is not easy to secure. The Tunisian government has made welcome attempts to promote public-private partnerships in vocational training policy by signing conventions with relevant professional organisations, but many private sector organisations still lack specialist skills or experience in vocational training policy. Government initiatives are required to support the development of this capacity.
There are a large number of informal workers in Tunisia engaged in traditional apprenticeships, learning narrowly defined skills on-the-job in an environment totally separated from the state vocational training system. The government has taken useful steps to build bridges between traditional apprenticeships and public training centres, but more needs to be done to reach out to the majority of apprentices in the informal sector.
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