Skills for Employability - British Council

	Preparing the Moroccans for the workplace


	Skills in the global economy

September 29th, 2009 was the date when professionals and decision-makers from education and vocational training sectors together with industry representatives participated in an advisory forum at the British council Rabat, Morocco.

The forum was made up of professionals who have an extensive responsibility and knowledge of the TVET sector, namely from the Ministry of Higher Education, the Ministry of Employment and professional training, the Career Advice Office (Irchad Attalib), the National Agency for the Promotion of Employment and Skills (ANAPEC), the Centre for Young Enterprise Managers and the General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises (CGEM).

Directors of colleges such as, the National High Institute of Electricity and Mechanics –(ENSEM), the Institute of Information Sciences (ESI), the Specialised Institute of Hospitality and Tourism Technology in Marrakech (ISTHT) also attended this event.

The discussion revealed the country's thirst for solutions to un- employability problems and the need for such programmes to bring expertise and share best practice on how Moroccans can shape the brain of youth to have the entrepreneurship spirit.

The forum aimed at helping local educational and training system to improve their capabilities to respond to labour market requirements.

According to Neil Shaw, the Regional Adviser in Vocational Education and Training Middle East, Near East and North Africa’ The Forum was very well organised and the attendees well-chosen, clearly very enthusiastic about our programme, and full of good, practical ideas about how to work with us to help the programme deliver maximum impact and benefit’.

This initiative is part of the Skills for Employability programme which addresses the demand for skills in a global economy so that national educational and training systems are better able to respond to labour market demands and learner needs. Through Skills for Employability we engage the UK’s leading policymakers and agencies for skills and enterprise with their counterparts in the country and the region.

Institutional partnership is also an important component of the project. The focus here is on building strong relationships with industry and employers, governments and training providers. In Morocco, the specialised Institute of Hospitability and Tourism in Marrakech is partnering with the LINDRILLO College from Wales. The launch of the partnership was celebrated on the 1st of October.