Globalisation changes everything. It unites the developed and much of the developing world through a shared set of challenges. It divides us in a constant struggle to improve competitiveness and attract investment. At the heart of both competitiveness and common interests are better skills for working people.

For twenty-three of the world’s most developed countries, globalisation is accompanied by falling population. In many others, a stable population and higher life expectancy lead to much the same problem: securing enough economically-active people to drive the economy and to support the elderly. These pressures set ever-higher expectations on workplace efficiency, on the need to attract a greater proportion of men and women of working age into the workforce, and on improving skills as quickly as possible.

In the globalised world, there is always another country that can do it more cheaply.  Long-term economic security depends on doing it better.

Participants will be introduced to the system of vocational education and training (VET) in the UK and in relation to the wider economy. They will be encouraged to see the transition in the UK from industrialisation to a knowledge economy in which ideas have been tested over a uniquely long period. Britain’s successes and failures offer examples from which much can be learnt: what can be adapted and what should be avoided.

Contributors include senior public servants and industry leaders, offering real-world case studies. They are joined by senior executives involved in setting and operating standards to encourage the aspiration to excellence. The event director will introduce a model for vocational education and training improvement pioneered by the Adult Learning Inspectorate, which has led to swift and spectacular improvements in the quality of service to adult learners. There will be site visits to observe improvement in action.

At the end of the seminar, participants will be asked to work in regional groups to prepare an outline plan of programmes for action in their own countries.

The main topics are:

• structures and policy for lifelong learning in vocational education and training: the British experience
• understanding globalisation
• the universal essentials of effective vocational education and training
• levers for improvement: reliable assessment, aspiration and transformational change
• adapting the model to work in different economies and cultures.

Who should attend this event
Orientating each of our national economies to survive the competitive pressure of the globalised world demands knowledge, wisdom and clear-sightedness. This seminar is for policy-makers in government and for opinion-formers in industry, business, the professions and academic life, and provides the opportunity for participants to formulate practical plans for national development and regional co-operation.