What is Skills for Employability?

Skills for Employability is a British Council programme that 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.

The programme focuses on building strong relationships with industry and employers, governments and training providers, using the UK’s expertise on standards, innovation and creativity in the field of skills training

The programme does not deliver skills training directly but delivers activity in the following areas:

Policy dialogue: We bring together international agencies, governments and educational institutions to explore how to improve skills and employability.

Professional networks: We build links between leading experts in the UK and the region to share best practice in the vocational education and training sector.

Skills development partnerships: We cultivate partnerships between UK and the region’s Further and Higher Education institutions to boost employability and entrepreneurship skills

Enterprise and technology awards: We organise international competitions for young people that highlight excellence in enterprise, innovation and technology. Further information about "The Enterprise Award 2011"

To achieve the programme’s aims, we are engaging in a series of activities and conferences throughout the year that highlight the main themes and areas of delivery. These include:

Advisory Forums

The advisory forums are made up of professionals and decision-makers from the vocational education training sector. They will get together to discuss and debate the development of the vocational training programme in Tunisia and make sure that it adheres to the needs of the region and the country. The decisions coming out of the forum will help ensure that the programme takes appropriate consideration of related Vocational Education Training initiatives. The forum will also enable the developments of the Skills for Employability programme to be better informed by expertise in the region and will revolve around discussions of policy, institutional partnerships and professional networking. The Advisory Forum was held on 30 November 2009.

The forum was made up of professionals who have an extensive responsibility and knowledge of the VET sector, namely from the Ministry of Education and Training (MET), the Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Technology (HESRT), the Ministry of Employment and Professional Integration of Youth (MEPIY) and the Tunisian National Building Society( SNIT).

Institutional Partnerships

Throughout the year, we will be fostering institutional partnerships between six UK colleges and six countries in Near East and North Africa region.

So far, representatives from nineteen UK colleges visited six countries in the Middle East. The first step in the process was to apply for a formal partnership with key ministries in the country under the guidance and with the support of the Skills for Employability programme. During the visits UK delegates met Heads of Department from colleges within the country. They had the opportunity to tour the colleges, discuss course material, quality assurance and benchmarking and explore potential for partnership projects. The visit also provided an opportunity for the potential partners to gain an understanding of the importance of VET reform agendas in each other's countries.

Successful applications receive a British Council grant to take forward their partnership projects. Currently we have partnerships set up and agreed in the following countries:

Morocco with Llandrillo College, Syria  with Bradford college, Egypt with Stockton college, Palestine with Anniesland college, Jordan with Castle College, and Lebanon with Craven College.

For more information please visit the website skillsforemployabilitybritishcouncil.org.