Technical education and training are crucial counterparts to the acceleration of globalisation. Mona El-Fiqi examines progress on the ground A three-day conference co-sponsored by the World Bank and European Training Foundation (ETF) brought together regional experts and policy makers to discuss technical vocational education and training reform in the Middle East and North Africa. Atop the agenda was a joint World Bank/ ETF report on "Reforming Technical Education and Training in the Middle East and North Africa: Experiences and Challenges," which deals with the ways and means of improving technical education and training in each of the region's countries. The five main challenges facing this process are financing, improving educational quality, encouraging stronger private sector participation, developing the informal sector's capabilities and the overall institutional framework. According to Emmanuel Mbi, World Bank director for Egypt, all the MENA region's parties -- including NGOs and the private sector, and not just governments -- should concern themselves with education and training reform. These issues were vital, he said, for nations that wanted to successfully prepare people who have the skills needed by the market to improve the economy. Mbi explained that access to education was not as important as the quality provided by the educational system. MENA region countries need to address these challenges in a more systemic manner, the conference recommended. "Without a good supply of vocational education and training graduates with relevant skills entering the labour market each year, a country will not be able to gain or maintain a profitable economic base," said ETF Director Muriel Dunbar. "It will not be able to attract foreign direct investments, and it will not be able to compete successfully in free trade." Globalisation is changing the nature of jobs. The traditional divide between skilled and unskilled jobs is being complemented by the divide between tradable and non-tradable jobs. "It is vital for the Middle East and North Africa to capture the benefits of outsourcing, especially from Europe. This requires deliberate investments in certain types of skills," said Michel Rutkowski, World Bank director for human development in the MENA region "All of us in MENA region countries, and of course Egypt, are either interested in, connected or related to the issue of vocational training and skills development. We all feel it in our daily lives. The key word and the key objective for skills development is competitiveness," said International Cooperation Minister Fayza Abul- Naga. When it comes to Egypt's educational system, for instance, some of these issues become clearer. Rutkowski explained that the system's segmentation into different levels meant that there were different authorities and ministries that deal with education and training. According to the report, the education ministry controls 1,600 schools while the ministry of higher education oversees 47 technical institutes; there were also 232 training centres affiliated to different ministries such as industry, agriculture, housing, health, and culture. The result, Rutkowski said, is a lack of coordination which leads to poor service quality. "Egypt should deal with the educational system as one piece," Rutkowski said. To overcome this fragmentation issue, World Bank economist Luis Guillerm Hakim suggested the establishment of a national authority that creates a strategy under which all concerned parties and institutions can cooperate to avoid duplication. Measurement is another of the Egyptian educational system's key problems. According to Rutkowski, Egypt should take part in international testing measures to calculate improvements in the system as a whole. Private sector involvement in training and technical education reform would help graduates better fit the market's demands, since "what is being taught is of little relevance to the market's needs," Hakim said. It will also help to develop new sources for financing educational system reform.
