In the image (from the left): Shoroke Zedan, CEO & Managing Director, Ta’heal, Mervi Jansson, CEO, Omnia Education Partnerships, Dalia Ibrahim, CEO, Nahdet Misr Publishing
OEP – Omnia Education Partnerships Ltd., Finland and Ta’heal for VET Skills Excellence, Egypt have signed an agreement to introduce Finnish vocational programs, quality assurance and competence-based assessments to selected Applied Technology Schools in Egypt. Future graduates with Finnish vocational qualifications will meet high-level industry standards, allowing also for skills mobility to the EU as Finnish qualifications are widely recognized by employers. The aim of the joint initiative is to support workforce development for national and international labor markets, and particularly focus on the green and blue economy.
The agreement supports Ta’heal’s commitment Egypt’s TVET reform focusing on providing youth and workers with the competencies and skills required to access decent work and allows businesses to recruit the workforce they need for growth. This commitment prioritizes (i) enhanced quality and relevance of TVET provision; (ii) improved TVET governance and systems; and (iii) lifelong learning and life skills to adapt to the needs of a changing labor market.
The partnership focuses on supporting Egypt’s Technical Education 2.0 Strategy, in the multilayer transformation of Egyptian Technical and Vocational institutions to become the main engines of Excellence for vocational education and training development. Whereby, participating schools will be supported to develop and retain skilled workforces in accordance with quality standards (Finnish) in lifelong learning development and establishing the necessary platforms for cooperation for employment opportunities of fully accredited youth.
“We are very excited about the partnership and foresee that together we can make a strong impact on both vocational training and the greening of industries in Egypt and the whole region. This is also a true win – win initiative as it enables graduates to seek employment in Finland, where we are lacking skilled labor in many sectors”, says Mervi Jansson, CEO of OEP.
As the consultancy and international training arm of four Finnish organizations, OEP has successfully implemented projects and training for Finnish vocational qualifications in countries such as India, Saudi Arabia, Uganda and Ukraine as well as consulting for UN organizations, ILO and ETF. OEP is also currently supporting the development of Centers of Vocational Excellence in several countries.
“We are committed to bringing forth the necessary knowledge and know-how that will enable Egypt’s TVET youth to meet the standards necessary for employment. The re-skilling and up-skilling to meet European Qualification standards is another step forward to meeting SDG goals for sustainable economic and social development”, says Shoroke Zedan, CEO of Ta’heal. To successfully address the formidable unemployment challenge in MENA countries the large and growing labor force must be turned into an asset. This requires refocus of education and training as well as upskilling and reskilling to reduce skills’ mismatches, enhance labor market flexibility and maintain sustainability. Ta’heal for VET Skills Excellence, is the latest venture setup by Nahdet Misr Group to provide solutions to unemployment that are demand-driven to create a significant positive impact.