Tunisia: Towards Better Employability
27 February 2009
Read by 2321 persons
International partnership agreements, along with increasing access to information technology and the opening of private universities; all these measures aim to promote one of Tunisia's richest resources: its human resources. The country has long been considered a regional leader in education. However, a number of additional initiatives should help bridge the gap between school learning and the acquisition of professional skills as the country strives to reduce its unemployment rate.
During an official visit to Tunisia on February 8 and 9, Xavier Darcos, French Minister of National Education, announced the strengthening of bilateral ties between Tunisia and France through the strengthening of technical, technological and professional training and the mutual validation and recognition of diplomas.
The cooperation agreement will facilitate the establishment of a teacher exchange program and twinning between institutions and regions, starting with an affiliation between the Besançon Academy and the General Directorate of Education and Training of the Nabeul governorate. On the French side, the Academies of Créteil, Nantes, Nice, Lille and Bordeaux have also expressed their wish to establish cooperation programs with Tunisian institutions.
On the same day that the agreement between Besançon and the Nabeul governorate was concluded, the French Faculty Paris-Dauphine announced the opening of a new branch in Tunis, which should open its doors in the 2009-2010 academic year. Called "Dauphine Tunis", the university will offer courses in economics, management and law in Master 1 and 2 from the start of the academic year, and plans to implement the equivalence of European diplomas (Licence, Master, Doctorate - LMD) for the 2010 academic year.
While France is Tunisia's most active partner in education, other European countries have announced their intention to undertake similar cooperation projects.
The Luxembourg Minister of National Education and Vocational Training, Mady Delvaux-Stehres, visited Tunisia on January 26 and 27 for the inauguration, alongside the Tunisian Minister of Education and Training, Mr. Hatem Ben Salem, of the Radès technical college, whose technical and administrative upgrading was carried out from 2005 to 2008 as part of Tunisian-Luxembourg cooperation in the field of education.
Great Britain also played its part, with the signing of a memorandum of understanding in mid-January aimed at promoting the teaching of English in schools, through the implementation of an eight-year program that will provide students with new materials and books for learning English at primary and secondary level. Employment is once again at the heart of this project, as strengthening language skills will allow young people to increase their employment prospects.
Given the projected increase in unemployment in 2009, to 13.8% according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), competition in the job market has become a reality for young graduates. Employers are unable to absorb the influx of young graduates entering the market. 19% of them were unemployed in 2007, a figure that is expected to reach 25% by 2011, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
However, the new international partnership agreements will support Tunisia's efforts to promote vocational sectors, particularly through the integration of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) in educational institutions and the increased role of private and specialized universities.
The government intends to equip primary schools, secondary schools and universities with one computer per classroom. The aim is to reach 80,000 computers for 70,000 classrooms by the end of the year. ICTs will be integrated into all curricula, not only in engineering schools but also in institutions providing language or cultural education, in order to better prepare students for the job market.
Although private education cannot yet claim to rival the public education system - which offers free quality education - private universities are becoming increasingly popular. These institutions help to relieve overcrowding in public universities, and are more flexible and therefore able to respond more quickly to the demands of the labor market.
Private institutions offer training in areas as diverse as commerce, communication technologies and tourism. In addition, they generally include a year of study abroad in their programs.
They are also favorable to partnerships with foreign institutions, as evidenced by the partnership concluded between the Ecole tunisienne supérieure privée d'informatique et des technologies (ESPRIT) and the following French universities: the Ecole internationale des sciences du traitement de l'information (EISTI), Télécom Lille and the Ecole nationale supérieure des mines (ENSM) de Saint-Etienne. Another example: the partnership between the Mediterranean School of Business (MSB) and the American university Maryland School of Business and the University of Waterloo in Canada.
These international partnerships are conducive to enhancing the value of Tunisian universities. Some partners even offer the possibility of obtaining a double diploma, such as the Ecole supérieure des communications de Tunis and Télécom Paris Tech.
These cooperation programs will allow Tunisia to improve an already high-performing education system. Indeed, the country has invested significant funds in the field of education. Thus, the 2009 budget project of the Ministry of Education and Training has been set at 2.8 billion dinars (1.56 billion euros) - or 16% of the total budget.
According to the 2008-2009 report of the World Economic Forum (WEF) on global competitiveness, Tunisia ranks second among Arab countries and first among African countries in terms of the quality of its education system, and is ranked 17th worldwide. In addition, the improvement of ICT connectivity will strengthen Internet access in schools, although the country ranks 34th in this area in the WEF report.
While indicators relating to the national education system are strong, the persistence of a high unemployment rate indicates that more needs to be done to better exploit the potential of young graduates. The initiatives recently implemented are a good starting point.
Posted on February 27, 2009
Source: Oxford Business Group
Espace Manager
During an official visit to Tunisia on February 8 and 9, Xavier Darcos, French Minister of National Education, announced the strengthening of bilateral ties between Tunisia and France through the strengthening of technical, technological and professional training and the mutual validation and recognition of diplomas.
The cooperation agreement will facilitate the establishment of a teacher exchange program and twinning between institutions and regions, starting with an affiliation between the Besançon Academy and the General Directorate of Education and Training of the Nabeul governorate. On the French side, the Academies of Créteil, Nantes, Nice, Lille and Bordeaux have also expressed their wish to establish cooperation programs with Tunisian institutions.
On the same day that the agreement between Besançon and the Nabeul governorate was concluded, the French Faculty Paris-Dauphine announced the opening of a new branch in Tunis, which should open its doors in the 2009-2010 academic year. Called "Dauphine Tunis", the university will offer courses in economics, management and law in Master 1 and 2 from the start of the academic year, and plans to implement the equivalence of European diplomas (Licence, Master, Doctorate - LMD) for the 2010 academic year.
While France is Tunisia's most active partner in education, other European countries have announced their intention to undertake similar cooperation projects.
The Luxembourg Minister of National Education and Vocational Training, Mady Delvaux-Stehres, visited Tunisia on January 26 and 27 for the inauguration, alongside the Tunisian Minister of Education and Training, Mr. Hatem Ben Salem, of the Radès technical college, whose technical and administrative upgrading was carried out from 2005 to 2008 as part of Tunisian-Luxembourg cooperation in the field of education.
Great Britain also played its part, with the signing of a memorandum of understanding in mid-January aimed at promoting the teaching of English in schools, through the implementation of an eight-year program that will provide students with new materials and books for learning English at primary and secondary level. Employment is once again at the heart of this project, as strengthening language skills will allow young people to increase their employment prospects.
Given the projected increase in unemployment in 2009, to 13.8% according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), competition in the job market has become a reality for young graduates. Employers are unable to absorb the influx of young graduates entering the market. 19% of them were unemployed in 2007, a figure that is expected to reach 25% by 2011, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
However, the new international partnership agreements will support Tunisia's efforts to promote vocational sectors, particularly through the integration of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) in educational institutions and the increased role of private and specialized universities.
The government intends to equip primary schools, secondary schools and universities with one computer per classroom. The aim is to reach 80,000 computers for 70,000 classrooms by the end of the year. ICTs will be integrated into all curricula, not only in engineering schools but also in institutions providing language or cultural education, in order to better prepare students for the job market.
Although private education cannot yet claim to rival the public education system - which offers free quality education - private universities are becoming increasingly popular. These institutions help to relieve overcrowding in public universities, and are more flexible and therefore able to respond more quickly to the demands of the labor market.
Private institutions offer training in areas as diverse as commerce, communication technologies and tourism. In addition, they generally include a year of study abroad in their programs.
They are also favorable to partnerships with foreign institutions, as evidenced by the partnership concluded between the Ecole tunisienne supérieure privée d'informatique et des technologies (ESPRIT) and the following French universities: the Ecole internationale des sciences du traitement de l'information (EISTI), Télécom Lille and the Ecole nationale supérieure des mines (ENSM) de Saint-Etienne. Another example: the partnership between the Mediterranean School of Business (MSB) and the American university Maryland School of Business and the University of Waterloo in Canada.
These international partnerships are conducive to enhancing the value of Tunisian universities. Some partners even offer the possibility of obtaining a double diploma, such as the Ecole supérieure des communications de Tunis and Télécom Paris Tech.
These cooperation programs will allow Tunisia to improve an already high-performing education system. Indeed, the country has invested significant funds in the field of education. Thus, the 2009 budget project of the Ministry of Education and Training has been set at 2.8 billion dinars (1.56 billion euros) - or 16% of the total budget.
According to the 2008-2009 report of the World Economic Forum (WEF) on global competitiveness, Tunisia ranks second among Arab countries and first among African countries in terms of the quality of its education system, and is ranked 17th worldwide. In addition, the improvement of ICT connectivity will strengthen Internet access in schools, although the country ranks 34th in this area in the WEF report.
While indicators relating to the national education system are strong, the persistence of a high unemployment rate indicates that more needs to be done to better exploit the potential of young graduates. The initiatives recently implemented are a good starting point.
Posted on February 27, 2009
Source: Oxford Business Group
Espace Manager
