A major review of Lebanese vocational education is underway in two major ETF initiatives co-funded by the Italian Trust Fund.
The Torino Process – a system-wide analysis of Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Lebanon – will improve understanding of the efficiency of the sector and help frame better policies for the future.
The Education and Business Study will analyse the connections between training institutes and enterprises and see where policy changes can improve these links.
Backed by the Minister of Education and Higher Education (MoEHE), the studies are being led by Dr Soubhi Abou Chahine, Torino Process Co-ordinator for Lebanon.
A Professor of Communication and Electronics at the Beirut Arab University, Dr Abou Chahine is also a member of the Higher Education Committee and Advisor to the Minister.
Dr Abou Chahine, who began working with the ETF in late March, says the intensive process will be rolled out in the coming months with initial reports back to the MoEHE expected within a few months.
The Education and Business Study will look at current practice in both TVET and higher education sectors in Lebanon.
Two focus groups, made up of between six and ten experts drawn from the sectors, will carry out a review of how closely business and education work together, what impact this has on training and how well qualifications match the needs of the Lebanese labour market.
“It is a question of collecting and analysing the data and we expect to have a draft report ready by the end of June,” Dr Abou Chahine told Live and Learn.
The Torino Process is a bigger project. Designed as a rolling review of policies and systems to be conducted in two-year cycles, the idea is that it eventually becomes integrated into the self-assessment practices of the TVET system.
By working with all stakeholders – in TVET and across the MoEHE strategic sectors in general education and higher education, as well as with non-profit organizations, the Association of Lebanese Industrialists and unions – a detailed picture of the existing structure of TVET, its physical assets, equipment, student and teacher numbers and policies, will be produced.
Entrepreneurship education – the ETF is currently working on this subject with the general and higher education sectors in Lebanon – is not specifically part of the TVET review, but Dr Abou Chahine is keen to include it within his work.
“It makes sense to look at ways of incorporating entrepreneurship education into the TVET system as professional education students are closer to this than most,” Dr Abou Chahine said.
Aziz Jaouani, the ETF’s Country Manager for Lebanon, said: “Entrepreneurship education is a key competence. We are keen to inject this mindset into the vocational sector too.”
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