20 October 2013
The private sector should make a bigger imprint in the country's technical-vocational education and training (TVET) to produce better curriculum and learning methods and graduates with employable skills.
An enhanced public-private partnership (PPP) is being eyed by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) to improve working relationship and enhance cooperation between its technology institutions and companies in the development and delivery of TVET programs, projects and activities.
This was extensively discussed at the In-Country Program on Making TVET-Industry Partnership Work and the built-in 1 day National Seminar organized by the TESDA and the Colombo Plan Staff College (CPSC).
Both programs held last October 14 to 18 at the TESDA Women’s Center and attended by the administrators of the agency's Technology Institutions focused on PPP and its integration to TVET at the policy and institutional levels.
"The industry should change the thinking that TVET institutions are mere suppliers of skilled manpower, but should view them as organizations, which are there to help solve their problems, too," Secretary Joel Villanueva, TESDA director general, said.
In this light, the industry should seek active participation from institutes in attaining their objectives and vice versa, he said.
On the other hand, Villanueva said that schools should also seek out partnership with companies to ensure that they provide relevant courses attuned to the latter's needs. Such arrangement will definitely increase the employment rate of TVET graduates.
PPP is among the flagship programs of the Aquino administration seen as one of the vehicles toward economic growth.
According to the Terms of Reference of the TESDA and CPSC programs, a PPP is a contract between a public sector institution and a private party, in which the latter assumes substantial financial, technical, and operational risk in the design, financing, building, and operation of a TVET project.
The enhanced level of partnership affect cost-effectiveness and relevance of the training programs, require both playing active role and taking shared responsibility and ownership in the outcomes of such programs and projects, it added.
Villanueva noted that significant steps have been taken with various industries, such as the semiconductor, construction, health, maritime, and business process outsourcing sectors, among others, to address skills requirements. But he said that a more institutionalized partnership with industry should still be developed, particularly in curriculum design and development and teacher training.
"What makes for a successful TVET program in the end are quality training and industry involvement," he added.
Among the topics discussed during the ICP were National Policies Linking TVET with Economic Expansion, TVET-Industry Linkages in the Perspective of Dynamic Workplace, and Innovative Models and Approaches to TVET-Industry Linkage, while in the National Seminar were on Emerging Trends and Challenges of PPP in TVET; Encouraging Environment for Projects and Practices on PPP in the Philippine Context; and PPP and its Integration to TVET at the Policy Level and Institutional Level.
The CPSC is an intergovernmental international organization based in Manila. The College was established in December 5, 1973 under the Colombo Plan to serve its member countries in the development of technical education and training system.
The CPSC was first hosted by the government of Singapore from 1973 to 1987. It moved to Manila in January 1987 at the invitation of the Philippine government.
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