Welcome to the last newsletter of the year 2018 before we break for two weeks Christmas holiday. I would like to take this opportunity to retrace the last two years of activity, since the SkillsDMC Board determined to remodel SkillsDMC into Sustainable Skills, a not-for-profit international consultancy that develops, supports and assists effective technical and vocational education and training (TVET) systems worldwide.
Our first year of activity was focussed on exploring and developing new business opportunities across different areas, building a team of highly qualified TVET consultants, and recruiting board directors able to reflect the new scope of our business across a broad range of industrial sectors worldwide. In 2017, a significant milestone was achieved as we have been officially awarded a two-year consultancy contract sponsored by the World Bank to address skills imbalances and shortages in Uganda. The client of the contract is the Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) and this is the first non Australian government contract in the history of Sustainable Skills/SkillsDMC.
Thanks to these strong foundations, the second year of activity saw us concentrating our resources on regions where Sustainable Skills expertise and background can effectively assist to build TVET systems able to meet the nation’s needs, like Indonesia, Myanmar, and Vietnam.
Sustainable Skills has developed a strong position in Indonesia where an important reform of the vocational education system to support the needs of a rapidly emerging economy by improving the quality and competitiveness of his country’s human resources is a priority on the government agenda. As part of the national TVET reform, Indonesia is establishing a new national TVET Centre of Excellence to address the fundamental mismatch between training outcomes and industry needs. The Centre is in the design phase of determining how it can influence better outcomes. Sustainable Skills is helping the Indonesian Government to explore how the Centre can influence the broader national TVET system and develop the skills needed to support students in finding the ‘right training’ at the ‘right time’ for the ‘right job’.
The Centre will be established at Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (UPI) based at Bandung and Universitas Negeri Padang (UNP). UPI, in December, sent a delegation to Australia to learn how an industry engaged TVET system works. I’m pictured with the delegation and Bob Paton, one of our TVET experts. I also visited UNP in December at the request of the Ministry of Research Technology and Higher Education.
Another important achievement was accomplished In November, when we signed a contract with Coffey International Development to deliver a ‘Head of School’ Skills Development Program for the Fijian Government, Ministry of Education, Heritage and Arts (MEHA). Funded by the Australian Government, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the program aims to develop the skills and abilities of current and future school heads to provide excellent leadership and management for all schools, with the vision of developing leadership in schools which is dynamic and works effectively in a complex, changing environment.
I would like to thank all the Sustainable Skills team for the commitment to the organisation, our local and international consultants, our Board for their support and trust, and all our stakeholders and partners who followed and supported us over the course of this year.
Sustainable Skills will shut down operations over the Christmas and New Year period. Our last day of work will be Friday 21st December and returning to work on Monday 7th January. The Sustainable Skills team wishes you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2019.