Ottawa, October 1, 2019 – Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan) announced the official launch of its new Education for Employment (EFE) Program – Al-Najah Tunisia last Friday in Tunis. The program will support higher education and graduate employability in Tunisia’s network of Institutions of Higher Technical Education (ISET – Institutions supérieures d’études technologiques) through collaboration with Canadian colleges and institutes.
Thanks to $5.8 million in funding from Global Affairs Canada over four years, and administered by CICan, the initiative will contribute to the economic empowerment of young graduates, particularly young women, living in Tunisia’s most underprivileged regions. This will help to lower the country’s unemployment rate and to combat the feminisation of poverty.
EFE Al-Najah Tunisia, which means “success,” will emphasize technical and pedagogical training for instructors with an approach based on competency development, gender-sensitive instruction, the incorporation of information and communications technologies for instructional purposes, female entrepreneurship, and female employment strategies.
This partnership between CICan and its members, and Tunisia’s ISET network and Directorate-General of Technological Studies from the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research is founded on many years of cooperation. In particular, the initiative follows the PRICAT program (Programme de renforcement institutionnel Canada-Tunisie) which led to the creation of Tunisia’s ISET network in 1992.
Quotes:
“Having supported the creation of Tunisia’s ISET network many years ago, we are very pleased to once again work with our Tunisian colleagues and to share Canada’s expertise in professional and technical training. The EFE Al-Najah Tunisia project follows many years of collaboration between our two institutional networks and will help further develop the compatibility of Tunisia’s training offer with its workforce needs. In the end, the program will support Tunisian young people, particularly young women, by ensuring that all have the opportunity to develop the skills necessary to find their place in the employment market and contribute fully to the development of their communities.”
Denise Amyot, President and CEO, CICan.
“Canadian-Tunisian relations in higher education date back to the creation of Tunisia’s network of ISET at the beginning of the 1990s. This extensive collaboration was solidified by the signature of a cooperative framework between Colleges and Institutes Canada and the Directorate General of Technological Studies in February 2016. The fruit of this continued and constructive effort is strengthened today with the EFE Al-Najah Tunisia project aiming to increase the quality of training towards a better ISET-graduate employability, particularly for women.”
Slim Khalbous, Tunisia’s Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research
“The Education for Employment – Al-Najah project is a promising new path towards the empowerment of young people in Tunisia, particularly for women living in underprivileged regions. The program will also support another ongoing project, the RAIDA program, that has allowed for more than 4,250 projects to be funded and created more than 14,000 jobs.”
Naziha Laabidi, Tunisia’s Minister of Women, Family, Childhood and the Elderly
About Colleges and Institutes Canada
Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan) is the voice of Canada’s publicly-supported colleges, institutes, cegeps and polytechnics, and an international leader in education for employment with ongoing programs in over 25 countries. CICan’s members add over $190B to Canada’s economy each year and contribute to inclusive economic growth by working with industry and community partners to offer more than 10,000 programs to learners in urban, rural, remote, and northern communities.
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For more information:
Julien Abord-Babin
Senior Strategic Communications Officer
Colleges and Institutes Canada
Email: jabord-babin@collegesinstitutes.ca
Phone: 613-746-2222 ext. 3131
Twitter: @CollegeCan