Corporate HRD and Skills Development for ... - Unesco-Unevoc

the knowledge economy and rapid advances in technology, have important implications for
skills demand and human resource development and training. The use of new technologies,
especially ICTs, new manufacturing processes and new modes of work organization have led
to skills intensification and an increase in the demand for higher order skills. Countries such
as India and China have already invested heavily in vocational education and training to
address these demands, thereby enabling a shift, for example, of qualified employment from
the USA and Europe to their countries, so laying a major plank in their economic
foundations.
Around the world, TVET systems and programmes must adapt to the changing conditions
and new demands. One of the challenges TVET is facing today is that of imparting skills and
competencies that are applicable in a broad range of tasks and functions in the various
occupations that a person might hold throughout his or her lifetime. Vocational education and
training institutions can – and have to – become significant forces in shaping new structures
of occupations. Skills standards, at the national, regional and even at the international level,
play an important role in assessing competencies, improving transparency of qualifications,
increasing the mobility of workers, and many other factors that are important for a thriving
economy.
This conference will give valuable input into these and many other issues, and I expect the
outcomes of the conference to be important contributions to the current international debate
on the issue of qualifications frameworks and skills recognition arrangements.
The UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre also considers all of the issues mentioned
above in its work to assist UNESCO’s 193 Member States strengthen and upgrade their TVET
systems in the context of the overarching UNESCO goals in TVET, namely to assist Member
States improve and integrate TVET as part of the global Education for All Campaign, and to
assist the alignment of TVET with the tenets of sustainable development. The Centre supports
innovative initiatives and overarching approaches to enhance education and training for the
world of work, including skills standards. Much of its work is done with, and for, its worldwide
network of specialised TVET institutions, the UNEVOC Network, which consists of more than
280 organizations – the so-called UNEVOC Centres – in 166 UNESCO Member States. The
Network is a unique international framework and platform for interaction and collaboration
among TVET practitioners from UNEVOC Centres in developed and developing countries,
countries in transition and those in a post-conflict situation. The Network fosters and facilitates
learning and the sharing of knowledge in TVET, including skills standards and qualification
frameworks, as well as the formation of mutually beneficial partnerships.
The International Conference on “Corporate Human Resource Development and Skills
Development for Employment: Scope and Strategies” provides an important opportunity to
investigate many of the issues that are at the core of UNESCO-UNEVOC’s work. I wish you a
successful conference and am convinced that your discussions will be productive and
inspiring.
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