Post added by Mounir Baati
2 months ago, I was invited by the Technical and Vocational Education Board in Libya to attend a workshop on National Qualifications Frameworks and to deliver a presentation on this topic. I already knew that Libya was tempted to embark on this international trend and develop its NQF, that’s why I opted to focus in my presentation on lessons learnt from ETF experience in supporting its partner countries in reforming their qualifications systems.
But before developing more about this issue, two words about the country and the problems, not only political it is facing.
Libya is a large-sized country with a population of 6,733,620 (est. 2012). Its economy relies on foreign workers; their number is estimated at 2.5 million before the crisis. In terms of economic development, the Libyan economy has been dominated for a long time by the hydrocarbons accounting for more than 70% of GDP, more than 95% of exports and approximately 90% of government revenue.
As for the TVET sector, it is rather considered as a path to absorb low performing students both from basic and secondary education. The specialisations offered in TVET schools have been based on the availability of equipment and teachers’ qualifications, rather than on the labour market needs. There is in fact no mechanism in place to analyse labour market needs and consequently align education and training provision. To sum up, Libya is sharing to some extent the same problems as its neighbours: low attractiveness of the TVET sector, low relevance to the labour market needs and governance fragmentation.
So to what extend a NQF can be a tool to support reforming this system? Were these the views of the organisers? I have some doubts on that.
Actually, four organisations were invited to deliver presentations. They are the Commission for Academic Accreditation form the UAE, UK-NARIC, PEARSON- Edexcel/ UK and ETF.
The debate that took place after these presentations suggests that first of all, there is no clear understanding about NQF and what is not. The Libyan colleagues' plan to develop an NQF in 2 years is perhaps overly ambitious and is somehow indicative of the extent to which they underestimate the complexity of designing and implementing and NQF.
Secondly, as there is a very little involvement of stakeholders and in particular of social partners in the TVET system, it is most likely that the decision to develop a qualification framework has been taken by the government and its agencies. The views and interests of the latters might steer the whole process and unless they put in place a new governance system that gives a real role to social partners, the developed NQF might not lead to better qualifications.
Finally, the country is still missing a real vision for its TVET system; therefore the objectives for developing an NQF remain unclear.
Libyans consider that for more than 4 decades under the Gaddafi regime, the country was somehow “out” of the world, completely disconnected. They want to catch up and if tools such as an NQF can help them in speeding up the process, they will use.
But still, they have to consider it as tool, which might not the case … yet.
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