Four priorities for the strategic framework

The MAEE’s consultation and inventory exercise revealed a demand for a framework that will preserve players’ diversity and enable them to align their action with shared priorities. These priorities are four in number.

1. Priority for emerging countries, the countries of Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean, and Africa

Emerging countries are now at the heart of global growth, in Asia, South America, North Africa and the Middle East, and the rest of Africa: in recent years they have seen growth rates of 6% to 10% and more. For companies from all over the world, and especially for the French ones, they offer two opportunities:
 locations to produce for expanding local markets or export;
 destinations for French exports of the capital goods and infrastructure these countries urgently need to sustain their growth.

The ability to meet the demand for qualified labour is consequently a major asset for French companies.

2. Priority for teaching intermediate skills

The emerging countries, with rare exceptions, educate all their young people to the end of secondary school and a significant number at university. However, vocational education is often inadequate and suffers from low prestige. Furthermore, these countries are faced with the inappropriate content and insufficient number of existing higher vocational courses, particularly those designed to teach intermediate skills that require scientific and technical knowledge, and management and team-leading capacities.

The MAEE’s consultation exercise confirmed the existence of strong demand for development cooperation in higher vocational education.

3. Priority for local courses

In the emerging countries, courses in intermediate skills can only be designed for local teaching for at least two reasons:
 extent of demand, from tens or even hundreds of thousands of students;
 closeness to companies, both for skill acquisition and for opportunities for practical internships and the integration of courses with vocational integration.

4. Priority for constructing national certification frameworks

Many countries have begun the work of designing national certification frameworks. Certification has two functions:
 social recognition for the holder, a testimonial of knowledge and know-how from a recognized competent authority;
 an economic function of organizing the labour market by “signalling” competencies sought by companies. National certification is essential in order to unify recognized skills for a unified geographical area.

^{Updated on: July 2011}