In practice: linking education and the labour market
14 Nov 2011
On Thursday 13 October Vin Morar, researcher at TSM Business School of the University of Twente, held a lecture on linking education and the labour market. The lecture was organised by Nuffic’s TVET Taskforce.
Morar sees the availability and creation of jobs as the main driver behind any country’s development, regardless of differences between countries and regions. Linking education and the labour market is crucial in this respect.
Mutual benefits
In his presentation Morar stressed the importance of creating mutual benefits and on taking an open approach to the concept of “creating linkages”. The more interaction there is between the education sector and the labour market, the better.
The education perspective
In the education field, teachers need to become aware of the importance of joining forces with the labour market. This is quite a challenge as teachers often have no industry experience and do not know what employers are looking for in terms of skills and knowledge.
Morar believes education institutions must look beyond internships, which is the traditional link to the professional field, and seek innovative ways to meet the labour market and sell their assets. They can do this, for example, through exchanges, by inviting speakers and by doing paid assignments.
Also, in many countries teaching is often still a one-way process with hardly any interaction. Students should learn how to become proactive, in class, but also for example by setting up student companies or by doing community-based assignments.
The business perspective
The private sector also has a role to play. Commercial companies can be quite impatient sometimes and they must learn that education linkages can be mutually beneficial. They must also learn how they can contribute to successful education-labour market linkages. At the same time, it is important to keep expectations realistic.
Win-win situation
In order to create a win-win situation, donor projects focusing on creating these linkages should:
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raise awareness of the need for education-industry interaction;
- build capacity within schools and education development institutions;
- facilitate interaction between education and industry organisations.
Morar has been involved in entrepreneurship projects in developing countries since 1999. He has worked in Central Eastern Europe, Asia and East Africa. His organisation currently manages a NICHE private sector development project in Tanzania.
