The National Center for Continuing Education and professional advancement (CNFCPP) has inaugurated an annual cycle of international meetings devoted to training, in Tunis Utica headquarters.
The CNFCPP Director General, Abdellatif Toumi said that the main objective of these meetings is to help ” embed the continuing education culture and popularize among professionals, related incentive mechanisms set up by the government and make CNFCPP interventions better known” whose objectives, tasks and means remain relatively unknown, at least to the general public. Interview:
How you assess public-private partnership in vocational training and employment?
I can say that this partnership, initiated 15 years ago, has enabled achieve clear improvements in building a national training system driven by needs of businesses in skills. In Indeed, much has been accomplished at the level of initial training and engineering training. For its part, CNFCCP continues to develop capacity to engage in vocational training , especially in identification of needs and mobilization of businesses.
Today we talk more and more about distance training, can you explain the characteristics of this program?
As you know, CNFCCP has organized continuing education cycles for the benefit of workers in IPST through Continuing Education evening classes and distance learning. In addition, there is the so- called workers’ open school workers, and as its name suggests, it is open 24h/24h, since training is carried out at distance (people may connect anytime and anywhere).
We learn that nearly fifty executives have been meeting this week to discuss ways and means of a stronger involvement in continuing education and relations with CNFCPP. What are the issues discussed and the outcome of this meeting?
Indeed, continuing education and relations with CNFCPP were discussed during the major part of the day. It emerges from discussions that the potential for improvement is still very important. Moreover, 80% of CNFCPP Web site users believe that the use of instruments for funding continuing education is quite hard. Similarly, several private operators believe that competition environment must be improved. To this end, the continuing education international symposium recently held is an opportunity to learn about training international best practices.
Foreign companies working in Tunisia say that Tunisian workforce is not skilled in certain specialties. How can CNFCPP deal with this issue?
This is an opportunity to address the issue of labor skills. Training is now carried out under corporate responsibility and no longer under administration whose role is limited to outlining guidelines including those relating to the effectiveness of instruments of financing training to include all types of learning and training.
What are the instruments set up to ensure a better match with productive sectors needs?
Under the guidelines set by the Head of State, the reform has introduced two new instruments, i.e. the tax credit and the drawing rights. In this regard, since the onset of the reform up to June 2010, 10,000 businesses have benefited from continuing education programs including 4000 during the first half of the year 2010. The program cost amounts to 40 million dinars, knowing that 80% of funding has been devoted to small businesses through drawing rights