by Melinda Advincula Mathers, Programmes Manager, Education
British Council and Philippine Business for Education Push for Creation of Sector Skills Council
The British Council (BC) in partnership with the Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) organized the seminar entitled Competitiveness and Workforce Development: The Role of the Sector Skills Council and the Industry Sector in Skills Development.
Key officials and influencers from Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), the academe, industry representatives from Animation, Agriculture, Automotive, Retail, and Energy and Tourism sectors gathered and revisited the status of the local sector skills organizations in the country.
UK experts from the UK Commission on Employability and Skills (UKCES) and the People’s 1st shared UK Sector Skills Council (SSC) models and discussed how the SSCs improve productivity and competitiveness of the UK industry sector. The Philippines’ Tourism Industry Board Foundation, Inc. (TIBFI), an active Philippine SSC, presented its own model of an organized SSC and their works that resulted to the inclusion of TIBFI in the ASEAN tourism organization.
The skills workshop resulted to (1) setting the groundwork for establishing the Agriculture SSC; (2) identifying areas for international partnership in the areas of agriculture, tourism and retail and (3) setting up on-line career portals for the tourism sector as priority to become the model for possible replication of other sectors.
The activity emphasised the significance of quality skills systems and close engagement between education and industry in workforce development and employability.
The activity is in line with British Council’s objective to provide development opportunities to reform skills systems and deliver interventions to enhance employability of individuals.
