New pact to roll out internationally accredited courses in local polytechnics
Ekuwam Sylvester and Luka Cherono-KNA
He noted that it will help improve productivity of the young people and enable them to generate self-sustaining income as they work abroad while at the same time enhancing direct foreign inflows to improve the country’s economy.
“We are collaborating as a government with Signet Institute of Australia to roll out courses which are accredited internationally. We have signed the agreement, and it will cover a number of national polytechnics, including the Eldoret National Polytechnic,” said the TVET Director.
He said they had already launched an office for Signet that will coordinate in collaboration with Kenyan institutions, at Kabete National Polytechnic and the Nairobi National Polytechnic.
“This is a pilot and based on the uptake, we'll be increasing this. We start with seven national polytechnics and maybe we'll start with 100 students. And this will be growing gradually depending on the skills requirement outside there,” explained Tuwei.
In his remarks, the Kenya High Commissioner to Australia Dr. Wilson Kogo commended the milestone achieved in TVET modernization noting that upskilling of the human capital in Kenya is key in order to leverage on the opportunities available internationally.
He welcomed the collaboration which he said will strengthen the relationship between Kenya and Australia and support both economies through labour mobility.
The High Commissioner pointed out that many regions outside there, be it Europe, America, Australia and others, are really asking for labour noting that the question that is in the minds of everybody else is on the kind of training that we have in Kenya if it does really resonate with needs and the expectations other regions like Australia.
“That is what we are focusing on and asking ourselves the question, why is it that at one point, if you have a nurse from here going to Australia, they cannot be allowed to practice, and yet we have trained? Why is it that you have plumbers who have been trained in our institutions here, but when they go to other regions, probably they are not allowed to practice,” Dr. Kogo exclaimed .
He lauded the training standards in Kenya’s TVET emphasizing the need to upgrade them to the global standards through linkages and collaborations with international institutions like Signet Institute so as to match the skills required in Australia which is in dire need of labour due to its fast-aging population.
Dr Kogo hinted on bringing in more countries whose market need is not covered in Kenyan training so that any gaps can actually be taken care of by the institutions focused on as far as labour mobility is concerned.
“Australia is one of them. We want to be probably going forward, be even a source of labour to the wonderful country of Australia. That is what we have in mind. But the question is, can we address the gaps? We have done a good job, but Australia could be requiring a little bit more than what we have managed to do in our institutions,” added the High Commissioner to Australia.
The Head of Sales and Marketing, Signet Institute, Muhammad Imran Ali described the collaboration as a snowball effect-a process where an initial small event or action triggers a chain reaction, causing it to grow larger and potentially more impactful over time.
He mentioned that Kenyans, through the programme, have advantage of two snowball effects. One is that slowly youth will learn, use their skills to go abroad and develop themselves. And on the other side when they are developed, they will start sending remittance back home and that will have a ripple snowball effect to bring up the economy.
“Australia suffers with an aged population. We have a lot of people to look after, but we don't have youth like you to do that. But the bridge of what the gap is there is the right kind of skills and emotional and cultural intelligence that you need to make a successful life in Australia, New Zealand and across 34 countries where Australian qualification is recognised,” said Ali.