TAGSB and InWEnt Organize a Workshop on 'North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the Middle East'

The workshop discussed the challenges and strategies and efforts aiming at enhancing the performance of the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) system

AMMAN -----December 28, 2010----- A workshop on "North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the Middle East" Cooperation Opportunities in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET") was held at Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Graduate School of Business (TAGSB).

The workshop organized by TAGSB and InWEnt, Capacity Building International, Germany, aimed to facilitate two main objectives: exchange of information between German side and the Arab region on the present situation of TVET, particularly: challenges and strategies and efforts aiming at enhancing the performance of the TVET system, with specific focus on the cooperation between the public and private sector in the field of TVET.

Secondly, the workshop explored opportunities and modalities of cooperation between government and private sector institutions in Arab countries with partner institutions in NRW in the field of TVET in a wider sense.

Prof. Hesham Gharaibeh, dean of TAGSB opened the workshop by welcoming the participants from Germany, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine and addressed vital issues regarding the need for training and vocational education in the Arab region and recognized the experience of TVET in Germany.

He highlighted the role of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization (TAG-Org) in the fields of human resources development, particularly at the higher education level.

Meanwhile, Dr. Christian Engel – head of International Relations with America, Africa and the Near East – State Chancellery of North Rhine-Westphalia, emphasized the importance of the TVET sector as an essential factor for ensuring the competitiveness of any country in the globalized world.

Dr. Dieter Reuter - head of Regional Centre North Rhine-Westphalia – InWEnt gGmbH pointed out that the key focus of InWent - as a capacity development institution - from arranging for this workshop is to give the German delegation the opportunity to grasp sufficient understanding about the current TVET system in the Arab region in order to define interactively with the Arab representatives the potential cooperating areas on of TVET between Germany and the Arab world.

InWEnt, commissioned by the German Federal Government, the German business sector, and the German Länder, is a non-profit organization with worldwide operations dedicated to human resource development, advanced training, and dialogue.

Mr. Mustafa Nasereddin, TAG-Org executive director for international affairs expressed his appreciation and gratitude to all participants and to the State Government of NRW for making this workshop happen and produce valuable results. Mr. Nasereddin expressed his conviction that this workshop is only a first step and that it will certainly lead to a fruitful and long lasting cooperation for the mutual benefit of all stakeholders. He ensured the participants the willingness of TAG-Org to involve itself in the further process and to continuously contribute for making it a successful endeavour.

In the last session the participants expressed their full satisfaction with the various aspects of the workshop: the importance of the discussed topics, the active involvement of the participants, the friendly and constructive atmosphere, the valuable additional information that everyone gained.