As more countries transition to renewable energy, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) providers have an increasingly important role in equipping the global workforce with the green skills of the future. With funding from the British Council, training providers in the UK and Morocco have partnered to address this challenge through, knowledge sharing and international mobility to bring innovative approaches to green skills training and boost employability to support the shift to net zero.
The global growth of the green energy sector has led to a boost in new jobs. As reported by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the sector grew by 700,000 new jobs in 2020-21, totalling 12.7 million globally.
TVET systems have a fundamental role to play in supporting this global shift, by equipping the global workforce with the skills to support the jobs of the future.
Our Objective
The collaborative approach is at the heart of a partnership between the Devon and Cornwall Training Providers Network in the UK and three Training Institutes for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (IFMEREE) in Morocco.
As a leading training provider in Devon and a member of the Devon and Cornwall Training Providers Network, Petroc College joined Going Global Partnerships as an opportunity to bring new perspectives and expertise to explore key themes, whilst also broadening staff and students cultural understanding.
‘Both IFMEREE and Petroc support the shift to net zero and the development of renewable energy and green skills. Both partners are in locations moving from an economy based predominately on tourism and agriculture, to the new era of renewables and green skills and the brand-new jobs this will unlock in the future.’
Our Strategy
Petroc and IFMEREE identified two key areas of co-operation.
- To build capacity in higher technical training, by incorporating innovative delivery methods and pedagogies to support learning in the solar and wind renewables curriculum.
- To exchange knowledge and methodologies to support soft skills development, with a focus on employability, entrepreneurship and business start-up.
Our Impact
With a core focus on capacity strengthening and the exchange of experience, the partnership enabled Petroc to share their expertise by providing targeted training and curriculum development support to IFMEREE.
This included hybrid train-the-trainer e-learning sessions, focusing on technology-enhanced teaching.
These sessions also provided opportunities to share knowledge and expertise around blended learning approaches, renewables curriculum, energy storage, grid integration, life cycle analysis and policy development.
Both partners signed a Memorandum of Understanding to continue the collaboration and build on their Going Global Partnerships project in the future.
Plans are now underway for future staff and CPD exchanges, in-person student exchanges to facilitate work experience and project-based-learning, collaborative research and resource sharing.
For Petroc, the partnership has also inspired a thirst for further international collaboration to support the shift to net zero.
‘We want to link more closely with colleges who are located near or inside the other 738 biosphere reserves in 134 countries across the world. We would love to connect with them and look for opportunities to develop joint projects, to arrange staff and student exchanges, to develop green skills literacy and to work together to fight the climate emergency,’ says Dr Caroline Chipperfield, Director for Higher Education at Petroc.
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This International Skills Partnership is supported by funding from the British Council’s Going Global Partnerships programme. Going Global Partnerships supports universities, colleges and wider education stakeholders around the world to work together towards stronger, equitable, inclusive, more internationally connected higher education, science and TVET.
