Technical and vocational training builds skills brick by brick

Four years after the BRICS Technical and Vocational Education and Training Cooperation Alliance was set up, it has become a platform that mirrors the technical and vocational education and training priorities of each member country. As such, it offers a space for policy dialogue, knowledge exchange and joint capacity-building.

The alliance, which has 97 member institutions as its members and is managed by the China Education Association for International Exchange in Beijing, translates high-level BRICS consensus into grassroots people-to-people collaboration, said Yang Jun, vice-president and secretary-general of the association.

Its work has been acknowledged in summit documents from the 14th to the 17th BRICS Summits, and most recently in a declaration of the 13th BRICS Ministers of Education Meeting in Bhubaneswar, India, adopted on Aug 7, which highlighted its work in joint projects, information sharing and collective upgrading of technical and vocational education and training.

The alliance adopts a multi-stakeholder governance model involving governments, industry associations, training institutions and companies, Yang said. This has enabled a series of practical initiatives — policy dialogues, best-practice sharing, faculty exchanges, student engagement and industry-academia matchmaking — and it has steadily expanded its activities, membership and influence, he said.

Since 2022, annual hybrid forums have been hosted by each rotating BRICS chair, with sessions held in Beijing, Johannesburg, Moscow, Brasilia and New Delhi.

Discussions have focused on green-economy skills, sustainable workforce development and inclusive digital transformation for technical and vocational education and training, creating a recurring high-level dialogue channel for practitioners across the member states, Yang said.

Youth mobility and skills development form another core pillar. Three sessions of the Rising Star TVET Student Camp have brought together more than 100 young participants from BRICS countries. The program includes keynote speeches, cross-cultural youth panels, corporate site visits and cultural immersion, helping young professionals expand international peer networks and sharpen job-ready competencies, he said.

One participant, Fatimah Rashed N. Almahasheer from Saudi Arabia, said the camp "unites youth from diverse backgrounds to share perspectives and brainstorm innovative solutions to shared global challenges".

Another participant, Yeaymrokal Kebede Mola from Ethiopia, said the alliance creates opportunities for youth to engage in meaningful dialogue, discuss ideas and collaborate on projects related to important global issues.

Goitsemang Itlotleng Maledu of South Africa said BRICS members stand to gain collectively through better infrastructure, trade finance and strengthened science, engineering and technical capacities.

To improve teaching quality across the network, the alliance has run 12 online workshops and seminars for faculty members and institutional administrators, Yang said.

With the help of 50 international specialists these sessions have covered digital-resource building, industry-education integration, curriculum design and teaching evaluation, reaching more than 1,000 teaching and managerial staff, he said.