Paris, July 12 (No. 2000-66) - UNESCO and the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany today signed an agreement for the creation of a UNESCO International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training in Bonn (Germany).

The agreement, signed by UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura and the German Education and Research Minister, Edelgard Bulmahn, in the former capital of Germany, lays the ground for the establishment of a new centre which will serve as the hub of an international technical and vocational education and training (TVET) network.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Mr Matsuura described the functions of the UNESCO Centre saying that it will: “be a repository of subject knowledge and technical information and will host TVET specialists from all regions of the world for short periods of training and re-training and information exchange. TVET specialists from developing countries and countries in transition will be able to familiarise themselves with the best practices in their field and also learn to make effective use of information and communication technologies. The Bonn Centre will also disseminate information via the electronic media to […] centres and partner institutions around the world.”

The TVET network was first established by UNESCO, as part of the UNEVOC vocational training project, which was operated from 1993 to 1999, with German sponsorship. It has connected 200 institutions in 135 countries, “enabling developing countries to benefit from the most recent technical information and best practices”, Mr Matsuura said.

As of this year UNESCO launched a new TVET programme in which the Bonn centre will play an important role, continuing and expanding on the work of the UNEVOC Implementation Unit which had hitherto been based in Berlin.

Mr Matsuura highlighted the importance of TVET in view of globalisation and technological developments and said: “Last year, the Second International Congress on Technical and Vocational Education in Seoul, provided UNESCO’s Member States with a forum to review the field of TVET. The Seoul Congress produced a set of recommendations that described how TVET must adjust to prepare people for the challenges of the knowledge society. Following these recommendations, UNESCO designed a new International Programme in Technical and Vocational Education and Training to assist its Member States to prepare both their young people and adults for the new demands of the world of work. UNESCO’s new TVET programme aims to empower people, especially the young, fostering the skills needed to lead productive and responsible lives. We believe that TVET must not only prepare people for work but must also prepare them for responsible citizenship.”

The Director-General announced that the International Labour Organization (ILO), a UNESCO partner of long standing in technical and vocational education, has expressed its intention to participate in the work of the Centre and said: “I encourage our other partners, both bilateral and multi-lateral, to join this endeavour by contributing their expertise and resources to the Bonn Centre. Without our combined efforts, the glaring disparities in knowledge, information and technological skill will never be reduced. […] If our actions are combined and well co-ordinated, we will make the best use of our resources. In my view, the Bonn Centre has to become part and parcel of the great alliance in support of education which was reconfirmed recently by the World Education Forum in Dakar [in April 2000].”