The collaborative research project
The ‘Skills for Industry’ research project is a multi-country six years research project coordinated by Zurich University of Teacher Education, Zurich, Switzerland and funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC), and has been conducted in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, South Africa and Ethiopia, aiming to analyze critical factors that help or hinder the contribution of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) to inclusive industrial growth and transformation in these six countries. BRAC IED has been the partner from Bangladesh in this international collaborative research project and a small team of researchers in BRAC IED has been working on this. Started in September 2017 the project is in its last year now and going to be ended in December 2023 with a no-cost extension of four months.
BRAC IED team involved with this project, partnered with two very vibrant sectors of industries in Bangladesh- Ready Made Garments (RMG) and Pharmaceutical; skills training providers; government agencies; and industry associations, to collect data/information for the study. We surveyed 100 RMGs and 61 Pharmaceuticals for quantitative data/information and conducted in-depth interviews with 35 personnel from 18 of these two industries, 18 skills training provider institutions, 8 government agencies and 4 industry associations.
The visit
Two individuals, Md. Abul Kalam, Research Fellow, and Sheikh Shahana Shimu, Research Fellow, from the BRAC IED research team involved in this project, visited Johannesburg, South Africa from 04 May to 13 May 2023, to attend Project Meeting and Steering Board Meeting, with partner teams (other country teams), and attended a two days international conference on ‘Skills for a Just Transition’.
The country teams participated in project meetings to review the activities of the project and writing workshop to be prepared for papers and poster presentations in the international conference mentioned above, from 6- 10 May 2023.
BRAC IED team attended the international conference on ‘Skills for a Just Transition from 11-12 May 2023, including making a poster presentation on the first day and two papers presentations in parallel sessions on the second day.
Finally, the country teams attended a Steering Board Meeting on the morning of 13 May 2023 to discuss the next steps (e.g. further analysis, publications and dissemination etc.) for the remaining period of the project.
