The relationship between training providers, industry and community in most of the CPSC member countries has traditionally not been a close one. A few member countries are relatively successful in maintaining a close relationship with the industry while others are struggling hard to get the best out of the linkages.
A study conducted by CPSC reveals that TVET institutions in the CPSC member countries cannot expect to maintain relevant high quality vocational and technical education programs that meet the needs of the marketplace unless they maintain good and effective links with private and public companies as well as the community. A relationship among these parties cannot, however, be seen as being the responsibility of only one of them. If industry expects TVET institutions to provide vocational and technical education meeting the needs of the industry, then the industry has a responsibility to ensure that it maintains active links with TVET institutions.
The industries usually lack in showing eagerness to take active involvement in this respect.
Gathered from country reports of the member countries of the Colombo Plan Staff College, only about fifty percent have put on records that certain initiatives have been made by their TVET systems to effect institution-industry linkage. However, most of these countries describe such linkages as still weak and needing more push to fully attain the objectives for which they are conceived.
For those countries that have reported strong institution-industry linkage (i.e., Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Myanmar, etc.) one significant feature that stands out is the existence of a government mandate towards establishing institution-industry linkage.
The government appears to play an important role of encouraging technical institutions and industries to engage in strategic alliances through tax incentives, deregulation, collective training services, endowment efforts and scholarship subsidies.
In Korea, work information centre, a leading public R&D organization affiliated with KOMA (Korean Manpower Agency) is involved in i) developing and operating national employment related on-line system ii) carrying out research and development in the area of employment and occupation in collaboration with private sector. Development of work net and employment
insurance system in Korea is one of the success stories of the institution and industry partnership in the Asia and Pacific region.
In Indonesia, the collaboration between these two parties has been applied through the implementation of Pendidikan Sistem Ganda or Dual System. However, some collaboration is still under government projects. The best practice of this linkage has been in the area of tourism.
Professional associations in the area of tourism collaborate with TVET institutions in the development of competency standards and in making provision of opportunity for students or trainees to have internship program or on-the-job training.
In the Philippines, the linkage has been supported through the issuance of legal basis principle that provided the basic legal framework. Republic Act No. 7686 signed on February 25, 1994 includes the incorporation of tax incentive provisions designed to encourage industry to allow students or trainees to do the actual work.
In many developing countries, in particular in the Colombo Plan Region, the linkage between training institutions, industry and community has been seen as having more problems for the possible provision of opportunities for work experience and placements. Although TVET providers have been in existance for decades, evidences show that most of them tend to view the students not as trainees, but as objects to be used for cheap labors.
EXISTING MODELS FOR I-I PARTNERSHIPS
Some of the important models of Industry-Institution (I-I) linkage that worked in TVET systems in the member countries of CPSC are discussed below.
• Dual Training System – This involves two venues of learning: the school and the factory or the workplace. The effort to synchronise both venues of learning enhances the development of the trainee’s skills. In the school, the trainee learns the theoretical foundations of a specific skill or a set of skills through classroom instruction and workshop practice. In the factory, or in the actual workplace, the trainee applies the
basic skills learnt in school, masters it, and then goes on to acquire the advanced skills (Shoenfeldt, 1986).
Also, exposure to the actual work situation, the proper work values are given a chance to develop. The trainee undergoes theoretical work on values instruction in the institution while values are given a chance to take root and mature through practice in the workplace. Moreover, the industries/factories involved in the training benefit from the training programme. Industries are made to shoulder the burden not only of the development of a trainee’s skills and attitudes but also of in-school training.
Thus, the objective of the dual training system is a strategic alliance between the educational system and the private sector. This is to match the needs and core competencies of the educational system, on one hand, and that of the employment system, on the other, to take advantage of strengths and opportunities and minimize the effects of the weaknesses and threats to the two systems or turn such effects into opportunities instead.
• Establishment of a mechanism or incentive for sustained industry involvement
The levy system is one way of ensuring industry participation in training activities.
It ensures that industry will benefit from its activities related to training its own workers, since it is only through training that they will be able to recover their contributions to government coffers for training.
• Allowing industry leaders a strong voice in the policy-making bodies of training institutions This is a strategy of putting leaders of industry in some leadership roles in policy-making bodies of training institutions. Their active participation and involvement will make the industry feel ownership of the problem of the institution.
This may result in the industry’s involvement in and commitment to the meaningful and effective training of students.
Linkages in this CPSC region take many forms and there are particular terms associated with these training modalities. Among them are co-operative education, apprenticeship, on-the-job-training, and industrial attachment/experience or work placements. They perceive that the linkages enable students to perceive the conditions prevailing in the workplace and yet to
stimulate their interest by the provision of more varied experiences rather than adhering to traditional courses.
FORMULATING POLICY REFORMS TO PROMOTE I-I LINKAGES IN SOME OF THE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES OF CPSC
Some of the developing countries in the CPSC region have initiated policy reform to promote I-I partnership. A few examples are illustrated below.
National Education Reform Policy of 1991 of Papua New Guinea (PNG) led to the initiation of the Diploma of Vocational Education and Training (DoVET) programme involving government as well as NGOs and private organisations to provide training that have industry-linked and/or industry-based training in accordance with the National Industry Standards. These courses are credited towards the DoVET programme. In addition, the DoVET programme has been designed and engineered in such a way that the programme links with other approved public and private sector training providers. Vocational Education Curriculum courses for the DoVET programme are designed, developed, and delivered at technician or Level II competency standards according to industry standards and world’s best industry practices. In this arrangement, some training providers were identified to be on-line to train DoVET students.
Currently, the DoVET students are doing a three-week industry-based training with various industries (e.g., ELA Motors that is the leading dealer and distributor of products from leading companies worldwide like Toyota, Daihatsu, Hino, Yamaha and Renault)
In Myanmar, a policy that fosters I-I collaboration is the formulation of instructions issued from the Cabinet to the respective Ministries to allow the graduating students of Government Technical Institutes to do on-the-job training (OJT). Certificates are not given to the students who do not participate in the OJT.
In an effort to bring education closer to providing industry requirements, the Philippine Government initiated adopt a-school program, apprenticeship program, public investment program and TESDA act reform of 1994: The State encouragse active participation of various concerned sectors, particularly private enterprises, being direct participants in and immediate
beneficiaries of a trained and skilled workforce, in providing technical education and skills development opportunities.
Occupational standards setting – Establishing occupational skills standards can be a very difficult job to do without the participation of industry. In Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Philippines, for example, an expert panel is first formed to develop the occupational standards. The expert panel composed of industry experts identify the competencies that are required of an occupation. A competency is defined as consisting of skills, knowledge, attitudes and values that a worker must possess to be an effective worker in the industry