The National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC), in collaboration with UNESCO-UNEVOC and the German development agency GIZ, has launched a two-day in-person training for entry-level managers from technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutes and higher education institutions (HEIs) across Pakistan, including Gilgit-Baltistan, according to a post on its LinkedIn page. The training is meant to improve the operational capacity of entry-level TVET managers by combining face-to-face and online learning and by letting participants present and review the management tools used at their institutions. NAVTTC says it also links those tools to innovation and excellence, digital transformation, institutional improvement, and engagement with the private sector.
International trainers are leading the sessions, with Master Trainers from Pakistan, who completed earlier training under the programme, serving as co-facilitators. NAVTTC said its headquarters has played a leading role in launching the training nationwide. The commission added that training for middle-level managers will follow once the entry-level course concludes successfully. The post does not say how many managers are taking part, which institutions they come from, or where the sessions are being held. Using trained Pakistani Master Trainers alongside international facilitators is a way to build a group of local trainers who can run later courses without outside help.
The course is part of a UNESCO-UNEVOC project for TVET managers in Pakistan that is carried out under the TVET Sector Support Programme, which is commissioned by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and co-funded by the European Union. According to UNESCO’s project listing, the project aims to build the capacity of 300 TVET managers in partnership with UNESCO-UNEVOC, and it covers managers at the top, middle, and entry levels. UNESCO describes the goal as giving managers the tools to carry out sustainable change so that the TVET system becomes more dynamic and efficient. UNESCO Islamabad serves as the in-country focal point, working with UNESCO-UNEVOC in Bonn, GIZ, NAVTTC, and the provincial Technical Education and Vocational Training Authorities.
The focus on management reflects a long-running view in Pakistan’s TVET reforms that good institutional leadership is as important as training for instructors. GIZ’s TVET Sector Support Programme, which is implemented with the British Council in close cooperation with NAVTTC and the provincial TEVTAs, has supported principal and manager training, competency-based teacher and assessor training, and the accreditation of institutes, and it reports that hundreds of principals and thousands of teachers have been trained. The latest course adds a stronger emphasis on digital transformation and private-sector engagement, two areas where institutions are under pressure to match training to the skills that employers want. NAVTTC has not given a date for the middle-level managers’ course or described how the results of the entry-level training will be assessed.
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