Capitalizing on the benefits brought by partnership with the private sector in the delivery of skills; the pressing need to gear these partnership to solve the problem of mismatch of skills; inclusivity of TVET policies to reach a larger population; better alignment of TVET to the needs in the employment system in the national and international labor market--these and other many significant issues were tackled in the recently concluded National Seminar conducted by the Colombo Plan Staff College (CPSC).
CPSC jointly organized the National Seminar on PPP- the New Dimension of Institution and Industry Linkages: Trends and Partnerships with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), Philippines on October 17, 2013 at the TESDA Women’s Center, Taguig City, Philippines. The seminar, which was conducted in conjunction with the In-Country Program on Making TVET-Industry Partnership Work in the Philippines, gathered 98 participants from the different regions in the country.
Key Speakers of the seminar shared their insights and experiences on public private partnership (PPP) and the need to recognize issues and concerns to reform TVET systems to fully benefit from PPP. Key speakers include Dr. Mohammad Naim Yaakub, CPSC Director General, Mr. Eleazar Ricote, Director, PPP Center, National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), Philippines; Mr. Ronald Gaspar, Coordinating Manager and Education Sector Head, Toyota Motor Foundation, Philippines and Dr. Hazrat Hussain, Faculty Consultant, CPSC.
During Session 1 (Emerging Trends and Challenges of PPP in TVET) Dr. Naim who delivered a presentation on Industry –Academe Linkages: the Need, Forms and Practices, highlighted CPSC’s implementation and best practices on PPP particularly CPSC’s partnership with Toyota Motors Philippines such as the industry-immersion component during CPSC-organized Customized programs. He advised that PPP should not focus on the technical aspects only like equipment donations but more so in the overall educational and sustainable benefits gained from the partnership.
Dr. Ricote, in the same session, discussed Enabling the Policy and Institutional Environment for Private Sector Engagement: The Philippine PPP Program whereby he expounded on national government’s policies and practices in conducting PPP including how private sectors are encouraged to engage with the undertakings of the public sectors. He elaborated on preparing template contract, particular controls and period of engagement, assessment of cost efficiency requirements and monitoring and assessment of projects and activities under PPP. He, however, stressed that the mindset of owning the project must be maintained by the public sector in PPP set ups wherein PPP projects must be taken as “still a public project” with the government’s mandate to provide services to the public and private sector only pitching in for any lacking aspects, say resources.
Session 2, on the other hand, focused on PPP and its Integration with TVET at the Policy Level and Institutional Level. Mr. Gaspar through his presentation Industry Proactive Role in Partnership with TVET: The Toyota Philippines Experience imparted their various involvement in the academe particularly their engagement with 20 technical schools in the Philippines. He highlighted their PPP projects focusing on on-the-job (OJT) training programs, curriculum development and various sustainable projects that support schools in producing graduates matching the needs of the automotive industry.
Dr. Hussain in the same session, delivered his paper on International Practices for Public-Private Partnership in TVET: Best Practices and Lesson Learned whereby he discussed the significance of PPPs in TVET systems, paradigm shifts in PPP, frameworks, guidelines and approaches in establishing PPP, PPP models in TVET in some countries, and risks, rewards and success factors of PPP.
Interesting discussions on PPP transpired during the Question and Answer session of the seminar. Some questions were directed at how to improve linkages with the private sectors in the Philippines and making PPP successful. Atty. Teodoro C. Pascua, Deputy Director General, TESDA, on this inquiry announced that the Philippine government had initially set up the Private Linkage Office (PLO) mandated to assist the public sector in networking with the private sector.
Dr. Naim, Atty. Teodoro C. Pascua, Deputy Director General, TESDA and Dir. Felicidad Zurbano, Director, National TVET Academy (NTTA) inaugurated the seminar. The organizers of the seminar were unanimous in conveying their appreciation for the enthusiastic exchange of ideas and practices on PPP among the participants and the speakers, thus making the event truly a platform for experience-sharing for better understanding of PPP in TVET.
Dr. Hazrat Hussain, Faculty Consultant and Program Coordinator shared insights on the topic as one of the Resource Speakers of the seminar.
 Participants of the seminar listen intently to the presentations during the seminar |
 Mr. Ronald Gaspar, Coordinating Manager and Education Sector Head, Toyota Motor Foundation, Philippines, delivers his presentation during session 2 of the seminar |
 Mr. Eleazar Ricote, Director, PPP Center, National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), Philippines (center) receives token of appreciation from Dr. Mohammad Naim Yaakub, CPSC Director General (far right) and Atty. Teodoro C. Pascua, Deputy Director General, TESDA (left). |
