Tamkeen and Technical and Vocational Education Training UK sign MoU to Up-skill Bahrainis

As part of its ongoing efforts to enhance Bahrainis’ skills according to labour market needs and make them employees of choice, Tamkeen signed an Memorandum of Understanding with Technical and Vocational Education UK (TVET UK) to enhance the level of training provided to Bahrainis.

Partnering with one of the world’s leading organisations in technical and vocational training, the MoU will enable Tamkeen to benefit from TVET UK’s deep expertise in the area of technical and vocational training to further enhance its human capital development and private sector support programmes.

Among the benefits include further enhancing Tamkeen’s existing training offerings and developing more bespoke internationally-recognised programmes if needed, advancing employer-driven qualification and training systems by aligning industry and education, implementing best practices and policies in the technical educational sector, and acquiring topnotch training aids and developing training programmes on how to use them.

Tamkeen’s Acting Vice-President for Human Capital Development, Mrs. Amal Al-Kooheji said “Through this agreement, we will be able to access TVET UK’s extensive network of outstanding service providers to offer even more world-class training options for Bahrainis that are in line with labour market demands.”

Matthew Anderson, Executive Director of TVET UK said " Bahrain has a strong history in developing vocational skills and today is leading the GCC in nationalisation of its workforce. We are pleased to partner with Tamkeen in this initiative which give young Bahrainis access to UK technical training, furthering Bahrain’s leading position as a preferred business hub with a highly-skilled national workforce.”

The Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) facilitated the introduction between TVET and Tamkeen having recognised the strong potential for collaboration between the two organisations. Education has been identified as a priority area for reform and remains a core focus; in particular, a number of initiatives and partnerships have been established in recent years that are focused on achieving international standards in the area of technical and vocational training. These activities support the EDB’s role in attracting inward investment, as improvements in training and education play a major role in maintaining Bahrain’s reputation for its skilled local workforce, which benefits businesses located in the Kingdom that are seeking to establish a long-term presence in the region.

Since its inception, Tamkeen launched over 100 programmes to develop Bahrain’s human capital, including skills training, leadership and management training, employment support, work-readiness and corporate culture, professional qualifications support, and many others. Over 47,000 Bahrainis benefited from those programmes to date.

In 2012 alone, Tamkeen launched 24 new human capital development programmes and enrolled over 15,000 Bahrainis in its programmes, representing a 32% increase over the previous year.

To date, more than 66,000 Bahrainis and enterprises have benefited from Tamkeen’s programmes, with more than 100,000 beneficiaries set to benefit from these programmes in all.