Pacific vocational education training: the way forward

The European Union’s Pacific Technical Vocational Education and Training (PacTVET) project is holding its Steering Committee in Suva, Fiji from 8 to 9 October.

The Committee aims to provide a platform for Pacific Island countries to present their gap analysis and training needs assessment under the project, set out their work plans and identify possible development partners and donors for collaboration.  

This regional gathering serves as a follow up to the recently completed in country consultations held in each of the 15 countries in order to identify priority areas needing further educational development as well as identifying partners for possible collaboration.  

The 6.1 million Euro initiative, jointly implemented by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community and the University of the South Pacific is working to develop recognized accreditation in the vocational education in the region, particularly in the areas of climate change adaption and supporting the development of sustainable energy.  

The EU-PacTVET project commenced in August 2014 and consultations across 15 Pacific Island countries have just been completed where priority areas of education were identified to be further developed. The implementation of project activities is expected to run over the next four years.

Countries under the project include Cook Islands, Fiji, the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.