The Mobile Workforce: From India to Canada

As part of the Global Skills Marketplace (GSM) workshops on September 2, 2009, The City & Guilds Centre for Skills Development (CSD) will present, The Mobile Workforce: From India to Canada.

In this presentation, CSD will build upon its recent research into skills development to provide evidence on how immigration is being used to plug skills gaps and shortages in the oilfields of Alberta and how, at the other end of the spectrum in the continent of India, policymakers and individuals are responding to this demand by training locals so that they can emigrate to Canada.

While the free movement of capital goods and services is accepted internationally as a positive phenomenon, the concept of international labour mobility remains controversial. Countries need highly skilled individuals and entrepreneurs in order to compete economically and government policies are increasingly recognising the value of migration. There are however, stark differences in how countries from around the world support and encourage migration.

Presenting this interactive workshop will be the Right Honourable Hector Goudreau, Minister of Employment and Immigration for the Province of Alberta, and Prof. Dr. Binod Khadria, Profesor of Economics at the Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University in India

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Skills Standards for Technology Based Industry

The Canadian Printing Industry Sector Council (CPISC) will present, Skill Standards for Technology Based Industry at the Global Skills Marketplace on September 2, 2009 in Calgary, Alberta Canada.

This workshop will detail the CPISC’s unique approach to the development of standards reflective of the manufacturing sector which takes a process area approach. Skill standards are critical if the industry is to ensure it has workers with the required set of skills to adapt to a rapidly changing work environment driven by technological change.

The workshop will be presented by Marie Eveline, Executive Director of the CPISC, and will address the impact of global competitiveness on printing industry and importance of adaptive workforce capable of addressing technological change which has facilitated global markets. Participants will have the opportunity to discuss their approach to standards and how they have adapted to technological change.

Skills in a post-recession world-class economy

In a world where the past year has seen an unparalleled collapse in commercial confidence and a recession that was both unexpected and frighteningly fast, Chris Humphries, Chair of UK Skills, Chief Executive of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills and advisor to UK government, will lead a seminar on how skills will provide the foundations of the future global economy from a UK perspective.

Drawing on his work at the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, through a major report recently published on the challenges facing the UK, and a five year Strategic Plan for change, Chris will provide a unique insight into the role skills policy and practice will play in the UK’s new post recession industrial strategy to remain a world-class economy.

He will deliver a 25min presentation followed by initial comments from Honda on their commitment and dependency on skills for commercial success, and City & Guilds on the impact this new strategy will have on qualifications and styles of learning, in the new post recession world, before opening up an interactive debate to WorldSkills delegates.

Delegates will be able to benchmark their national approach to the most recent developments in the UK presented by the person charged with revitalising the link between national economic well-being and skills.

Multiple Assessment Pathways Project

At the Global Sklills Marketplace on September 2, 2009, the Industry Training Authority (ITA) of British Columbia, Canada will discuss their efforts to develop alternative methods for assessing skilled individuals seeking certification in their trade.

Currently in the province of British Columbia, assessments can be done only through written exams, which may present a barrier to some individuals reaching their full potential and achieving certification.

The ITA has developed an assessment model based on international best practices proven to be effective at recognising skills of individual that may not have gone through formal apprenticeship training programs. The workshop will focus on how the apprenticeship system can do a better job of recognizing individuals with existing skills, a key feature of any system operating effectively in the current global environment.

This initiative is currently being developed into a pilot project for the cook program in British Columbia, with the hope that if successful it could be incorporated in to other trades.

Modular E-learning Project

WorldSkills International (WSI) and Samsung decided to adopt an e-learning delivery format to effectively disseminate exemplary know-how and knowledge with all member nations, and content for two discipline areas have been developed. In August, 2009, this pilot work will be validated by Indian apprentices and WSI’s quality assurance team.

As a leading company in Korean e-learning industry, Credu has been in charge of developing e-learning contents in Welding and Industrial Control for this Samsung-WSI joint project. We are proud to participate in this project, which was the embodiments of WSI’s objective for world skill standard enhancement and also Samsung’s strong philosophy to contribute to the global society.

The collaboration between Samsung and WSI has been taken place for skills training, and this joint project was the embodiments of WorldSkills International's objective for world skill standard enhancement and also Samsung's strong philosophy to contribute to the global society.

The success of this training program should be able to fill the information and knowledge gap among WSI member countries and enhance the global competency level. It is exciting that an effective learning resource is about to come alive, yet we must look forward and craft a mechanism for its future sustainability. For its continuous development, Samsung would like to make four following suggestions:

active participation from member countries
implementation of e-Learning system forum
financial support for operating system and
development of new content.

During the upcoming seminar, we will discuss how we can best bring a growth engine to our new initiative.

As a leading company in Korean e-Leaerning industry, Credu has been in charge of developing e-Learning contents in Welding and Industrial Control for this Samsung-WSI joint project. We are proud to participate in this project, which was the embodiments of WSI's objective for world skill standard enhancement and also Samsung's strong philosophy to contribute to the global society.

During this portion of the seminar, we would like to introduce the e-Learning contents in both areas, which are the fruitful products of true know-hows of Korean experts. Followed by the presentation of Mr. Song from Samsung Electronics, we will briefly go over the contents development process for this project, and further, will have a demonstration session as a means of better understanding and deeper interests in e-Learning contents.

We sincerely wish for the prosperity of this project and also the use of e-Learning revitalized as an effective method to fill in the gap among WSI members and share the best practices. Will look forward to seeing you in the very near future.