Pearson helping to improve vocational education in Lebanon

Beirut: Pearson, the world’s largest education company, has renewed its commitment to education in Lebanon with the launch of new initiatives designed to promote technical and vocational education in the country.

These initiatives include:

• Through its partner, Librairie du Liban Publishers (LDLP), a Sayegh Company, Pearson’s BTEC and LCCI Qualifications will now be available in Lebanon. LCCI qualifications are some of the world’s best recognised and most highly regarded business-related qualifications covering business, language and finance. LCCI also offers a wide range of English language assessment capabilities. Pearson’s globally recognised BTEC programmes are work-related qualifications that allow progression into university with a practical, real-world approach to learning without sacrificing essential subject theory.
  
  
• Lebanese training centres are now able to apply for ‘Pearson Assured Status’ – an independent, internationally recognised sign of an institute’s commitment to providing quality programmes and teaching.
  
  
• Pearson education experts are working with LDLP and training centres to provide training on the new Pearson qualifications so that they can fully understand and utilise Pearson’s international expertise and resources.

It is hoped that the newly available qualifications will help improve the job prospects of many young Lebanese at a time when the World Bank has put the country’s rate of youth unemployment at 34% and only 46% of Lebanon’s working age population are currently employed in paid work.

As education experts are keen to point out, reversing existing employment trends will take more than creating new jobs or channeling school leavers into university, with the country experiencing a surplus of degree holders. A much needed boost to technical and vocational education and training is needed, as organisations increasingly demand employees with vocational skills and qualifications, but typically find candidates with these qualities hard to recruit.

Nassim Ershaed, Pearson’s Regional Director for the Arabian Gulf and Levant, believes the structural gap between market needs and the education system needs to be addressed if youth unemployment is to be successfully reduced. He says:

“Part of the solution to youth unemployment and closing the country’s skills gap lies in closer attention being paid to the vocational training sector. Revitalising technical and vocational education in Lebanon through new, quality programmes and content, as well as training motivated and knowledgeable educators, will be key to building a highly skilled and enthusiastic workforce.

“A key way Pearson works to ensure that its technical and vocational offerings are responsive to the needs of the workplace is by collaborating closely with employers to develop programmes and content that fulfill the needs of industry. Graduates of such programmes are placed in high-demand amongst potential employers as their skill-base is a good match for the industry they are looking to work in. Qualifications of this kind are a strong guarantee of a young person’s future success in finding meaningful and sustainable employment. It is therefore of fundamental importance that we make certain that access to qualifications of this kind becomes widely available throughout Lebanon”.

For more information, please contact Pearson’s Director of Marketing for Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, Ms Sue Mainey via email at sue.mainey@pearson.com.