Past International Projects

PACIFIC ALLIANCE (CHILE,COLOMBIA, MEXICO AND PERU)

Durham College expanded our international cooperation efforts within the Pacific Alliance Education for Employment program with the collaborative effort Vancouver Island University and Fanshawe College. The team worked together to support the development, launch, and evaluation of four national marketing campaigns for Technical, Vocational Education and Training education in Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru with an emphasis on increasing access for women in the extractive sectors.

Marketing and communication experts from each of the Ministries of Education from Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru along with marketing specialists and educators from Durham College, Vancouver Island University, and Fanshawe College shared their experience, approaches and tools. Canadian colleges provided technical training and completed multimedia productions featuring testimonies from young people, training institutions, ministries, industry and other relevant stakeholders. Funded by Global Affairs Canada and administered by Colleges and Institutes Canada, the program resulted in four highly successful marketing campaigns, best practices in gender equality and marketing, cross-ministerial training, and sharing of best practices.

BARBADOS

Durham College (DC) spearheaded a multi-stakeholder Leadership Development and Change Management Project in the secondary and post-secondary education system in Barbados. The initiative is intended to support the Government of Barbados’ Human Resource Development Strategy with an emphasis on improving the quality and relevance of secondary education and the effectiveness of technical vocational education and training. This project was part of the Skills for the Future Program with funding from the Inter-American Development Bank, in partnership with the Government of Barbados.

DC’s goal was to build transformational leadership skills necessary for driving change at the TVET institutions towards improving the quality and relevance of training provided, in tune with international best practices. DC hosted and trained 25 mid-level managers from both secondary and post-secondary educational institutions tasked with managing and implementing organizational and systemic change processes within their institutions. The training programs were tailored to each change management project that included topics such as: competency-based teaching and learning; recruitment and bridging programs for secondary to post-secondary training; quality assurance and curriculum development methodology; and industry engagement and work integrated learning.

One of the biggest successes and important components for sustainability of results, outside of the transfer of skills in the thematic areas of training, was the communities of practice the stakeholders built amongst themselves. Constant communication and engagement within this group will support to foster long-term relationships, sharing of lessons learned and on-going trouble shooting of challenges, while also fortifying the leadership approach of future senior leaders in Barbados education system.

GUYANA