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Report - 3rd Global Minds Conference

On 15 December 2020, the The Council of Flemish Universities of Applied Sciences and Arts and AP University of Applied Sciences and Arts organised the third Global Minds Conference: "Increased Employability in the Global South".

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Aula morning

Due to the pandemic we had to turn this yearly networking event into an online edition. Because of this, a lot of participants and speakers came from our partner institutions in the Global South. Their involvement added considerable value to the conference and was completely in line with the equal partnerships we are aiming for. A total of 85 people attended the conference. Eight breakout sessions on good practices in projects related to Employability in the Global South were organised during the day.

Opening

The conference was opened by Pascale De Groote, principal of AP University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Antwerp, which hosted the event and organised it in collaboration with the Council of Flemish Universities of Applied Sciences and Arts. On their behalf Charlotte Christiaens, made a small introductory presentation.

Keynotes

Our first keynote speaker was Minister for Development Cooperation Meryame Kitir. She stressed that the importance of youth in the Global South is thefuture. Most of the countries have a very young population. These youngpeople constitute an almost infinite reservoir of talent. But youngpeople often doubt if they will be able to enter the labour market. Notonly because employment is hard to find, but also because findingstart-up capital for their business idea is too expensive and,unfortunately, because some young people lack the skills to be employed.

This often has to do with the education system, which does not always function as it should do. The quality of these education systems is not always up to standard or does not provide enough life skills that young people need in a work context. There is also a "skills gap". Our economies and the labour market are constantly changing, but training courses and higher education everywhere find it difficult to keep up with the many technological, technical and pedagogical evolutions andinnovations.

The Belgian Ministry of Development Cooperation can play a role through investment in education systems in the Global South, linking up with the world of work and ensuring life skills are integrated into the curricula. Change is possible. Each time a graduate in the Global South finds a job, there's an opportunity for small change. All those small changes combined will lead to innovation.

Akanimo Odon (Africa Strategy Adviser, Lancaster University and CEO of Envirofly Consulting UK Limited), our second keynote speaker, stressed some trends in populations, enrolments and unemployability in Africa. While on other continents the youth population (aged 15-24) is decreasing slightly or stagnating, in Africa it continues to rise, meaning that the number of students enrolled in higher education institutions has more than doubled, from 100 million to 207 million. In the same period, the global higher education gross enrolment ratio increased from 19% to 34%. However, the increase in the number of students in higher education is not everywhere proportional to the employability of graduates. There is a higher rate of graduate unemployment in the Global South, up to almost 50% in some countries.

In some countries in Africa there is no access to electricity and clean, safe water. In addition, Africa loses GBP $152 billion annually of its natural capital through illicit financial flows, illegal mining, logging and the wildlife trade, unregulated fishing, environmental degradation and loss. In some African countries there is extreme food insecurity, caused by collapsing economies, conflicts and climate shocks. All this has a huge effect on employment and employability. Akanimo Odon also stressed opportunities for university interventions to better understand the skills for the future within an African context.

Breakout Sessions

Below you can download all available workshop presentations as PDFs

1. "Matching Ugandan labor needs in hospitality through professional training courses"
An Winnepenninckx (VIVES, University of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Business Management) & Jerry Tog (Mountains of the Moon University, Uganda)
> Download

2. "Increasing employability through Ecotourism, Education and Training"
Marijke Goedemé & Kathleen Stifkens (Odisee University of Applied Sciences) and Rodrigue Hadekon (Université de Parakou, Benin)
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3. "Mountains of the Moon University (Uganda) and HOGENT towards increased employability".
Anne-Mie Engelen (HoGent University of Applied Sciences and Arts)and Speaker of (Mountains of the Moon University, Uganda)
> Download

4. "Economic Empowerment through Cultural Inclusion in Stellenbosch"
Bert Willems & Dirk Kenis (PXL University of Applied Sciences and Arts) and Elizabeth Miller-Vermeulen (Stellenbosch University, South-Africa)
> Download

5. "Young people working in rice cultivation in cooperation with UCLL".
Sofie Van Pelt (UCLL University of Applied Sciences) & Bernadin Djossou (Ferme-ecole SAIN, Benin)
> Download

6. "The unique opportunity for Universities of Applied Sciences and Arts to spark innovation aimed at deprived contexts".
Shane Deconinck (Howest University of Applied Sciences) & Suwaibatou Bah (The Swallow School, Gambia)
> Download

7. "Moonshot Ethiopia: the sky is no longer the limit".
Hilde Vandenhoudt (Thomas More University of Applied Sciences) & Goitom Tegegn (University of Mekkele, Ethiopia)
> Download

8. "Inquiry-based science education in metal polluted areas in Peru: training teachers how to teach science by the use of biosensors"
Tom Peeters (Erasmus University of Applied Sciences and Arts) & Daniel Guerra (UPCH, Peru)
> Download

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The third keynote speaker, Dirk Van Merode (AP University of Applied Sciences and Arts), talked about the many good reasons for intensive cooperation with partners in the Global South for the Flemish Universities of Applied Sciences and Arts. As they are focused on education and research in close cooperation with the Belgian labour market, they can model for many developing countries, where the knowledge gap between skills taught in higher education and the demands of the labour market is often researched and documented. We want to share these resources and technologies with our partners and co-create meaningful, intensive cooperation that will be rewarding for all parties involved.

For example, in the ACTEA project (Applied Curricula in Technology for East Africa) the focus is on developing course material and delivering industrial lab equipment for manufacturing and electrical engineering, with the emphasis on the local and international employability of graduates. There is a well-documented knowledge gap between skills taught at the HEIs and skills needed in the labour market. Local industry and foreign investors cannot find suitable candidates to fill their high-profile technical jobs: technicians and engineers. However, technology and engineering are extremely useful in helping companies move their production to African countries and produce locally added value. In ACTEA we offer practice-oriented, problem-based courses, hands-on remote and virtual labs, training of staff and students and increased cooperation with local industry and increased cooperation with EU universities (comparable courses).

In their keynote speeches, Karijn Bonne, Sarah De Smet, Marie Gildemyn (Artevelde University of Applied Sciences) and Fatima Zohra Iflahen (Cadi Ayyad University, Morocco) spoke about #SheDIDIT and the entrepreneurial skills and empowerment of young women, an experience in both Morocco and Belgium. Questions suchas "How can entrepreneurial skills be stimulated in women to become an empowered woman?" and "How do girls view diverse female entrepreneurship?" were discussed.

For real empowerment to take place, the outcome of this process must be open-ended. The outcome of empowerment can differ in different cultures and contexts, depending on the influence ofcollectivism and the distance from power. The project is about creating values and adding value to our society through role models and coaching sessions.

Peter Wollaert (Cifal Vlaanderen) emphasised in his closing remarks that employability in the Global South must also be sustainable. We need this measure of values and ethics in this process to guarantee that it is SDG-proof. The topic of this conference is at the heart of the SDG agenda, where we work on employability through quality education and decent work. Sustainable partnerships and joined forces are needed more than ever.

2020 Global Minds Award

This year the Award was given to ACTEA, a project of Dirk Van Merode (AP University of Applied Sciences and Arts) and Sofie De Grave (Howest University of Applied Sciences). See the video and hear from both of the recipients how their project came to be and what it is all about.