Federal Ministry of Education and Research launches vocational education and training cooperation with Ghana
Federal Minister of Education Anja Karliczek signed a Joint Declaration of Intent on cooperation in vocational education and training with the Ghanaian Minister of Education Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh during a visit to Accra on 29 July. This is the second VET cooperation agreement that the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has entered into with an African partner country. The aim of the cooperation is to support the Ghanaian Ministry of Education and the Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (COTVET) in a national reform process.
The Minister’s visit to Ghana took place within the context of the BMBF funded research initiative “West African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adapted Land Use” (WASCAL). The key role that vocational education and training play in the economic effectiveness and productivity of a country was emphasised in talks with her Ghanaian counterpart Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh. Minister Prempeh, who visited GOVET in 2017 to obtain more information about VET at first hand, stressed the high degree of importance he is attaching to continuing the development of vocational education and training reform in Ghana.
The highpoint of the German-Ghanaian ministerial meeting on 29 July was the signing of a Joint Declaration of Intent on cooperation in vocational education and training. GOVET and iMOVE will be taking on core tasks as the cooperation takes shape. The formal signing ceremony was also attended by Dr Fred Kyei Asamoah, Director of Ghana’s VET authority COTVET, and Dr Andreas Werner, Head of the BMBF initiative iMOVE as well as by four German education and training providers. The conclusion of this agreement represents the launch of the BMBF’s second VET cooperation venture in Africa. Only in February VET cooperation arrangements with South Africa, which have been in place since 2013, were extended for a further three years. In addition to its various research collaborations, the BMBF is making a further contribution to the Federal Government's policy involvement in Africa with these two collaborations in the field of vocational education and training.
The next stage in the cooperation that has just been embarked upon will be a study visit to Germany by the Ghanaian partners in October. There, the core elements of the dual system will be presented and the exact focal points of the cooperation are planned to be agreed. Ghana is a partner country of the G20 Compact with Africa initiative. The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has also been involved in training in Ghana for many years. The BMBF cooperation agreement was prepared in close cooperation with other departments in line with the holistic policy approach adopted towards Africa by the Federal Government and in accordance with its strategy for one-stop international cooperation in vocational education and training. Strategy of the Federal Government on international cooperation in vocational education and training, 2019