As a measure of the success of the efforts to reform the TVET system depend upon the accurate targeting of activities in the sectors concerned, the TVET Reform Programme undertook a wide variety of formal studies to inform its interventions. Macroeconomic studies of the Egyptian labour market and the national economy helped define the context of the TVET Reform Programme in real terms. A study on alternative forms of competenceoriented training provided the framework for the introduction of revised curricula and training packages, cooperative education and apprenticeships. Guides and manuals were also prepared on centres of competence development and management as well as on fundraising for ETPs. All these studies have been made available to the public, as hardcopies in the TVET Reform Programme’s library (on its premises).

The TVET Reform Programme has also filled an information vacuum through the mapping of industries, the identification of the human resource needs of private sector enterprises, and the analysis of the correlated gaps in TVET service provision in each sector concerned. As a follow-up to the 12 industrial mapping exercises performed by the TVET Reform Programme, ETPs carried out training needs assessments for more than 600 private sector enterprises.
Complementing these training needs assessments, over 500 TVET service providers were audited and classified according to the services they offer, gaps in their service provision, and related upgrading needs. In order to ensure the transfer of this knowledge and encourage the sustainability of its reform efforts, the TVET Reform Programme has also taken the initiative to assist private sector enterprises develop their capacity to independently identify their training needs and follow the requisite course(s) of action.

1. Training of Master Trainers & Trainers
   Naturally, the development of new curricula, occupational standards, training packages, and skills standards necessitates the training of trainers9 in order to successfully implement reform activities. Furthermore, the TVET Reform Programme, at its heart, seeks to build the human capital of trainers as well as that of students, the workforce, and functionaries, in order to ensure sustainability for the reforms undertaken. Thus, didactical and technical skills training of teachers, tutors, trainers and master trainers has been central to the work of the TVET Reform Programme. Since 2005, a total of more than 2,600 trainers have received didactical training with sectoral and cross-sectoral themes from the TVET Reform Programme through ETPs, as well as through the TVET Reform Programme’s Training Sessions Programme. More specifically, sectoral ETPs trained in excess of 980 teachers and tutors and 1,430 trainers and master trainers who received certification from the
   PMU and sectoral chambers and federations of industry. In only one month of operation, the Training Sessions Programme has also trained 175 trainers in subjects that have included occupation standardisation, accreditation and certification; centres of competence management; training of master trainers, trainers and tutors; and job-seeker guidance and vocational counselling. Depending on the course(s) taken, participants will receive joint certification from the PMU and the National Agency for Vocational Education and Training (Bulgaria), the Finnish Institute for Educational Research (Finland), Fontys University (The Netherlands), and/or the Counselling and Human Resources Development Association KAR-DER (Turkey).
   Workshops organised by the TVET Reform Programme have also provided TSS administrators and curriculum development committees with opportunities to transfer knowledge of new curriculum development approaches and processes including the Developing a Curriculum (DACUM) process (see Box II.5). In order to implement these changes, 300 trainers also received training in the DACUM process.
   
2. Guidance & Counselling and Cooperative Education & Training
   Among the most important beneficiaries of the TVET Reform Programme’s activities, students (identified here as job-seekers) and workers are also participants in the bottomup processes of reform through their instrumental feedback on TVET activities. With over 10,00011 workers having already received training directly and indirectly through ETP activities, and an estimated 26,00012 TSS students benefiting from the reform initiatives already taken by the TVET Reform Programme and its partners, the weight given to feedback from this aggregated pilot group is not to be understated. The relevancy of the TVET Reform Programme’s link and match activities for employers and TVET service providers are most apparent to job-seekers and workers. This is directly manifested in cooperative education, which involves practical and competency based training within enterprises.
   While sector-specific curricula and training packages differ in the ratio of practical and competency-based training to theoretical education, on average second and third year students receive progressively more practical and competency-based training.
   
3. Physical Upgrading of Training Centres
   In parallel with the upgrading of TVET service providers’ human and institutional capacity, the TVET Reform Programme has undertaken the upgrading of infrastructure in order to facilitate an enhanced learning environment. To better reflect the workplace and workplace relevant skills, the TVET Reform Programme, in cooperation with the Professional and Vocational Training Department (PVTD) and the MoE, has supplied new equipment to 29 training workshops through ETPs. The TVET Reform Programme is similarly involved in the upgrading of the physical infrastructure and equipment of 100 TSSs through its agreement with the ITC and the MoE. As per the terms of the agreement, the TVET Reform Programme is currently undertaking the first phase, wherein its audits of 26 TSSs will be matched with financing for TSS upgrading from the ITC. These interventions mark a shift in education and training towards the development of skills that match the contemporary needs of industry.