Forth Valley College has been awarded £25,000 in funding from the British Council’s Going Global Partnership programme, to collaborate with a Training Centre from the Moroccan Agency for Energy Efficiency on a Sustainable Construction Skills Partnership.
The British Council is an organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language, as well as encouraging cultural, scientific, technological and educational cooperation with the UK.
Last year FVC was awarded £25,000 in funding from the same funding stream to collaborate with a South African college on a renewable energy project.
Through this partnership, FVC will co-develop bilingual training materials, share best practice and mentor Moroccan trainers, enhancing institutional capacity and supporting Morocco's green economy transition.
The project will run until November 2026 and the objectives of the project include: developing and piloting a joint sustainable construction curriculum aligned to Moroccan building regulations and green economy goals; building trainer capacity in Morocco through professional development on green construction techniques, digital tools and climate literacy; creating bilingual (French/English) digital learning resources to enhance access and quality of training; and increasing participation of women and underrepresented groups in construction training pathways.
Main activities will include:
- Reciprocal study visits for trainers and leaders in Scotland and Morocco to share practice and co-design curricula.
- Joint development of a modular sustainable construction training programme with integrated EDI measures.
- Delivery of online and in-person trainer workshops on digital tools, energy-efficient design and green building techniques.
- Creation and piloting of bilingual digital learning resources hosted on partner platforms.
- Outreach initiatives (career sessions, role model campaigns) to attract more women and young people into sustainable construction careers.
FVC, internationally recognised as a technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institution, recently applied for the partnership opportunity through the prestigious British Council who were looking for a UK-based skills provider to collaborate for a full year on this project.
The College recently found out they were successful after a competitive and detailed application process, which saw FVC highlight its leading industry partnership credentials.
The College has been working to strengthen its relationship with Morocco over the last year and welcomed its Ambassador to the UK - His Excellency Hakim Hajoui – in June when he visited the College as part of an organised three day fact finding visit to Scotland’s leading educational institutions, organised by the Scottish Africa Business Association (SABA).
Kenny MacInnes, Principal of Forth Valley College (who is pictured here welcoming the Moroccan Ambassador to FVC), said: “A lot of hard work has gone into this application, and we are delighted to have been awarded further funding from the British Council’s Going Global Partnership programme, to allow us to share our expertise and best practice in the field of sustainable construction skills. We can’t wait to get started working alongside our new partners in Morocco.”
Jamie Allan, FVC’s Global Partnerships Manager, said: “To have secured another £25k in funding from the British Council is fantastic news as it allows us to continue building our reputation internationally with the future delivery of two key projects tackling priority themes on the African continent, a key area of focus for FVC. Not only do these projects serve as credible use cases when bidding for further contracts globally, they provide instant relationships with premier institutions across the world that will hopefully continue long after the project completes. Furthermore, they also specifically mandate reciprocal visits between the institutions, allowing FVC staff the opportunity for international mobility and the learning and sharing of best practice from different education systems that we can bring back to the benefit of FVC and our students.”
British Council international skills partnerships bring together organisations in the TVET sector from the UK and overseas to share their knowledge and expertise, and to collaborate on projects that focus on enhancing approaches to skills development internationally.
Since 2009, British Council, has delivered over 200 partnership projects linking UK further education colleges to over 40 countries. These partnerships have brought together experienced organisations in the UK skills sector and one or more counterparts in other countries to develop and deliver an agreed project plan that supports national level policy priorities related to skills development and employability, such as embedding soft skills development in curricula; improving employer engagement; quality assurance; development of joint curricula; and career guidance programmes.
Partnerships are supported financially by the British Council to deliver projects, typically funded for one year with a view to becoming self-sustaining thereafter.
Participating organisations benefit in a number of ways, from improving their offer to learners and building staff capacity, to gaining exposure to new markets and raising their reputation.
The development of a thriving low carbon hydrogen sector is an important priority for the governments of South Africa and the UK and they share a skills gap challenge in this nascent field.
The British Council teams in the UK and in South Africa will provide ongoing advice and guidance throughout the partnership to help facilitate communication and deliver maximum benefit. We will also share relevant British Council tools and materials to support the project activities.
Going Global Partnerships builds stronger, more inclusive, internationally connected higher education (HE) and technical and vocational education and training (TVET) systems.
Through international partnerships, system collaborations and opportunities to connect and share, GGP enables stronger transnational education, more collaborative research, higher quality delivery, enhanced learner outcomes and stronger, internationalised, equitable and inclusive systems and institutions.
Going Global Partnerships help to strengthen higher education and TVET in five core areas:
- Enabling research – supporting research, knowledge and innovation collaborations to address local and global challenges and promote inclusive growth.
- Internationalising higher education and TVET – supporting systems, institutions and individuals to benefit from internationalisation, including enabling transnational education and system alignment.
- Strengthening systems and institutions – improving the quality and efficiency of higher education and TVET institutions and systems.
- Enhancing learner outcomes – addressing the qualities of the global graduate, including soft skills, employability and community outcomes.
- Increasing equality, diversity and inclusion – making higher education and TVET more accessible, equitable and accountable.
