Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim Education and Training Board partake in historic conference

Over 80 participants, from French academic regions and Irish Education and Training boards including the Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim Education and Training Board, came together to reinforce the links between France and Ireland in the field of further education and training.

Beginning this week, the first ever four-day France-Ireland Symposium on Vocational Education also increased the mobility of Irish and French students and staff from Colleges of Further Education or Training Centres.

The signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Occitanie Academic Region and City of Dublin Education and Training Board at the French Residence this week marked the first step towards stronger and deeper cooperation.

Speaking at the signing, HEM Vincent Guérend, French Ambassador to Ireland, called the linked uniting France and Ireland in education ‘particularly strong’.

“For example, France is the number 1 partner of Ireland within the Erasmus+ program. However, this source of opportunities and funding and is still very new to the students and staff from the Vocational Education Sector. With this signature, CDETB and Occitanie academic region are leading the way in strengthening cooperation in the field of vocational education training, further accelerating exchanges and strengthening ties between our two countries,” he added.

William Beausang, Assistant Secretary General with the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Skills said of the event: "Ireland and France agreed a Joint Plan of Action (2021-2025) to strengthen and deepen relations between the two countries across a range of cultural, educational, and political activities including strengthening education and research links. 

He continued; “We welcome the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the rectorate of the Occitanie region of France and City of Dublin Education and Training Board, which extends our excellent partnership and supports the achievement of the aims of the Joint Plan of Action."

_{Antonine Healy, Director of FET Longford & Westmeath ETB, Tom O’Grady Chief Executive of MSLETB and Liz Lavery, Chief Executive of Longford & Westmeath ETB}  

The conference, which concludes today, offers participants a better understanding of each other’s vocational training systems and to provide an opportunity to reflect on co-operation opportunities through workshops, presentations, networking sessions and field visits all over Ireland. 

Senior members of the Irish Ministry of Further and Higher Education, the French Ministry of

Education, Education and Training Board (ETB) Chief Executives, Directors of Further Education and Training and staff, French directors and international relations advisers from the various academic regions made up the event.

General Secretary of Education and Training Boards Ireland, Paddy Lavelle, spoke at the

launch, and acknowledged the ‘privilege’ to have several key voices sharing their ‘knowledge and expertise within the sector and promoting engagement on strengthening bilateral cooperation in the field’.

In order to develop student and staff mobility within this sector and ensure that participants

all have different points of contact from which to develop exchanges, Education and Training Boards Ireland and the French Embassy have identified matchings between academic regions and ETBs, based on their priority vocational domains or pre-existing links. 

Based on these partnerships, the French academic regions have visited different parts of Ireland with their counterparts yesterday and today.