Advance Program Signs Cooperative Agreement with Higher Technical Education Institutions
The Regional Workforce Development Program (Advance), funded by the United States Agency for International Development, signed multiple cooperative agreements with Higher Education Institutions (HEI) in the Dominican Republic with the purpose of strengthening higher technical education careers. The Technological Institute of the Americas (ITLA), the Higher Community Technical Institute (ITSC) and the Mother and Teacher Pontifical Catholic University (PUCMM) are the HEIs that will be beneficiaries of the Program. The agreements were announced through a virtual event with the participation of Carlos Mendieta vice-minister of International Relations of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Omar Méndez dean of ITLA, José Sánchez dean of ITSC, and PRB. Dr. Alfredo de la Cruz Baldera dean of PUCMM.
The Program has been successfully implemented since 2015 in Guatemala, Honduras and Jamaica by FHI 360, and comes to the Dominican Republic to support tertiary education by strengthening the capacity of partner institutions by improving curriculum design/redesign and pedagogy, providing professional development opportunities for faculty and staff, improving job placement services, strengthening recruitment and admissions processes as well as providing local scholarships for vulnerable students to attend technical programs.
The Program conducted three studies that served as foundational evidence on which it will focus its work in the Dominican Republic. The Labor Market Assessment identified sectors with potential employment opportunities (high-value agriculture and food processing, light manufacturing, the orange economy, as well as transportation and logistics, and digital technologies), the Institutional Landscape Analysis was able to determine with which higher technical education institutions partnerships will be established, and the Study of the Barriers to Access and Completion analyzed the difficulties faced by young people in accessing and completing technical careers in the country.