DONEGAL Education and Training Board (ETB) is making efforts to strengthen academic ties between Ireland and France, and to increase travel opportunities for Irish and French students.
More than 80 participants from 15 French academic regions and 15 Irish ETBs came together in Dublin this week for the ‘France-Ireland Symposium on Vocational Education Training.’
A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between the Occitanie Academic Region and City of Dublin ETB which marks the first step towards stronger and deeper cooperation.
Vincent Guérend, French Ambassador to Ireland, said, “The links that unite France and Ireland are particularly strong in the field of education. For example, France is the number 1 partner of Ireland within the Erasmus+ programme.”
Senior Department of Education official William Beausang, said, “We welcome the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding which extends our excellent partnership and supports the the aims of our existing Joint Plan of Action.”
The idea of the events, which conclude in Dublin today, was to offer participants a better understanding of each other’s vocational training systems and to provide an opportunity to reflect on cooperation opportunities.
Of course, Donegal ETB officials were directly involved in workshops, presentations, networking sessions and field visits all over Ireland as part of the four days of activities.
Paddy Lavelle, General Secretary of ETBs Ireland, said, “we were privileged to have several key voices who shared their knowledge, expertise, and personal learning experiences.”
The Franco-Irish dynamic, supporting vocational training, will provide an opportunity for cross-country engagement, showcasing innovation and collaboration.
In order to develop student and staff mobility, and ensure that participants all have different points of contact to develop exchanges, ETBs Ireland and the French Embassy have identified matchings between academic regions in France and Ireland’s ETBs.
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