Integrating green skills into academia
Funding
MENA region
2023 - 2025
Higher Education I Employability & Job Creation I Private-public Partnerships & Multi-stakeholder Platforms
Capacity Development I Pedagogy I Communicatoin & Outreach I Workshop Facilitation & Moderation I Event management
Introduction
UfM has successfully established exchange platforms through various projects, conferences, and training sessions aimed at addressing high unemployment among youth and women across the Mediterranean region. Yet, a significant skills gap remains between higher education outcomes and employer demands. To bridge this gap, UfM is supporting its partners in empowering local workers through targeted upskilling and reskilling initiatives, particularly in sectors with strong potential for green growth, contributing to sustainable development in the region.
Objectives
Paeradigms was brought in to:
Co-develop workshops on integrating green skills into teaching and research, targeting high-level academics in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean region.
Facilitate knowledge exchange between workshop participants and host organisations with an emphasis on technical green skills.
Provide pathways for developing partnerships among higher education and research institutions across the region (south south cooperation).
Synthesise findings from desk research and workshop outcomes to produce a publication for UfM.
Background
UfM prioritises skills development and employability in the Mediterranean region. High unemployment persists despite educational investments, partly due to a gap between higher education skills and employer demands. UfM creates exchange platforms and promotes dialogue among stakeholders to address these challenges.
Approach
Paeradigms’ methodology involved:
Working closely with UfM to identify key themes in technical green skills relevant to the region and to identify partners with expertise in these areas.
Co-designing workshops with thematic experts in sustainable food systems and renewable energy, integrating their contributions into workshop content to enrich knowledge exchange among participants, organisers, and hosts.
Facilitating the ideation of concrete pathways for integrating green skills into teaching and research among participants. Analysing findings from desk research, expert contributions, and workshop outcomes to be used for a publication on the project outcomes.
Outcome
Paeradigms successfully delivered:
A workshop in Zaragoza, Spain, hosted by the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM) Zaragoza, focussing on sustainable food systems.
A workshop in Algiers, Algeria, hosted by the Algerian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MESRS) at the University of Science and Technology Houari Boumediene (USTHB) campus, focussing on renewable energy.
A printed publication synthesising findings from the workshops, desk review and partner contributions for UfM to continue promoting green skills in the region