Welcome to Doncaster College - ESITH Skills for Employment Project

Morocco/UK

Prince Charles and his wife Camilla will make official visits to Portugal, Spain and Morocco later this month.

Charles' office said in a statement that the trip's main goal is to promote trade and investment opportunities and increase cooperation on climate change. The royal couple will make the trip from March 28 to April 6.

The statement said Monday that the couple will attend a series of state dinners in Lisbon and Madrid and will also visit Seville in Spain before going to Rabat, Morocco, where they will be the guests of King Mohammed VI.

The palace says they will also travel to Fez, Morocco, for an interfaith dialogue and cultural events.

Project Update

Doncaster College is teaming up with a College in Morocco, Ecole Supérieure des Industries du Textile et de l’Habillement (ESITH), in an exciting collaboration called the Skills for Employability Project.

The British Council, who specialises in international educational and cultural opportunities, funds the project.

The aim of the project is to promote skills development and increase the employability of young people in participating countries by encouraging close links between education and industry.

Karen Trem, from the Business School at the University Centre Doncaster, who is managing the project explained: "This is an exciting project, funded by the British Council, which enables us to work in partnership with ESITH in Casablanca.

"ESITH is a specialist College serving the textile industry, and the partnership should produce mutual benefits. There will be an opportunity for a number of our staff and students to go to Casablanca to learn about textile manufacture in their well-equipped College.

"There will also be a return visit by ESITH students to visit and learn from our fashion experts.

"There will also be joint work done on the development or course content relating to warehousing and to enterprise, both equally relevant in Doncaster and in Casablanca."

Work has already started on the development of advanced English Language skills for the ESITH staff, who have been working with Tim Walker from the Business School with the help of a 3D character named Don Smith, produced by FusedWorks, and utilized through a combination of face to face delivery and distance learning.

FusedWorks will also create a 3D warehouse to encompass English terminology to help support the delivery of English as a Foreign Language within ESITH's new logistics curriculum.

Updated: 01/04/2011

Employer Engagement: A Day in a Company

To get employers engaged in higher education institutions you may invite them to your institution, show them around and get them to know you better, and maybe inviting them to lecture on a specific topic. But what if it’s you-the institution- go and see the employers in their companies, What if you spend a whole day there? This is indeed the tradition ESITH (Casablanca) is implementing through its “A day in a Company”. The first class to initiate this project was the Merchandising and Distribution Master, led by their supervisor Mrs Hassani Fatna. The students did not miss their target as the company they visited on the 6^th of January was a leading retail company in Morocco. The “A Day in a Company” includes meeting managers and decision makers and listening to what they say about their daily activities and the way they approach their jobs. Students benefited from a visit to the main departments and met marketing and sales managers with a focus on merchandising and distribution. The students were amazed and excited to discover how much all that they’re learning could be so concrete and extremely fascinating.

As the philosophy of this creative idea of spending a day in a company is mainly to build sustainable bridges between students and their potential employers, actions were made after the visit ended. Once back to ESITH campus, students wrote case studies and SWOT analysis and other marketing tools based on what they witnessed at the company and delivered a report including suggestions on improvements that could be made inside the host company, all in a CD containing also the pictures taken during that day. Finally, the company was awarded an honour’s certificate from ESITH as a “Company which contributes to the formation of future leaders in Morocco. Isn't that what they call a win-win situation?