Written by With an urgent need to address high levels of unemployment across Tunisia, particularly among graduates, NET-INFO is working in partnership with the International Organization of Francophonie (OIF) on the D-CLIC program.
The program, developed in response to gaps in the labour market, aims to strengthen the technical and professional digital skills of young people in Tunisia.
NET-INFO has developed and delivered a series of training sessions encompassing Additive Manufacturing and 3D printing, 3D Jewellery Design & Printing and Building Information Management (BIM) as part of the D-CLIC program.
Samia Chelbi from NET-INFO says: “Tunisia has experienced high unemployment over the past years, particularly among graduates. There are a number of reasons for this including a mismatch between what employers need and the skills of Tunisian job seekers, particularly technical and digital skills. This need has been recognised by government and other organisations. There’s a significant push across the country to support companies in transforming towards Industry 4.0, helping them to build digital solutions into their operations. Our work with OIF supports these efforts.”
NET-INFO engaged more than 140 students across 14 educational institutions in Tunis and Nabeul. Six-hundred training hours were delivered in total, helping participants to apply the use of Autodesk solutions, including Fusion 360 and Revit, in real-life scenarios. Three distinct courses were successfully delivered:
- Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing course for young people aged 18-35 years with or without a diploma in crafts and cultural heritage, mechanical engineering and industrial manufacturing and product design
- 3D Jewellery Design and Printing course for young people aged 18-35 years with or without a diploma in crafts and cultural heritage, mechanical engineering and industrial manufacturing and product design
- Building Information Management (BIM) course for young people aged 20-40 years with degrees in architecture, civil engineering, electrical engineering and mechanical and energy engineering
Participants were overwhelmingly positive about the benefits:
- “This training is the link between the theoretical that we learnt from our studies and the professional world.”
- “The training is very interesting, the trainers are very professional, they helped us to master the software Fusion 360, I am very satisfied.”
Collaboration with other partners and knowledge transfer with other educational institutions are key to the success of the program. The program involved a number of partners and trainers:
- Leith Aouni, additive manufacturing & industrial modelling trainer/3D jewellery modelling and luxury product visualisation trainer says: “This experience allowed me to transfer my knowledge, and develop exchanges with students. It develops and enriches my pedagogical skills.”
- Aymen ASMI, Head of the Architecture division and BIM manager at BIMeo: “For a first experience of its kind, I find that we were able to rise to the challenge and give our best to succeed in sharing our knowledge with our students. We have worked in good conditions and our students are satisfied with the training and that is all we are looking for. I hope that there will be another opportunity to relive this experience. Many thanks to the OIF and NETINFO for this opportunity.”
Samia Chelbi from NET-INFO says: “There has been significant focus in Tunisia in recent years to address skills gaps, with increased emphasis placed on practical and vocational skills. This is particularly in important in sectors including construction, manufacturing and engineering.
“Our training programs directly map to these sectors, helping to improve employability of participants. We’ve already seen a direct impact of the training. As an example, two thirds of the participants on the BIM stream have already secured hiring opportunities.
“We believe this is a model to be repeated in the future, and look forward to further collaboration with other educational institutions, employers and partners across Tunisia.”