The Seychelles Institute of Technology (SIT) has been recognized as one of the world's 10 innovative technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions.

The institute is working closely with the UNESCO-UNEVOC, which is based in Bonn, Germany and is an international centre for connecting the UNESCO Member States worldwide to develop and strengthen TVET.

The TVET sector in Seychelles is being guided by the UNESCO Education 2030 Framework of Action as well as the UNESCO TVET strategy 2016-2021.

“As a testimony to our engagement one of our professional centers, SIT has been recognized as one of the UNEVOC centres participating actively in the skills for innovation – innovation-hub project – being piloted by UNESCO-UNEVOC,” said Minister for Education and Human Resources Development, Jeanne Simeon.

Hubert Barbe, SIT’s director, told SNA on Tuesday that the recognition comes after the center has actively undertaken initiatives in sustainability, renewable energy, and energy efficiency.

“For instance, we have trained our students doing plumbing to install rainwater harvesting system and through this, we have partnered with different organisations and installed these systems in different places in the community,” explained Barbe.

SIT was established in 2015 and its vision is to be a premier professional centre providing high quality technical and vocational education and training in the engineering, built environment and information and communication technology fields. (Seychelles Nation) Photo License:  CC-BY

Lecturers are also being trained through a programme with La Reunion – a French department in the Indian Ocean – to train future technicians in the installations of photovoltaic panels and solar water heaters.

“We are also training our students to retrofit containers as energy-efficient that can be used as offices,” said Barbe.

SIT students were also included in training and built the first-ever gabion rock barrage on the island nation. This was through a project using an approach that emphasises a natural approach to advanced engineering. 

This has led to sufficient water supply for a farming community in the south of the main island of Mahe, which for years has faced severe water shortages.

SIT was established in 2015 and its vision is to be a premier professional centre providing high quality technical and vocational education and training in the engineering, built environment and information and communication technology fields.

SIT students were also included in training and built the first-ever gabion rock barrage on the island nation. This was through a project using an approach that emphasises a natural approach to advanced engineering. (Salifa Karapetyan, Seychelles News Agency) Photo License: CC-BY

The director-general for TVET and Entrepreneurship in the Ministry for Education, Jean Alcindor, said that SIT should be commended for greening its curriculum.

“It is two years now since SIT has entered into a partnership with UNESVOC from which the institution has been recognized for its initiative for greening the campus, installing PV panels amongst others. And greening TVET is something that is very high on UNEVOC’s agenda,” explained Alcindor.

Later this year TVET representatives from Malta and Kenya will come to Seychelles  -115 islands in the western Indian Ocean  -- to learn more about what the institution is doing.

“Our initiatives and that of the other nine TVET centers will be used as a basis for a manual of guidelines being developed which will then be shared with TVET centers in other countries,” explained Barbe.

The Seychelles Institute of Technology is also considering introducing an innovation award for its students.