It’s a busy time for the NCFE and CACHE International team, as we’ve just started a period of extensive travel and conference attendance across a number of countries.
Jackie and Sarah from our CACHE team have flown out to Dubai this week to meet some of our larger customers in the region. They’ve already met with Early Years Education ME – our first and largest customer in the region – and spent some time with Arabian Child, an organisation which delivers our qualifications in the UAE and in Saudi Arabia.
Next, Jackie and Sarah will be exhibiting at the GESS Conference in the World Trade Centre in Dubai from 14-16 March. They’ll be joined at this event by Rob from our NCFE team, who’ll be sharing the stand and representing our qualifications and accreditation services. The conference attracts delegates from all over Asia and Africa, as Dubai is seen as a hub for such events. I’ll be joining everyone at the conference on the last day after spending some time in Saudi Arabia.
This is the first time we will have visited Saudi Arabia to talk qualifications with the colleges there. We anticipate visiting several more times to speak to centres and the local government, but we’ve already had a positive reaction from them about adopting our vocational qualifications. While in Saudi Arabia, I’ll be visiting a large college run by Lincoln College based on the east coast near Dammam, at Qatif. I’ll also be meeting the British Embassy representatives and the Saudi Arabia Ofqual equivalent – the SSS.
After the excitement of the GESS conference, Jackie and Sarah are then heading to Qatar (around one hour away by plane) to be guests of honour at an education event in Doha. They’ll also be meeting a number of centres there.
Rob and I will be staying on for a meeting and planning session with the Higher Colleges of Technology in the UAE, who are delivering our Level 3 Skills for Business and Employability, and Dnata, to talk about our accreditation services.
You can follow our travels on Twitter @NCFEGlobal and @CACHEInt.
The rest of the spring is set to bring more trips for all the team, with visits to Malaysia, USA, and more time in Middle East all planned. We’ll continue to keep you updated!
