Paul Head, Principal and Chief Executive of the College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London, will address the British Council's international education conference, 'Going Global'.

Paul will be contributing to a session entitled 'Hit or Myth: UK/Africa Partnerships Supporting Skills Development'.

One of the main factors inhibiting the rapid growth of African economies is the lack of adequate technical and business skills. The development of specific skills in the education and health sectors is critical if progress is to be made towards the Millenium Development Goals. Skills acquisition is therefore an important development issue.

Education partnerships have traditionally been in higher education. To date, few such partnerships have been in further education or skills development. Can the development of such partnerships help support skills development? What can be learned from the higher education experience? What are the benefits to both partners? Is their main value simply to access funds made available by international development agencies, or are there other inherent benefits? Can they include longer-lasting improvements in institutional capacity?

The session will be chaired by Myles Wickstead CBE, Senior Advisor to the Africa Unit , Association of Commonwealth Universities, UK. The other speaker will be Dr George Afeti, former Secretary-General, Commonwealth Association of Polytechnics in Africa (CAPA).

• www.britishcouncil.org