Long a regional leader in education, Tunisia is planning a number of new initiatives that will help tie classroom learning to marketable skills. International partnerships, particularly with France, as well as increased access to information technology and the opening of private universities, are part of the plan to capitalize on Tunisia’s most valuable natural resource — its people. During French Education Minister Xavier Darcos’s two-day working visit in mid-February, he announced a bilateral agreement to boost technical, technological and vocational training as well as mutual authentication and recognition of degrees. The agreement will also promote teacher exchanges and the pairing of French and Tunisian academies and regions, with an affiliation between the Academy of Besançon and the Nabeul Regional Education and Training Department leading the way. The French academies of Creteil, Nantes, Nice, Lille and Bordeaux have also expressed interest in starting co-operation programs with Tunisian institutions. First day of
