WorldSkills President addresses UNESCO’s Global Education Coalition

President of WorldSkills, Francis Hourant, spoke at the Global Education Coalition’s fifth annual meeting hosted by UNESCO, on 24 March in Paris.

Mr Hourant took part in a “fireside chat” reflecting on the potential of partnerships for developing bold, technology-driven solutions to improve education and training. Focusing on expanding skills for the future of work, he shared the stage with Frank Huang, CTO of Huawei, in an engaging conversation moderated by Borhene Chakroun, Director for the Division of Policies and Lifelong Learning Systems at UNESCO.

With only five years remaining to achieve the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, the meeting emphasized the urgency for innovative, mission-oriented collaborations to transform education systems and help meet global targets on education, decent work, and economic growth.

Asked how WorldSkills is adapting to new realities such as AI, Francis Hourant highlighted some of the online innovations being used for training and the development of new skill competitions as early as WorldSkills Shanghai 2026. He also emphasized the importance WorldSkills places on the human and soft skills of its young people and their trainers. In addition to technical skills, creativity, innovation, and work organization are also part of the assessment.

He also acknowledged that “collaboration” is at the “heart of WorldSkills,” while highlighting that strong partnerships with industry – who are the drivers of innovation, digital, and AI technologies – allow WorldSkills to stay up-to-date and industry-relevant. This elaborate global network of educators and industry create the WorldSkills Occupational Standards, that many countries use to develop and benchmark their TVET systems.

Mr Hourant talked about some of the initiatives WorldSkills is implementing in partnership, such as BeChangeMaker social entrepreneurship programme alongside the HP Foundation and UNESCO-UNEVOC following a question about the digital divide. The challenge is even more pressing in Africa, he said, where WorldSkills Experts Faculty contributed to training programmes using low-cost technology and blended approach.

He also reminded the audience that youth should be involved in decision-making processes and have access to platforms where they can evaluate, inspire and challenge existing TVET systems. In this regard, he stated that the WorldSkills Conference is one of those important platforms, and that he envisioned the event to provide actionable recommendations at the global, regional, and national levels, and to set global priorities for TVET.

Gathering education and training leaders from around the world, the fifth annual meeting had the goal to define its priorities and shape its future, propose innovative solutions to emerging education challenges, and to share best practises and brainstorm actionable solutions.

Learn more about the event and the Coalition.

Release of Global Education Coalition’s annual report

The event included the release of UNESCO’s Global Education Coalition 2025 annual report – Celebrating five years of impact and driving action for SDG 4: the Global Education Coalition. Covering the period between March 2020 and March 2025, this progress report showcases how Coalition members are working together around the world to advance Sustainable Development Goal 4, Quality Education.

The report highlights the developments and successes of its missions including the Global Teacher Campus, Global Learning House, the Gender Equality, and the Global Skills Academy, which convened an open meeting at WorldSkills Conference 2024 and is available to watch. The report also includes details of the Digital Transformation Collaborative and its expanding country engagement, and WorldSkills BeChangeMaker.

WorldSkills has been a member of the Global Education Coalition since 2020. Launched by UNESCO as an emergency response to the COVID-19 crisis, the Coalition has evolved into a dynamic global network of partners committed to advancing education transformation.