A performance lever
House of Training aims to be a key player in vocational training to render services to companies. By bringing together different talents, it aims to meet the needs for future skills requirements.
Source : Flydoscope n° 1
Publication date : 03/01/2016
"Professional vocational training is a major driver of competitiveness. Luxembourg, a small country possessing few natural resources, and with a limited internal market, must first and foremost invest in grey matter to create value," said Nico Binsfeld, CEO of House of Training. This young institution was the result of the merger of the Luxembourg School for Commerce (LSC) and Institut de Formation Bancaire Luxembourg (IFBL). "For several years, we had had the idea of bringing together the dynamic strengths of these two training centres with a view to benefit from economies of scale, but also to be able to put forward a consolidated offer of professional development within companies," the head of the new training centre continued. "This vision was realized at the end of 2015 and became operational at the beginning of this year."
Adapting skills
Established in the Chamber of Commerce, House of Training has thus become the ongoing professional training centre for companies. Its stated mission is to contribute to employees' professional development by meeting the actual needs of economic players. Relying on a network of 500 professional trainers, it now offers some 800 different courses. In 2015, the two institutions recorded 22,000 registrations. Now merged into a non profit-making foundation, they hope to do equally well. "Companies have understood the importance of vocational training in a permanently changing economic world. They must adapt their internal skills constantly to meet not only current challenges but above all those yet to come. A growing number of players are becoming aware of this every day. The banking sector alone trains its staff on a massive scale with almost 15,000 registrations for training courses each year," said Nico Binsfeld. House of Training has also taken under its wing part of the courses offered by the public research centre Henri Tudor (now incorporated in the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology). The offer is concentrated on "certificate" courses. Masters type "diploma" courses will be offered in the future by another, similar organisation currently being established: Institut Supérieur de l'Économie.
An offer under construction
The catalogue of House of Training is likely to evolve rapidly. To do so, it can count on the enthusiasm of its 30 members of staff charged with organising and structuring the offering, while remaining closely focussed on the companies' needs and concerns. The team, which is close to employer organisations, listens to the expectations of the different players in order to respond optimally to them. At present, the offer mainly meets the expectations of the banking sector and trading players in general. Closer ties with the Chamber of Trade are already envisaged. "In an effort to combine our talents, we would also like to address the craft and industry sectors," added Nico Binsfeld.
Furthermore, together with the Fédération des Intégrateurs (FDI), Centre de Compétences Génie Technique du Bâtiment (CdC GTB) and Institut Supérieur de l'Économie (ISEC), House of Training is a stakeholder in the competence centre dedicated to ICT (Information and Communications Technology), set up recently. In this sector, with major ambitions for development on a national scale, the need for skills is considerable, whether they be technicians or specialised developers. "In order to meet the present challenges with our partners, the primary objective is to be able to better identify current and future needs. After that, we want to build an offer by bringing together all of the present training players and by going in search of new ones," House of Training's CEO concludes. "That is only possible today if we pool our talents and efforts to attain sufficient critical mass."
Sébastien Lambotte
