• The OIC Strategy and Plan of Action to Strengthen Economic and Commercial Cooperation among the OIC Member Countries, which was adopted by the Seventh Islamic Summit Conference in 1994, identified "Technical Cooperation and Human Resource Development" as one of its ten areas of cooperation.
• The OIC Ten-year Programme of Action, adopted by the Third Extraordinary Summit in December 2005, indicated that there is an urgent need for the OIC Member Countries to decisively cooperate in order to face the grave political, socio-economic, cultural and scientific challenges, and to take necessary initiatives to overcome them.
• The 33rd Session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers (ICFM), held in Baku, Azerbaijan in June 2006, noted the need to evolve sound approaches for the education and training of Muslim youth for the attainment of optimal cooperation and coordination among the Islamic countries with a view to achieving the best levels of progress for all the youth of the Islamic Ummah. To responds this need, SESRIC decided to design the OIC-VET programme and submitted its proposal to the 23rd Session of the COMCEC.
• The 23rd Session of the COMCEC, held in Istanbul on 14-17 November 2007, took note of and supported the proposal submitted by SESRIC to launch the Vocational Education and Training Programme for the OIC Member Countries to improve the quality of vocational education and training in public and private sectors.
• The 24th Session of the COMCEC, held in Istanbul on 20-24 October 2008, approved the proposed implementation mechanism of the Vocational Education and Training Programme for the OIC Member Countries (OIC-VET) prepared by the SESRIC. The Session called upon the Member Countries to incorporate their vocational training programmes into the OIC-VET Programme, thereby, generating a common OIC platform for the benefit of the OIC countries in this area.

The initial phase of the programme

• The Vocational Education and Training Programme for OIC Member Countries (OIC-VET) was officially launched at the COMCEC Economic Summit held in Istanbul, Türkiye on 9 November 2009 by H.E. Abdullah GÜL, President of the Republic of Türkiye and Chairman of the COMCEC, with the participation of the heads of states and governments of the OIC Member Countries.
• The First Operational Meeting of the Programme was held with the concerned OIC institutions in the area of VET in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in April 2009 to discuss the monitoring and operational aspects of the OIC-VET Programme. Furthermore, the First Meeting of the Monitoring and Advisory Committee (MAC) of the OIC-VET held in Izmir, Türkiye, in May 2009 marked the launch of the OIC-VET Programme. Thus, within the framework of the programme, SESRIC has started to organize various training courses, workshops, study visits for the benefit of the OIC Member Countries.

New Phase of the programme

• In line with the adoption of the OIC Programme of Action 2025 during the 13th Islamic Summit Conference held in Istanbul, Republic of Türkiye on 14-15 April 2016, and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals; SESRIC, in its capacity as the Executing Organ of the OIC-VET Programme, considered to explore some innovative ways and means for enhancing the overall quality and impact of the programme to increase its contribution towards enhancing the TVET systems of the OIC countries. Thereby, to assess the current needs of the technical and vocational education systems in the OIC countries, SESRIC organized a series of workshops and working group meetings, and developed the OIC-TVET Strategic Roadmap 2020-2025, in close collaboration with the National Focal Points of the OIC-VET Programme and ISESCO.
• The 35th Ministerial Session of the COMCEC, which was held on 27-28 November 2019 in Istanbul, Türkiye, welcomed the OIC-TVET Strategic Roadmap 2020-2025, and requested SESRIC to monitor the implementation of the Roadmap within the framework of the OIC-VET Programme.

"We recognize the importance of vocational education and training in socio-economic development of the OIC Member Countries and welcome the launch of the Vocational Education and Training Programme for OIC Member Countries (OIC-VET). We ask the member countries to facilitate the OIC-VET." Istanbul Declaration COMCEC Economic Summit Istanbul, Türkiye 9 November 2009