“The quality of the workforce needs to be measured by one main indicator: The satisfaction of the business sector with the skills of the graduates according to their demands.”, Dr. Nguyen Thi Viet Huong, Deputy Director General of DVET/MoLISA states. “Therefore, DVET is supporting the piloting of the cooperative training approach by VCMI together with its partners.”

The Programme “Reform of TVET in Vietnam” supports VCMI, the Centre of Excellence for Green TVET, in developing and implementing cooperative training for the two new occupations “Electronics Technician for Energy and Building Technology” and “Mechanics Technician for Sanitary, Heating and Climate Technology” based on the German standards and adapted to the requirements of the business sector in Vietnam. VCMI, DVET/MoLISA, MARD, Vietnam Federation of Civil Engineering Associations (VFCEA), Vietnam Association of Construction Contractors (VACC) and partner companies formalised their cooperation by signing a Memorandum of Understanding at a workshop on 14 June 2019, witnessed by VCCI HCMC and DoLISA Dong Nai. Furthermore, two Advisory Boards with members from partner companies, sector associations, DoLISA Dong Nai and VCMI were established. The Advisory Boards will serve as a forum to discuss and agree on necessary steps and details during the preparation and implementation of the cooperative training approach.

VCMI and its partners have already completed the first step in the past year. The partner companies and sector associations have actively and substantially participated in the development of the occupational standards in form of DACUM charts for the two new occupations. After the training programmes have been derived, the training will be implemented both at VCMI and in the companies. In the final step, the partner companies will also directly participate in the final examinations for the two pilot classes to verify that the graduates meet exactly the requirements that are defined by the business sector in the occupational standards.

Piloting this cooperative training approach at VCMI and its partner companies will not only improve the demand- and practice-orientation of the training in the two new occupations, it will also provide lessons learnt and recommendations for the overall TVET system. Mr. Nguyen Van Lan, Head of Training Division, MARD, emphasized: “With the support of GIZ and the cooperation with the business sector, VCMI is becoming the leading TVET institute under MARD. As a Centre of Excellence, it will provide valuable additional services for the system, such as the implementation of the MARD skills competition in 2020.”

The workshop was held within the field of activity “Support of Centres of Excellence (CoEs)” as part of the Vietnamese-German Programme Reform of TVET in Viet Nam. The programme is financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH together with the Vietnamese Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA).