From 21 June – 22 June 2018, 60 policy makers from public institutions and representatives of business and technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutes from ASEAN region participated in the 7th regional policy dialogue on TVET “Business and industry cooperation in TVET – towards a better practice for ASEAN” in Jakarta, Indonesia. The regional policy dialogue was hosted by the ASEAN Secretariat with the support of the Regional Cooperation in TVET programme (RECOTVET – GIZ).

In the dialogue, Dr. Nguyen Thi Hang, Rector of the College of Technology II (HVCT) and Mr. Nguyen Van Thien, Chairman of Binh Duong Water – Environment joint stock company introduced the cooperative training programme “Sewage engineering technicians” in Viet Nam. The speakers demonstrated the achievements and success factors based upon three years of implementation experience and also identified  lessons learnt,challenges and discussed recommendations for the policy makers to strengthen the cooperation with the business sector in TVET.

During further panel discussions, the participants highly appreciated two key elements which contribute to the success and practical orientation of the cooperative training programme. The first one is the close cooperation of all relevant stakeholders at all levels and the formalisation of procedures to take joint decisions. The second one is the close cooperation and clear division of work between TVET institutes, government authorities, business partners and sector associations in all key steps: the business sector defines the occupational standard as the basis of the training programme according to which,TVET institutes together with enterprises implement the training. At the end, the business sector participates in examination and certification against the occupational standard.

During the closing session, all participants strongly agreed that  to achieve a stable, prosperous and competitive economic development in the ASEAN community, all members should focus on developing high quality labour resources. TVET in line with international standards and close cooperation with the business sector will help accelerate the process of international integration of ASEAN and facilitate the mobility of labour among member countries.

The cooperative training programme “Sewage engineering technicians” is held within the component “TVET for Skilled Workforce in Wastewater Sector” 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 fuer Technische Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) together with the Vietnamese Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA).