“I am very proud to receive a degree which guarantees my immediate employment after graduation. I believe that the skills and knowledge I acquired during this training programme will be the basis for a successful career”, Mr Bui Thanh Binh stated. Mr Binh is one of the 14 graduates who, on February 10, 2017, received their certificates for completing the cooperative vocational training programme in mechatronics implemented by the German companies B. Braun Vietnam Co. Ltd., Messer Haiphong Industrial Gases Co., Ltd. and University of Technology and Education (UTE) Hung Yen. Since 2013, Messer, an industrial gas production and solution supplier, and B. Braun, a manufacturer of medical equipment, cooperate with UTE Hung Yen in implementing a jointly established training programme for mechatronics technicians. The involvement of the companies in the development and implementation of the training programme as well as in assessment ensures that the skills of the graduates meet the needs of the business sector. At the ceremony, representatives of UTE Hung Yen, B. Braun, Messer, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and AHK Delegate of German Industry and Commerce in Vietnam, expressed their congratulations to the graduates as well as their appreciation for the improvement of the graduates’ skills.

“Well-defined, structured in-company training phases allow the trainees to gain practical, hands-on working experience in the production process. These practical training phases lead to a notable improvement of the technical skills as well as the working attitude of the trainees. At the workplace, they can apply the theoretical knowledge which they learned at UTE Hung Yen”, Assoc. Prof. Dr Truong Ngoc Tuan, Vice Rector of UTE Hung Yen emphasized. Mr Wachter, Country Manager of Messer, emphasized the importance of qualified technicians who meet the requirements of the companies and confirmed that already during the training phases the trainees provide an added value to the production process. 12 of the 14 graduates who successfully completed the 3-year training programme were offered an employment contract.

This Public Private Partnership (develoPPP.de) between the two companies and the TVET institute, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation (BMZ) and initiated with the support of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, serves as a best practice example on how a close cooperation of a TVET institute and companies ensures the demand-orientation of vocational training. GIZ supports the establishment of a network of companies to foster the exchange on benefits, challenges and lessons learnt of the involvement of the business sector in TVET. Experiences of piloting cooperative training programmes are fed back to the system level to further improve the quality and demand-orientation of the TVET system in Viet Nam.