On May 26, within the framework of the Programme Reform of TVET in Vietnam, the National Roundtable on Vocational Skill to Improve Wastewater Management in Vietnam was held in Hanoi with the participation of the experts and delegates from Directorate of Vocational Education and Training, European Business Association in Vietnam, Vietnam Water Supply and Sewerage Association, relevant associations, representatives of partner colleges and companies, universities, Aus4skills organisation, GOPA Consultant and GIZ.
The conference was organised with objectives such as identifying and discussing key challenges in the wastewater sector and on the industry’s future skills needs as well as current skills supply. It also introduced the idea of a Sector Skills Council in the field of wastewater management and discusses the need for a pilot skills council to improve wastewater management. Besides, the delegates also discussed and proposed a cooperation mechanism between the State – Enterprises – Vocational education institutions within the framework of the National Council of Vocational Skills.
At the beginning of the conference, Mr. Nguyen Chi Truong – Director of the Department of Vocational Skills under the Directorate of Vocational Education and Training mentioned three important points in Directive 24 of the Government to improve the quality and role of the development career. These include the need to strengthen the connection with the business sector; the fact that training methods are not diversified, have not been innovated according to market needs and are still not oriented for lifelong learners. Therefore, it is extremely necessary to build an effective operating model to support vocational skills training.
In her opening speech, Ms. Maria Zandt – Deputy Director of Programme Reform of TVET in Vietnam also emphasized that the reality of the market is that there is a great demand for well-skilled workers when technology is becoming more complex and more wastewater treatment plants have been built. The conference also needed to identify mechanisms that enable the long-term sustainability of the wastewater management skills council.
The next was the panel discussion, Mr. Vu Ba Toan from the Department of Vocational Skills, Mr. Nguyen Cong Minh Bao from Eurocharm, Ms. Nguyen Vu Bao Chi from Hue Industrial College and Mr. Pham Xuan Dieu from the Vietnam Water Supply and Sewerage Association had a discussion about the difficulties and challenges related to ensuring skilled human resources in the field of sewage and wastewater treatment, if the workers were trained and provided by current vocational training units in Vietnam meeting the needs of the market to varying degrees, the expectations of businesses for the supply of human resources in general, as well as the specific action from the relevant authorities.
In addition, the delegates at the conference discussed the most important challenges in training wastewater treatment technicians as well as finding the most suitable solutions together. After the presentation of the different occupational skill councils, the conference went to in-depth discussion on the establishment of the National Skills Council on wastewater management in Vietnam as well as recommendations for implementing this pilot model.
The roundtable conference closed successfully with the consensus that the Department of Vocational Skills will coordinate with GIZ to make a proposal to submit to the Ministry of Labor to pilot the model of the Wastewater Treatment Council within this year.
