Hanoi, 12 December 2017 – Viet Nam Vocational Education and Training Accreditation Agency (VVTAA)/the Directorate for Vocational Education and Training (DVET) and the Vietnamese-German “Programme Reform of TVET in Viet Nam” jointly organized a workshop entitled “Integration of Quality Management (QM) Instruments into the TVET Quality Assurance System (Results phase 1) – Upscaling Quality Management Instruments (Kick-off phase 2)”. The workshop took place with the participation of representatives from DVET, 29 TVET institutes from all over Viet Nam, Programme Reform of TVET in Viet Nam (TVET Programme- GIZ) representatives of other donors. The workshop aimed at summarising the achieved results of the integration of QM instruments (tracer study, enterprise survey and workshop management) into the TVET Quality Assurance System and initiating the application of those instruments by additional TVET institutes.

During his opening remarks, Dr Truong Anh Dung, Deputy Director of DVET, highly appreciated the achieved results of integrating three quality  management instruments into the TVET system while reinforcing the importance of applying these instruments at 18 other TVET institutes with the aim to meet the demands of the labour market and enhancing international integration. He also stressed that TVET quality assurance is being of high interest for the Vietnamese Government. The resolution of the 6^th Congress of the 12^th Central Committee of the Communist Party of Viet Nam mentions to replan the TVET institutes network. Therefore, training quality will be of utmost importance for the further existence of TVET institutes.

After two and a half years of implementation, the management and implementers of QM instruments at 8 TVET institutes gave very positive feedback on the impact of the application of these instruments at their TVET institutes.  Mr Vu Hoai Phuong, rector of Hue Tourism College shared that “the enterprise survey not only helps our college in improving training quality based on reliable evidences but also builds the trust of enterprises in our college.” Mr Phan Huy Hoang, head of the training department of Vinh Phuc mechanical and agriculture college shared “the application of tracer studies is actually an effective and low cost PR instrument. It helps us to establish a trilateral cooperation between college, graduates and enterprises.” Concerning the impact of the application of workshop management, Mr Nguyen Hong Tien, deputy head of the mechanical department at LILAMA 2 International Technology College shared that “the application of the 5 S-Method has changed unscientific working habits and increased the awareness of teachers and students”. A lot of creative ideas and lessons learnt for the sustainable implementation of these instruments were discussed in the workshop. Dr Pham Vu Quoc Binh, director of VVTAA/DVET emphasized the important of these instruments and reinforced their impact on the TVET system level, since are integrated in the newly endorsed Circular No. 15 on the criteria and standards of TVET quality accreditation.  

Concluding the workshop, an operational plan for the implementation of the QM instruments at all participating TVET institutes in the year 2018 has been agreed with strong commitment of all relevant stakeholders.

Closing the workshop, Ms Britta van Erckelens, Deputy Director of TVET Programme GIZ stressed that the application of those QM instruments has proven to truly serve the improvement of training quality by strengthening the linkage between TVET institutes and the business sector. She expressed her wish that the positive results of the cooperation so far  will set the atmosphere for the next phase aiming at upscaling the instruments to the TVET system level.

Following the workshop, an in-depth training course for enterprise survey (ES) and tracer study (TS) multipliers took place at Ha Noi Tourism College with the aim to strengthen  the capacity of the trained enterprise survey and tracer study implementers to become trainers for the training course on ES and TS in the future.