Lack of technical knowledge, absolutely no practical experiences, no passion for the job, even not know how to operate machines as well as to identify and resolve small technical problems: Here are some critical assessments of current capability of technical workers in the wastewater sector (WWS) raised by sewage companies at the workshop ‘Sustainable Solutions for Human Resources in Wastewater Sector’, organised by the Ho Chi Minh Vocational College for Technology (HVCT) on the 23 March 2016.

Besides the assessments, sewage companies clearly expressed their desire to join in the cooperative vocational training with HVCT in order to build up a technical workforce in line with their professional requirements. ‘We are willing to have students doing their practical internship at our centre. We will support them at our best to help them apply theoretical knowledge into practice. After graduation, centre can also recruit qualified students for long term employment’ Mr Bui Quoc Nguyen, Technical Director of the Centre of Resources and Environment Ho Chi Minh City shared at the workshop. Companies also suggested expanding the training programme into other related areas such as electrical and mechanical engineering, so that the future operating technicians are equipped with necessary knowledge to operate technical infrastructures, to identify and resolve minor incidents occurring during the operation process. In addition, short-term training for technical workers, who are currently working at the sewage companies is another interested topic discussed in this workshop.

Even the role of the companies in determining the demand for technical workforce in WWS is very essential; companies are having difficulty to predict the actual demand for technical workers in the near future due to the dependence on the yearly unfixed workload. This fact affects negatively on the enrolment and training for WWS of vocational colleges, including HVCT.

Asides from difficulties and problems, which cannot be solved immediately, the open and straight forward discussion between companies and HVCT brought a lot of valuable information and feedbacks, which will help HVCT adjust the training programme to cope better with the real needs of the companies. And the companies are more aware of their role and responsibility. Hence, they will participate actively in cooperative training programmes.