From 4^th to 18^th November 2017, Field 3, the Field of Activity 3 “Vocational Training for Skilled Workforce in Wastewater Sector” organised successfully a two-weeks advanced training course for 23 teachers and in-company trainers of occupation Sewage Engineering Technician and Industrial electronics in Dresden, Germany.

Participants of the further training course for the Sewage Engineering Technician occupation were three teaching staff from College of Technolgogy II and twelve in-company trainers of Sewerage companies from many cities and provinces: Hồ Chí Minh City, Bình Dương, Cần Thơ, Khánh Hòa, Huế, Đà Nẵng, Hải Phòng and Thái Nguyên. The training course for this group took place mainly at the Saxony Training Center of Chemical and Environmental Occupations. The main topics were operation of wastewater treatment process: nitrogen-phosphorus removal process, analysis of total parameters and physical-chemical parameters as well as microbiological analysis of wastewater and activated sludge. In addition to theoretical and practical training in the laboratory, participants also visited the industrial and municipal wastewater treatment plants in Bitterfeld and Dresden. Finally, to prepare for spreading the cooperative training of Sewage Engineering Technician, the experts of Dresden Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK-Dresden) equipped all participants with the basic knowledge about cooperation between vocational training schools and companies in training delivery as well as in organising examinations following the German standard.

Participants of the further course for the industrial electronics occupation were two in-company trainers from partner companies (Viglacera Ceramics and Ishikawa Seiko) and six teaching staff from LILAMA 2 International Technology College. Eight participants were trained on how to set-up and organise practical training based on German industrial standard. They also took part in the trial examination of the occupation industrial electronics following German standard. The trial examination simulated the final examination part 1 and part 2, in which each teaching staff/in-company trainer was examined (part 1 and part 2 of the final examination) individually under the observation and assessment of 2-3 German examiners. After finishing each part of the trial examination, the participants received feedback of their performance from the German examiners. The participants also discussed together on-site lesson learnt and how to ensure necessary adjustments and improvements concerning, for example, electrical protective measures, industrial installation/mounting standards, labeling for components, application of proper measuring/testing measures.

All participants shared during the closing event that they now clearly understand the basic principles of the set-up and structure of the cooperative training model, as well as fair, neutral and comparable examination and assessment. They all found the whole further training necessary and useful for their preparation of the next cooperative training courses and examinations following the German standard.

The further training was organised by the Field of Activity 3 “Vocational Training for Skilled Workforce in Wastewater Sector”  in cooperation with the Field of Activity 2 “Support of Centres of Excellence for TVET” under the Vietnamese-German “Programme Reform of Technical and Vocational Education and Training in Viet Nam”, implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).