In cooperation with the Central Committee of Propaganda of the Communist Party, and the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA)’s General Directorate of Vocational Training, the Vietnamese-German Programme Reform of TVET in Viet Nam organized a workshop on “Reform of the training of manpower for industrial and economic zones of Viet Nam” in Ho Chi Minh City on 26^th of May 2016.

The workshop received the attention and participation of high ranking officials of the Communist Party and the Government as well as representatives from industrial zones, training institutes and the Viet Nam General Confederation of Labour. It was chaired by Dr. Nguyen The Duc, Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of Propaganda, Mr. Huynh Van Ti, Vice Minister of MoLISA, Mr. Bui Van Ga, Vice Minister of MoET and Dr. Horst Sommer, Programme Director of the Programme Reform of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Viet Nam.

In his keynote remarks, Dr. Nguyen The Duc, Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of Propaganda, stressed the importance of this workshop and asked for focused discussion on 4 issues, which contribute to the reform and improvement of vocational education and training to meet the requirements of industrial and economic zones: Solutions for improving the quality and effectiveness of vocational education and training, suggestions for reforming the mechanisms and policies for vocational education and training, positive changes after 2.5 years of implementing Resolution No. 29 on innovation in education, and the roles of political and socio-economic organisations from central to local levels contributing to the reform.

To provide an international perspective to the discussion, Dr. Horst Sommer explained the success factors of the German system of vocational education and training and the implications for Viet Nam. He particularly stressed the necessity of improving the image of TVET in the society as well as the feasibility of applying the “cooperative training” approach in vocational education and training where the participation of the business sector is required throughout the training process from the development of occupational standards, conducting well-defined practical training phases in enterprises, to participating in the assessment and certification. Lessons learnt from GIZ-supported pilot cooperative training programmes such as the pilot programme for sewerage engineering technicians at the Ho Chi Minh Vocational College of Technology (HVCT) implemented in cooperation with 5 enterprises, will be scientifically analysed by the National Institute for Vocational Training (NIVT) to feed these experiences into the national vocational education and training system.

In the conclusion remarks by Mr. Bui Van Ga, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Education and Training, he also stressed the need for clear policies and guidelines on cooperation with the business sector as well as the necessity of improving the image of TVET.

Building on the successful collaboration of the Programme Reform on TVET in Viet Nam and the Communist Party in recent years, which includes the discussion of Dr. Sommer and Mr. Dinh The Huynh, Member of the Politbureau of the Communist Party of Viet Nam, at the party dialogue between the German Social Democratic Party and the Communist Party of Viet Nam and the joint organization of two workshops with the Central Committee of Propaganda and the Committee for Culture, Education, Youth, Children on the topic “Streaming to TVET”, Dr. Nguyen The Duc expressed the wish to intensify the cooperation to jointly contribute the improvement of vocational education and training in Viet Nam.