Da Lat, 18.11.2013

In November 2013, GIZ – TVET Programme was invited to contribute and share technical know-how at the workshop organised by the General Department of Vocational Training (GDVT) on Establishment of 40 TVET institutes of high quality (Centre of Excellence – CoE).

The establishment of Centre of Excellence is a concrete effort of the government of Viet Nam in implementation of the “TVET Strategy to 2020” being committed with comprehensive investment financially and technically. Directors and Vice Directors of the 40 selected most potential TVET institutes of Viet Nam attended the workshop with senior leaders of the Vocational Training sector including MoLISA Vice Minister Nguyen Ngoc Phi, GDVT General Director Duong Duc Lan, representative of Ministry of Investment and Planning, Ministry of Finance and the local authorities.

The workshop was to discuss on criteria of a Centre of Excellence with inputs from the Vietnamese-German TVET Reform Programme. Following the draft Concept Paper on Establishment of CoE for TVET which was developed with support of German experts in a Feasibility Study Mission and handed to GDVT beforehand, Dr. Horst Sommer provided a comprehensive presentation explaining on what the criteria are about, additional functions of a CoE in a TVET system. In particular, he explained about German and international experiences that can be adopted to Vietnamese context.

He highlighted that a Center of Excellence, to ensure its effective performance, should specialize on a certain number of occupational fields. He further stressed that it requires time for a CoE to reach its full functioning pace and that the “hands and brain” of the training staff is the core of an effective and successful CoE.

Workshop participants found the presentation highly practical and convincing. Mr. Vu Duc Thinh – Teacher of Merit, Director of the College of Technics and Technology shared “the presentation was extremely easy to understand with a lot of practical ideas. I can see much clearer how a CoE can look like”.

In response, Associate Professor Dr. Duong Duc Lan, GDVT General Director asked that these relevant experiences will be considered in the finalisation of the Project Proposal on Establishment of 40 CoEs for submission to the Prime Minister early 2014.