HCM City (VNA) - The environment in the country is “good” for themodernisation of technical and professional training, a project director of theVietnamese Skills for Employment Programme (VSEP) has said.

AssocProf Le Quang Minh said the Government has enabled such an environment byfocusing on improving human resources through a vocational training developmentstrategy for 2011-20 and enacting a law on vocational education last July.

Under the three-year VSEP, which started in 2014, assistance from the CanadianGovernment and universities is also helping Vietnamese colleges improvestudents’ skills, he said.

The VSEP has two components -- building two training centres for advancedmanagement in HCM City and Hanoi, and developing a sample model of technicalvocational education and training programmes at three community colleges in theprovinces of Binh Thuan, Hau Giang and Vinh Long.

Minh said the country’s technical and professional training system is on theright path to develop and integrate globally though the development is low. Moreover,changes in the policy and regulatory environment from next year would require atransition period that college leaders need to manage.

He said from next year the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairswould take over management of the technical and professional training systemfrom the Ministry of Education and Training. 

Those colleges that survive and thrive would be the ones that understand thelarger picture of educational changes in the country and around the world anddevelop strategies to manage the transition to a modern model, he said.

The modern training system world-wide is characterised by an ability to respondto labour market demands and provide students with the knowledge and skillsneeded to get and keep a job and to succeed at work and in life, he said.

Colleges in the country should learn from Canada, he said. For instance,they should cooperate with universities for easy transfer of students.

Dr Daniel J. Patterson, president of Niagara College in Ontario Province,Canada, said in 1995 overall enrolment at his was down to just 4,700 full-timestudents.

He blamed it on a failure to modernise its syllabus and training methods andmeet the demands of industry.

But things were turned around, and it now has over 9,000 full-time students,including 1,200 international ones, he said.

Training programmes and services are linked to key economic sectors and are strengthenedby strong industry-education partnerships, he said.

Moreover, there has been a major shift in Government policy and resourcesallocated to support colleges in Canada in recognition of the important rolethey play in supplying the advanced skills and applied research that underpineconomic growth and productivity improvement, he added.-VNA