New Zealand supports vocational training in Vietnam to stand up to global demand

New Zealand Ambassador Wendy Matthews (left) and Director General of the General Directorate of Vocational Education and TrainingTruong Anh Dung (right) at the signing ceremony

The arrangement was signed between New Zealand Ambassador to Vietnam Wendy Matthews and Director General of the General Directorate of Vocational Education and Training under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Truong Anh Dung as a framework for the sharing of best practices in vocational training, qualification frameworks, and industry engagement.

Under the arrangement, New Zealand’s G2G will contribute to Vietnam's workforce improvement efforts by facilitating partnerships between New Zealand’s government agencies, vocational institutions, and research institutes with the Directorate of Vocational Education and Training as well as other relevant agencies and institutions in Vietnam.

Ambassador Wendy Matthews stated, “New Zealand’s Qualification Framework, established in 1992, was one of the first comprehensive qualification frameworks in the world. We continue to ensure that the system incorporates improvements and innovations in order to make sure that our vocational training and qualification systems best respond to the needs of our evolving industries.”

“New Zealand has retained its top global ranking in the English-speaking world as well as the Asia-Pacific region in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Worldwide Educating for the Future Index 2019. Our high-quality education system and expertise in vocational training make us well placed to deliver more joint initiatives focused on improving the quality of Vietnam vocational education system so as to increase the competitiveness and productivity of the country’s workforce to meet global demands,” said Wendy.

Truong Anh Dung, director general of the Directorate of Vocational Education and Training, shared, “Vietnam’s vocational education and training system has seen positive achievements over the past years. General public and businesses’ perception on the importance of vocational training has been improved. There are more people choosing to study at vocational institutions as graduates have a higher chance to get a job and stable income. In the context of the digital economy, the knowledge-led economy, the Fourth Industrial Revolution and international labour mobility trend, vocational training needs to speed up its renovation to improve training quality in order to meet the increasingly high demand for labour force.

2020 is an important milestone for New Zealand and Vietnam as the countries celebrate 45 years of friendship and diplomatic relations. People-to-people links, particularly in the area of education, have been the bedrock of the relationship and these links will continue to flourish when safe travel between our countries resumes.