IECD and the colleges sign partnership agreements on cooperation and development (Source: VNA)
HCM City (VNA) – The Seeds of Hope project,
which promotes sustainable professional integration for young Vietnamese in the
fields of residential and industrial electricity and automotive maintenance,
was officially launched in HCM City on September 27.
The project operates in partnership with vocational training schools as well as
a number of companies and agencies.
Seeds of Hope is being run on a trial basis under the European Institute for
Development Cooperation (IECD) in Vietnam at two sites: HCM City Technical
and Economic College (HOTEC) and Thu Duc College of Technology (TDC).
It not only helps create more opportunities for students in career development
but also enhances domestic and international integration.
Vietnam continues to have a high rate of unemployed young people, while
vocational training remains unattractive to many students, creating a mismatch
with the labour market despite strong demand, especially in the electricity
sector.
Seeds of Hope targets people aged 15 to 25. The support includes either a
three-year-long vocational training programme or short training modules on
renewable energies and energy efficiency.
It aims to improve career prospects for about 1,400 young people by 2019.
IECD experts will help develop standards and content for teaching and training
programmes.
Students at the two schools will be exposed to a quality learning environment
that will allow them to develop occupational skills and life skills for
integration into the labor market.
Speaking at the launch ceremony, Pham Ngoc Thanh, Deputy Chairman of the city’s
Department of Education and Training, said the city, which has 77.5 percent of
trained workers, has set a target to have at least 85 percent of trained
workers by 2020.
“Seeds of Hope will help meet the demand of the city’s plan on raising the
quality of labourers,” he said.
He said the project would significantly improve the quality of vocational
training for Vietnamese students and help promote cooperation between schools
and enterprises as well as contribute to reducing the unemployment rate of
young people in the city.
Nguyen Thi Ly from the TDC thanked the IECD, experts and companies for their
contribution to the project and said she hopes to receive more support from the
IECD, companies and authorities in the near future.
At the ceremony, partnership agreements in cooperation and development between
IECD and two of the colleges were signed.-VNA