New law to reform vocational training

The new Law on Occupational Education that took effect early this month can reduce the gap between workers' skills and employers' needs, experts say.

For a long time, the vocational training sector has been grappling to meet the demands of the labour market as well international integration.

At present, the national vocational training system has 190 schools offering three-year courses (cao dang), 300 schools offering two year courses (trung cap) and 991 centres providing short-term courses that last several months.

Experts said that to meet the needs of employers, vocational training schools in the country need to revamp their their curricula.

Very often the training provided by the vocational schools are out of sync with what enterprises need in a highly competitive environment, making it very difficult for students to find jobs after they compete their courses.

The new law can provide teeth to a long-standing recommendation that greater co-operation be established between vocational training institutions and enterprises, experts said. This would make the courses more practical and give students a much better chance of getting jobs.

The new law will let schools decide their curricula, which can be developed based on requirements outlined by businesses in different sectors and industries.

According to official statistics, just 2.5-3.5% of secondary school graduates typically register for vocational training courses.

The education sector has set a target of at least 30% of secondary school graduates enrolling in vocational training schools by the year 2020.

Pham Xuan Khanh, rector of Hanoi High Technology College, said he planned to open new training courses and establish strong links with businesses in order to attract students.

(Source:VNS)