Ha Noi, Viet Nam (ILO NEWS) Aware of the challenges that globalization and increasing global integration, the fourth (4.0) Industrial Revolution and other drivers of change bring to the labour market, the Government of Viet Nam, with technical support from the ILO, worked on the establishment of a public-private partnership working group (PPP WG) for the Tourism and Hospitality (T&H) sector as an opportunity for TVET institutions and enterprises in the sector to work together on improving skills delivery, improve graduate’s employability and contribute on improving Viet Nam’s socio-economic development.

DVET, assisted by the Project and the PPP WG, organized a knowledge sharing workshop entitled ‘Business-TVET institution collaboration for developing and improving TVET education programmes‘. The workshop highlighted the current work of the PPP WG and discussed the challenges that the PPP WG has encountered after 3 months of discussion towards achieving its objectives. The PPP WG recognizes the strong importance of Business - TVET institution collaboration and the direct benefits such partnerships can bring to TVET institutions, business and students, as well as the indirect benefits of these partnerships towards achieving social inclusion and meeting the countries’ economic development goals. “PPPs assist enterprises to solve the Human Resources supply issues, which may be hindering their competitiveness; and help students to be more employable and prepare them to gain better and decent employment” Mr Vu Van Dan, Leader of the G20TS PPP Tourism WG.

The PPP WG pointed out the importance of adapting the skills of their workers especially in the Tourism and Hospitality sector to meet the international requirements, which includes both core and technical skills, and of upgrading the Skills Development system to meet the regional and international standards. Vietnamese stakeholders also recognized that the benefits of such partnerships shall have a positive impact on a wider share of the labour market in the country and therefore further work of the PPP WG shall expand to also address employability enhancement of other segments of the society including retraining of long-term unemployed and upgrading the skills of current staff in enterprises.

Outstanding examples of PPPs for training in the country were presented during the workshop, one of which is the longstanding and successful PPP collaboration between Hai Phong College of Tourism and Do Son International Joint Venture LTD. This collaboration gives students the opportunity to obtain first first-hand experience in the tourism industry and provides them with the right motivation to pursue not only their practical but also theoretical courses. Pegasus Education Group and Nelia Hanoi Hotel have also shared their experience on working together and investing in education towards labour force development by providing students with study visits, work-based placements, inviting staff to provide training and career advice to students and providing training for hotel staff. Other experience shared by other entities during the workshop referred to their focus on vocational guidance and apprenticeships.

During the workshop, participants also learnt about the experience of Bangladesh, Canada and Denmark, who had undertaken similar initiatives to enhance their TVET systems. The presentation of international experience focused on sharing lessons learned based on the work already being done in Viet Nam and on complementing the work being undertaken with new ideas and international practices such as involvement of students in the Business – TVET collaboration, PPP experience based on voluntary participation, the importance of close cooperation between stakeholders, the possibility of establishing local occupational skills councils and the relevance of soft and entrepreneurship skills training, among others. The ILO also highlighted the important role of Trade Unions in the creation of sustainable partnerships and inclusive training programmes.

International Partners agreed that challenges related to the establishment of PPPs in TVET are common for both developing and developed nations and recognized the importance of knowledge sharing in order to find the right approach to fit countries’ particular needs.

The PPP WG has actively being working on development of assessment tools and competency-based training programmes. After the one-day workshop, the activities of the PPP WG organized with the support of the G20TS Project and guided by Vietnam’s Directorate for Vocational Education and Training will continue its work towards the finalization of the above mentioned tools and programmes for two occupations in the Tourism and Hospitality sector: front desk and housekeeping. The PPP WG also aims to share the experience gained through this joint exercise with other sectors in the country.

For additional information on the G20TS Project please visit our webpage at /g20ts .