Nghe An's vocational training quality is 'much inferior' to international standards

(Baonghean.vn) - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Le Minh Thong affirmed that compared to the region and the world, the quality of vocational training in Nghe An is still much inferior.

On the morning of April 17, the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of the province held a conference on vocational training for the period 2012 - 2016 and deployed tasks for the period 2017 - 2020.

Delegates attending the conference. Photo: Thanh Nga.

In recent years, Nghe An has gradually made efforts to improve the quality of vocational training and link with businesses to solve employment for workers after training.

The province has provided vocational training to 404,562 people; of which 22,898 are vocational college students, 41,413 are intermediate vocational students, and 340,251 are primary and regular vocational training students. Some occupations have initially met the socio-economic development of the province and the needs of the domestic and foreign labor market, such as: mechanics, automobile industry, restaurant management, refrigeration and air conditioning engineering, food processing engineering, etc.

Teaching welding to students at Vocational College No. 4 (Ministry of National Defense). Photo courtesy.

The issue of job creation after vocational training has achieved many positive results, 20,610 vocational college graduates have stable jobs, reaching 90%; 35,430 vocational secondary school students have jobs, reaching 85.3%. Of which, 94,241 people work in enterprises in the province; 115,724 people work in enterprises outside the province; 34,180 people work for a limited period abroad; with an average income of 4 - 12 million VND/month.

To date, more than 200 enterprises and production and business establishments have regularly cooperated to receive and recruit 244,145 workers after vocational training. The rate of trained workers increased from 40% in 2011 to 57% in 2016.

At the Conference, representatives of sectors and training units said that many units have not fully recognized their rights and responsibilities in vocational training activities; the number of vocational training departments in the province is large (63 facilities) but the scale is still small; there is a lack of resources, especially factories, equipment, and teaching staff.

Training sewing for ethnic minority female workers in Tan Ky. Photo archive.

To meet the requirements for the quality of the labor force in the integration period, in the period of 2017 - 2020, Nghe An needs to carry out well the investigation and survey work; forecast the labor market demand annually and in each period associated with the investigation and survey of the vocational training needs of workers; stream and orient vocational training for students after graduating from junior high school and high school associated with job creation; promote linkage activities between vocational training institutions with enterprises, economic zones, and industrial parks in the training process and arrange jobs for workers after training.

Nghe An strives to recruit and train 292,500 people from now until 2020 (74,800 people in 2017); increase the rate of trained workers with college and intermediate qualifications from 17.3% in 2016 to 25% in 2020...

Comrade Le Minh Thong concluded at the conference. Photo: Thanh Nga.

Concluding the conference, Comrade Le Minh Thong - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, affirmed: The results achieved in vocational training in the period of 2012 - 2016 are very positive, but compared to the quality of vocational training in the region and internationally, Nghe An is still far behind. That has affected the quality of labor after training and the goal of improving the quality of labor in the province.

Therefore, in the coming time, all levels and sectors need to propagate to create a change in awareness of ordinary workers in choosing a career and learning a profession; vocational training institutions need to innovate to improve the quality of vocational education, innovate training forms, increase practice and practicality instead of too much theoretical training.

He also requested: "All levels and sectors need to strengthen their leadership and direction roles, innovate management work, and gradually delegate autonomy to a number of vocational training institutions. In particular, it is necessary to seriously implement the inspection of training quality at vocational training institutions."

Thanh Nga