Open direction for training high quality human resources

(Baonghean) - In the past term, with the efforts of vocational training institutions and localities, the province's vocational training has had positive changes, contributing to the rapid increase in the rate of trained workers. Many vocational training institutions have done a good job of orientation, training with addresses and linking training with job introduction and settlement; thereby creating a direction for training high-quality human resources.

Positive change

Nghe An is a province with a large population of over 3 million people, including nearly 1.8 million workers. On average, each year, the number of workers of working age added to the province's labor force is approximately 30,000 people. The 17th Provincial Party Congress for the 2011-2015 term set out specific targets and tasks to promote vocational training and job creation, accordingly, on average, each year, jobs will be created for 35-40 thousand people; the unemployment rate in urban areas will be reduced to 2.85%; and the rate of trained workers will reach 55% (of which vocational training will reach 48%).

Mr. Dang Cao Thang, Deputy Director of the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, said: “Compared to the period of 2006 - 2010, the number of vocational training facilities has not increased sharply, but the scale and quality of vocational training from 2011 to present have changed a lot”. Up to now, the whole province has 64 vocational training facilities, including 6 vocational colleges (1 non-public school), 9 vocational secondary schools, 24 vocational training centers (8 non-public centers) and 25 facilities participating in vocational training (13 non-public facilities). Among the North Central provinces, Nghe An is the province with the largest number of vocational training facilities (accounting for 29.2% of the whole region). The network of vocational training facilities is evenly distributed; up to now, all districts, cities and towns have vocational training facilities. In the key economic regions of the province, there are facilities for training technical workers such as: in the Northwest mountainous region, there is the Western Economic and Technical Vocational College in Thai Hoa Town; in the Southwest mountainous region, there is the Boarding Ethnic Vocational College in Con Cuong District; in the North of the province, there is the Bac Nghe An Economic and Technical Vocational College in Quynh Luu District...

Mechanical engineering practice at Bac Nghe An Technical Economic Vocational College.

In recent years, Nghe An has been one of the provinces receiving considerable support from the national target program on vocational training. Regional and district-level vocational secondary schools have been approved and implemented investment projects to enhance facilities with an investment of tens of billions of VND. In particular, thanks to good international relations, the Vietnam - Korea Industrial Technical Vocational College continued to receive phase 3 support from the Korean Government with an aid fund of 6 million USD at the end of 2014. In addition, Nghe An was approved by the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs to select 13 schools with 42 occupations for key investment (all 6 provinces in the North Central region have only 38 schools with 93 occupations for key investment).

These resources have helped vocational training institutions in the province upgrade their facilities and equipment, and expand their training scale. As a result, the number of workers receiving vocational training has increased significantly, especially workers with technical qualifications (from intermediate vocational level and above). It is estimated that during the 2011-2015 period, vocational training institutions in the province enrolled 405,417 people (reaching 101.35% of the plan for the 2011-2015 period), including 21,320 vocational college students, 38,970 intermediate vocational students, and 345,127 elementary vocational students and vocational training under 3 months. Every year, the percentage of intermediate vocational and college graduates is over 95%, of which the good and excellent grades account for nearly 30%. Some initial training occupations meet the economic and social development of the province and the need for technical labor from other provinces and labor export such as: Mechanics, Automotive Technology, Industrial Electronics, Welding, Mechatronics, Industrial Electricity, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineering, Food and Beverage Processing, Hotel Management, Restaurant Management, Small Industry...

In addition, at national vocational skills competitions, teacher training competitions, and self-made vocational training equipment competitions, Nghe An delegation has always been highly appreciated by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs. For example, at the 8th National Vocational Skills Competition in 2014 in Hanoi, Nghe An delegation was one of 10 delegations nationwide to receive a Certificate of Merit from the Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (with 1 First Prize, 2 Third Prizes and 5 Encouragement Prizes); in which, 1 First Prize winner was selected and sent to study and train in Korea by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, the General Department of Vocational Training and Vikotex Enterprise of Korea, to participate in the Vietnamese team participating in the 10th ASEAN Vocational Skills Competition in 2014, winning a Silver Medal.

The above results have contributed to the successful implementation of the Resolution of the 16th Provincial Party Congress on human resource training. After 4 years of implementing the resolution, up to now, the rate of trained workers in the province has increased from 40% in 2010 to 52% in 2014, the rate of trained workers has increased from 33% in 2010 to 46% in 2014. It is estimated that in 2015, the rate of trained workers will reach 55%, of which 48% will receive vocational training, achieving the target set by the resolution of the congress.

In addition to expanding the scale of training, a prominent mark in vocational training in the period of 2011 - 2015 is the job creation for students after training. From 2011 to present, the number of primary, intermediate and college students who have found and arranged regular jobs each year has reached 85 - 87%, an increase of more than 10% compared to the 2006 - 2010 term. There have been 1,573 enterprises receiving and recruiting 55,971 workers at vocational training establishments in Nghe An. In particular, during the training process, some vocational training institutions have done a good job of orientation, linking training with the labor needs of society as well as linking vocational training with job creation after training such as: Vietnam - Korea Technical - Industrial Vocational College, Nghe An Tourism - Trade Vocational College, Northern Nghe An Economic - Technical Vocational College...

Mr. Nguyen Duy Nam, Principal of the Vietnam - Korea Technical and Industrial Vocational College, said that since its establishment in 1997, the school has trained over 11,000 long-term vocational students, over 2,000 short-term vocational students, 7,000 workers learning Korean and providing orientation education for over 4,000 export workers. Of these, over 8,000 students have graduated, 90% of whom have jobs, including 2,500 students working in Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, etc. Nghe An College of Tourism and Commerce has its own way of solving employment for students, which is that every year the school organizes a 3-party commitment between businesses - workers - schools, through which, good and excellent students of the school will be accepted for internships at large hotels and travel companies in and outside the country... During this time, they will also be paid as real employees with an income of 10 - 15 million VND/month. This is an opportunity for them to assert themselves and easily find a job after graduation.

In addition to the province's key vocational schools, localities have also made many efforts to coordinate with vocational training institutions and enterprises in vocational training and job creation. Mr. Ho Ngoc Dung, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district, said: "From 2011 to now, the district has coordinated with vocational schools such as the Industrial and Handicraft Vocational College, the Northern Nghe An Economic and Technical Vocational College, rattan and bamboo weaving, carpentry, mechanical engineering, livestock farming enterprises... in the district to organize vocational training in line with practical needs to exploit the potential and strengths of the locality. In addition, it has coordinated with large companies such as Canon Vietnam Co., Ltd. and Nissay Company to organize vocational training consultation in commune and town clusters; creating conditions for workers after vocational training to access loan sources to develop the economy, establish themselves and their careers right on their homeland." Thanks to those efforts, from 2011 to 2014, the total number of trained workers in Quynh Luu district was over 21,000 people, more than 10,000 workers were given new jobs.

New Prospects

According to the Project "Developing high-quality human resource training facilities in Nghe An province by 2020" approved in Decision 6980/QD-UBND.VX dated December 12, 2014 of the Provincial People's Committee, by 2020, the demand for vocational technical workers (from elementary to college level) is 1,202,849 people, accounting for 84.4%. With that demand, from now to 2020, the province needs to provide vocational training for an average of more than 85,000 people each year, including training at intermediate vocational level or higher for more than 16,000 people to increase the vocational training rate to 61% by 2020. In addition, in the coming years, the foreign labor market has many prospects. Along with traditional markets for many years of Nghe An laborers such as Malaysia, Taiwan, Middle Eastern countries, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs will continue to negotiate, sign and implement agreements and cooperation agreements with many countries such as: Thailand, Angola, Cyprus, Laos, Russia, Belarus, Germany...

In particular, with the formation of the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015, the number of Vietnamese workers going to work abroad is expected to increase. It is easy to see that most of the foreign labor markets that have been expanded or newly opened since 2015 are high-income markets, requiring strict professional qualifications, skills as well as discipline from workers, so in order to send more workers abroad, the province's vocational training also needs to have stronger changes in quality.

Practical hours of students of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Vinh University of Technical Education. Photo: MQ

According to Mr. Nguyen Bang Toan, Director of the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, in the period of 2015-2020, the number of vocational training institutions and those participating in vocational training will basically remain the same, only 2 new vocational colleges and 1 secondary vocational school will be established, and investment will be focused on upgrading 2 vocational colleges to technical universities, 4 secondary vocational schools to vocational colleges, and 3 vocational training centers to secondary vocational schools. Regarding training occupations, in the coming time, the province will continue to implement Decision No. 854/QD-BLDTBXH of the Ministry of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs dated June 6, 2013 on approving key occupations and schools selected for key occupations in the period 2011 - 2015 and orientation to 2020. Of which, the province has 13 schools with 42 occupation categories selected and approved for investment in key occupations by the Ministry of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs such as: hotel management, tour guide, welding, industrial electronics, industrial electricity, metal cutting, agricultural machinery engineering, livestock and poultry farming, veterinary medicine, plant protection, etc.

In the coming time, the province will innovate and promote propaganda, consulting, job introduction and raise awareness for all classes of people about the importance of vocational training for the socio-economic development requirements of the province. At the same time, perfect the mechanism, policies and state management of vocational training, especially policies for apprentices, workers through vocational training, policies for enterprises participating in vocational training... On the side of vocational schools, it is necessary to focus on improving the quality of training rather than chasing quantity; be more proactive in finding out recruitment information of enterprises to link to specialized labor training. Every year, schools need to investigate labor supply and demand to determine human resources according to occupational structure, qualifications... to meet the needs of the labor market and especially to conduct training associated with the needs of enterprises.

Minh Quan