'The Directorate of Vocational Education and Training (DVET) wants to encourage colleges in Vietnam to develop skills to engage in robust self-assessment and quality processes which promote autonomy and drive quality improvement. Through the partnership project with Hertford Regional College, the colleges in Vietnam have made considerable progress from their starting points in terms of developing meaningful self-assessment reports.' - Elisabeth Watson, Hertford Regional College
Life cycle
2018-20
Country/Region
Vietnam and UK
Client/Partner
EU PAGODA
Vision
To strengthen the ongoing reform and effort in Vietnam to improve the quality and raise the standards of vocation education and training (VET) qualifications.
Situation
Vietnam’s Vocational Training Development Strategy (2011-20) set out various objectives, one of which was for the quality of training to meet the standards of developed countries in ASEAN and the wider world. In response to this requirement, the EU VET Toolbox provided a grant to support Vietnam to benchmark VET provision against UK quality standard frameworks.
Implementation
Two UK experts were invited to conduct a light-touch inspection of the colleges; drawing on Ofsted guidelines to benchmark the quality of teaching and learning in the selected colleges against UK standards and assess the robustness of the quality assurance mechanisms in place. This supported the enhancement of quality assurance in the VET sector in Vietnam through three interlinked strands of activity:
- Assessing the robustness of quality assurance mechanisms in four colleges: Can Tho, Thu Duc, Nha Trang and Da Lat
- Producing a complete self-assessment tool
- Providing expert input to the development of strategic reforms aimed at raising the level of quality assurance in VET to international standards.
Impact
Following the project, a survey was carried out to assess performance. All colleges in the survey reported that they developed and updated relevant policies and documents to regulate and foster quality assurance implementation within their institutions.
Vietnam's vocational education and training sector has made significant positive changes in improving the labour forces’ competitiveness and ensuring global integration in recent years.
Some findings showed that Quality Assurance Managers reported on improvements in confidence and understanding of QA and Self Assessment. Project colleges all developed or updated policies and documents to regulate and foster QA implementation in their institutions as well as participating in advisory councils for career development.
Due to the success of the first project, funding was granted for a second project, a mentoring partnership between Hertfordshire Regional College (HRC) and four colleges in Vietnam. The partnership focuses on building the capacity of the Vietnamese institutions and enhancing their strategies in the areas of private sector engagement and quality assurance, with a view to increasing the relevance of their training offer to the needs of employers. The partnership was also supported by the DVET in Vietnam, who have worked to ensure that the learning it delivers is cascaded to other training institutions across the country.
Mutual benefit
The EU VET Toolbox project contributed to the implementation of the Vietnam TVET Strategy 2021-30 and Vision 2045, both of which highlight the importance of internationalising the VET sector and improving TVET provision. This can then be benchmarked against examples of good practice in ASEAN and EU countries.
The project also created international opportunities for UK TVET institutions to establish partnership with colleges in Vietnam where UK quality standards and quality assurance tools were then shared and adapted. As a result, these were implemented and reflected in TVET policy and programmes in Vietnam.