Twenty-three Vietnamese nationals, including vocational teachers and in-company trainers, were awarded the “Certificate of Equivalence” to the German standard of sewerage engineering technicians at an event in Ho Chi Minh City on Saturday.

The certificate recipients are six teaching staff of the College of Technology II (HVCT) in District 9, Ho Chi Minh City and 17 in-company trainers of wastewater companies in southern Vietnam. The companies are based in Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho, Binh Duong, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Dong Nai and Khanh Hoa.

These 23 individuals have attended a training program to meet the German standards of sewerage engineering technicians from 2014 to 2017, the German development agency GIZ said in a press release on Saturday.

The intensive further training was conducted by German experts from the Chamber of Industry and Commerce Dresden (IHK Dresden), the Dresden Sewage Company (SEED Dresden) and the Pirna Vocational Training Centre of Technology and Economy.

In September and October 2017, after three years of receiving further training, these teaching staff and in-company trainers took the final proficiency examination and all passed the test.

This means they have a qualification equivalent to the one of a trained and recognized technician in Germany, according to GIZ.

The certificates were handed over to them during a ceremony at the HVCT by Le Quan, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Labor-Invalids and Social Affairs and Dr. Horst Sommer, program director of the Vietnamese-German “Program Reform of Technical and Vocational Education and Training in Vietnam” (TVET Program).

Important recognition

Wastewater drainage and treatment is an important field of green economic development in Vietnam, with only ten percent of the country’s total wastewater currently treated.

In order to achieve the Vietnamese government’s ambitious goal of increasing the share of treated wastewater to 60 percent, a skilled workforce for the wastewater sector is needed, according to GIZ.

By 2020, it is estimated that Vietnam will need more than 8,000 qualified technicians to operate and maintain the infrastructure in the wastewater sector.

The training program given to the 23 Vietnamese getting the certificate today is part of a project known as “TVET for Skilled Workforce in the Wastewater Sector” under the TVET Program, which supports the Vietnamese government in developing the new occupation “sewage engineering technicians.”

The involvement of six companies and the sector association ensures the demand- and practice orientation of the training and thus the employability of the graduates.

Le Quan, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Labor-Invalids and Social Affairs, speaks at the event. Photo: MC

The equivalence to the German standard regarding the quality and the procedure of the training, including examination and evaluation and therefore also in occupational competence has been officially certified by the IHK Dresden, one of the public corporations that are responsible for vocational training in Germany.

The equivalence to the German standard is also certified by the SEED Dresden, which is a German recognized company offering vocational training and was directly involved in the examination and assessment process.

This event marks a new progress of vocational training in Vietnam, which is a huge effort to meet the needs of high quality skilled workforce for business sector and environment protection in order to timely respond to the challenge of global climate change.

As the umbrella institution for vocational education and training, the Vietnamese labor ministry highly appreciates the model of collaborative training, according to deputy minister Quan.

“[The recipients of] the Certificates of Equivalence to the German standard today will be the core teaching staff and in-company trainers of vocational schools and businesses to contribute to the development of skilled workforce in the wastewater sector in the future,” Quan said at the event.