The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide Vietnam with 70 million USD to further improve its workers’ skills.
In its press release on July 16, the Manila-based financial institution said the loan, from its concessional Asian Development Fund, will go to the Vietnam Skills Enhancement Project, which is designed to offer quality training programmes in priority industries, in partnership with the private sector.
The ADB said Vietnam ’s drive to improve vocational training to address a worsening shortage of skilled workers in key areas of its economy is getting its support.
Though Vietnam has posted impressive gains in growth and poverty reduction over the past 20 years, the country is struggling to meet the demand for qualified technical workers to serve its industrialisation.
According to ADB, just 13 percent of the employable workforce in Vietnam has vocational qualifications.
Therefore, the project will fund training programmes in public and private vocational colleges in the automotive technology, electrical and mechanical manufacturing, hospitality and tourism, information and communication technology, and navigation and shipping industries – all of which currently lack sufficient skilled workers.
It will provide management and instructor training to upgrade skills and improve planning and allocation of resources, and will also help develop new curricula and training materials, with support from the industries.
The ADB said the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs will be executing the project which is expected to be completed by August 2015.
Around 24,000 students are expected to benefit from the programme, with about 25 percent of them being women and members of ethnic minority groups./.