Improving labor quality is essential in the process of economic restructuring, socio-economic development and international integration; at the same time to meet the demand for skilled labor of enterprises in the province. Binh Duong Newspaper had a talk with Pham Van Tuyen, Deputy Director of provincial Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, about this issue.
Workers at Lien Thanh Wood Company (Ben Cat Township).
- Sir, currently many enterprises in the province are in need of skilled labor. Could you tell us the plan for high-quality labor force training to meet production requirements of enterprises in the future?
- Within vocational education system, the province has 7 colleges and 14 trade schools. Every year these institutions train about 30,000 qualified graduates from elementary to junior college. In general, the number of vocational apprentices having job when graduating from colleges and trade schools in the province is over 80%, especially some jobs always interest businesses such as metal cutting, mechatronics, industrial electricity ... the rate reaches 100%. This is a good signal for schools to focus on improving quality training to meet the requirements of enterprises, training on orders; At the same time sticking to the recruitment needs of enterprises.
Determining the training of skilled human resources is a strategy of the province to serve the economic restructuring, socio-economic development and international integration, and to create jobs, meet the demand for skilled labor of enterprises in the province, Department of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs set up a scheme of 3 vocational institutions for trained skilled laborers in the province, including: Vietnam- Singapore Vocational Training College, Binh Duong Vietnam-Korea Vocational College, Dong An Hi-Tech College. These are the 3 large-scale schools of the province and meet requirements of facilities, qualified staff and teachers to train skilled technical human resources. Schools will focus on training provincial-oriented professions and according to demands of labor markets, with high and stable incomes.
- In order to improve the skill level of workers, vocational schools need to improve training quality and change the method of training associated with the reality in which the linking role of the labor sector is very great. Could you elaborate on specific plans to promote the cooperation between vocational schools in the province and enterprises participating in human resource training in the coming time?
- According to Law on Vocational Education, enterprises must have the main responsibility towards vocational training for their employees in various forms such as: enterprises organize training themselves for employees or cooperate with vocational schools to give training or order training…Therefore, in order to ensure human resources with high skills, in addition to the requirement of large-scale schools, qualified teachers, high skills, advanced vocational curricula and training programs, enterprises have to actively promote cooperation and engagement in training activities at schools. Specifically, enterprises may participate in the development of training programs, assess vocational standards and check whether the training process at school is appropriate for enterprises? Then schools could assess themselves their vocational training quality, whether working style of students are suitable with practice, with the business or not?
Therefore, Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs will take the initiative in implementing the master plan for the development of vocational schools, which have vocational training programs and plans suitable to recruitment needs of businesses. In addition, every year, the department organizes vocational training workshops to meet enterprise needs and submits to provincial People's Committee to orientate vocational training works according to the needs of society, and students after graduation could join the labor market according to their field of study. Periodically, the department also organizes visits, meetings and contacts between enterprises and schools to facilitate the cooperation between enterprises and schools.
- Beside professional qualifications, most employers believe that workers are still lacking in social skills such as working skills, communication, negotiation and problem solving. What is your opinion on this issue and how to improve the skills for workers, sir?
- Currently, according to regulations on the development of training programs, schools will build themselves and take responsibility. Most schools in Binh Duong have not had hour allocation for the training of soft skills, necessary social knowledge... but only integrated into extra-curricular activities and youth meetings. In the near future, when the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs issues a circular guiding the promulgation of regulations on student affairs in secondary schools and colleges, the department will ask schools to pay more attention to the construction and organization of soft skills training, career skills, entrepreneurial skills ... The purpose is to supplement students after graduation with foreign language skills, industrial working style, working in teams, groups and startup activities.
- According to HR experts, vocational training along with the forecast of employment and income levels is a very effective way to attract learners into vocational education. Particularly for Binh Duong, which is a industrially developing province, this has great significance. So in the future, what is the plan to advise provincial People's Committee on attracting students to vocational schools in order to create high-qualified resources and effective working skills for the province?
- In order to enhance the effectiveness and improve the quality of vocational training with high qualifications and effective working skills for the province, in the coming time Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs will advise provincial People's Committee to develop annual vocational enrollment plan and focus on tasks such as: Strengthening the enrollment process, while paying attention to vocational training and job creation. This is a decisive factor in assessing the effectiveness and quality of training as well as social recognition for school brand name and reputation. In addition, job counseling and introduction to graduates is provided before, during and after graduation; regularly invite experts to teach soft skills in order to orient students towards right attitudes when participating in production in practice at enterprises.
At the same time, the department will disseminate information on vocational education enrollment on Vocational Training – Employment and Vocational Education so that people are able to access to good sources of information. On the other hand, the demand forecasting and adjustment of personnel training structure must be well done and coordinated with Department of Education and Training to ensure good classification, career guidance as the foundation for vocational training.
Reported by Tieu My – Translated by Ngoc Huynh
