Educational cooperation is a bright spot in Vietnam - Australia relations

GD&TĐ - On December 4, a ceremony was held in Hanoi to summarize 10 years of the Vietnam - Australia human resource development cooperation program.

The event was co-organized by the Ministry of Education and Training and the Australian Embassy in Vietnam with the participation of representatives of central ministries, departments, branches, localities, partners and beneficiaries of the Australia - Vietnam Human Resource Development Cooperation Program (Aus4Skills).

Speaking at the ceremony, Ms. Nguyen Thu Thuy - Director of the Department of International Cooperation (Ministry of Education and Training) - affirmed: Educational cooperation is the most important pillar of the comprehensive strategic partnership between Vietnam and Australia. In particular, Aus4Skills, implemented since 2016, is an outstanding program of cooperation between the two countries.

There are currently more than 30,000 Vietnamese students studying in Australia and the Vietnamese alumni network has reached 160,000 people. Educational institutions of the two countries maintain many exchange, research and joint training programs. Over the past 10 years, Aus4Skills has supported Vietnamese education through various components with a total grant of 63.1 million Australian dollars.

Delegates visit a model of the Aus4Skills program.

Regarding higher education, the program has supported many management officials at the ministerial and school levels in improving governance capacity and university autonomy, as well as organizing forums to strengthen school-enterprise cooperation and a number of training courses on quality assurance according to international standards with about 1,000 officials in 6 related activity chains.

In vocational education, Aus4Skills supports vocational education institutions to create links with businesses, build competency-based training and assessment models, pilot some vocational education models according to international standards and establish a Logistics Skills Council.

Regarding the development of high-quality human resources, over the past 10 years, hundreds of Vietnamese students have received government scholarships to study for master's degrees at universities in Australia. In addition, more than 34,000 managers and lecturers have participated in training courses to improve their capacity, expertise and necessary skills to be ready to participate in the process of international integration and digital transformation.

Ms. Nguyen Thu Thuy - Director of the Department of International Cooperation (Ministry of Education and Training) spoke.

The Aus4Skills program also pays special attention to gender equality and social inclusion, with more than 58% of Aus4Skills participants being women. Many program activities have focused on enhancing the role of women, integrating gender equality into training programs at teacher training colleges. Inclusion for people with disabilities and support for ethnic minorities are also clearly demonstrated.

Ms. Gillian Bird - Australian Ambassador to Vietnam, affirmed that Aus4Skills is not only a cooperation program, but also a bridge connecting people, knowledge and opportunities of the two countries. The program has enhanced Vietnam's human resources in key areas, empowered thousands of individuals through education and training, and promoted innovation and inclusive growth.

According to Ms. Gillian Bird, the Aus4Skills program has supported more than 500 scholarship recipients, many of whom now hold leadership positions in government agencies, universities and businesses, and has contributed to improving governance and quality assurance in higher education, benefiting more than 40,000 students.

In addition, the program has promoted training linked to business needs, in which the proportion of women in the logistics sector increased from 13% to 60%; along with that, building the Vietnam - Australia Center into a "knowledge exchange center" where senior officials of the two countries share policies and management experiences.

During the implementation process, the Department of International Cooperation, Ministry of Education and Training has closely coordinated with the Australian Embassy in Vietnam, the Aus4Skills Office and relevant agencies. Coordinating Board meetings on higher education and vocational education are held every 6 months for the parties to jointly evaluate and agree on plans in line with Vietnam's education policy priorities.

Source: https://giaoducthoidai.vn/hop-tac-giao-duc-la-diem-sang-trong-quan-he-viet-nam-australia-post759373.html