Opening of language and vocational school for Vietnamese people in Germany

Realizing that language and vocationaleducation are two means that can help Vietnamese people integrate sustainably into their second homeland, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Vietnamese-owned language and vocational education school - ITW Lichtenberg - officially opened on the evening of May 27 local time, in Lichtenberg district, a district of Berlin with a large Vietnamese population.

ITW Lichtenberg is the second campus of ITW Berlin, a German vocational education organization established in 1967, with the aim of contributing to supporting the Vietnamese community to deeply integrate into German society and the labor market through language education and vocational training.

Attending the ceremony were the Vietnamese Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany, Mr. Vu Quang Minh, representatives of a number of Vietnamese and German training cooperation organizations, including the Central Acupuncture Hospital of Vietnam and the AVESTOS Group (Germany), representatives of the Union of Vietnamese Associations in Germany and many Vietnamese associations, along with a number of businesses from both countries.

For nearly 60 years, ITW Berlin has played an important role in helping workers, including many refugees and immigrants, access the job market.

The school has faced many difficulties after the COVID-19 pandemic and was taken over by a group of Vietnamese investors in 2024. ITW Berlin currently has 250 students studying German language courses and vocational training.

In 2025, ITW Berlin will open new vocational training courses such as health care and beauty. The school also plans to cooperate with the International Construction and Labor Supply Joint Stock Company (Nibelc Group) in Vietnam to train 1,500 workers and send about 500 skilled workers to Germany.

In his opening speech, Professor-Doctor Frank Deubler, President of ITW Berlin, said that ITW Berlin pursues three major missions: Accompanying integration, helping Vietnamese people learn German, providing career orientation, and training skills, thereby becoming a highly skilled workforce serving the host country.

Ambassador Vu Quang Minh (center) and guests cut the ribbon to inaugurate ITW Lichtenberg. (Photo: Thu Hang/VNA)

The second is to connect Vietnam and Germany, support young people from Vietnam who have just arrived to learn the language and help them find jobs.

The third is to preserve Vietnamese culture, through organizing Vietnamese language classes for the young generation of Vietnamese people in Germany, so that they can access Vietnamese language, culture, music and cuisine. This is the new and important mission of ITW Berlin.

For his part, Ambassador Vu Quang Minh said that in the fields of cooperation between Vietnam and Germany, labor and vocational training cooperation is an area where both sides have strengths that can complement each other.

According to statistics, from now until 2035, Germany may lack up to 7 million skilled workers, while Vietnam has an abundant labor force.

Every year, about 150,000 Vietnamese workers go abroad to work, but only a few thousand go to Germany, a very modest number despite its increase.

The Ambassador appreciated the efforts of investors, the board of directors, and school teachers who devoted much effort to the new facility.

The Ambassador expressed his hope that the community and Vietnamese and German businesses will join hands to support the school in achieving its announced noble goals.

According to Mr. Phan Cong Nguyen, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ITW Berlin, the goal of ITW Berlin is not only language and vocational training but also a bridge for integration.

ITW Berlin not only develops in Germany but also transfers training programs and industry codes to Vietnam and deploys a training system in Vietnam, standardizing degrees from Vietnam to better prepare Vietnamese workers to enter the German market.

During the opening ceremony, ITW Lichtenberg also signed a number of cooperation documents with the Central Acupuncture Hospital of Vietnam on promoting training and professional development in Vietnamese traditional medicine./.