DIRECTIVE

ON PROMOTING SKILLED WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT TO CONTRIBUTE TO IMPROVEMENT OF PRODUCTIVITY AND NATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS IN NEW SITUATION

In recent years, the Communist Party and the State have paid close attention to training and preparation of a skilled workforce, which have undergone positive changes in terms of mindset, number of admission slots and training quality and efficiency. Regulations of law on vocational education are gradually improved; networks of vocational education institutions are widespread and diverse in relation to modes of study and qualifications; quality is enhanced; more models of high quality training and training in connection with enterprises’ demand have been built, greatly contributing to improvement of workforce quality and socio-economic development of the country.

However, skilled workforce size, structure and quality have yet to meet requirements of socio-economic development, especially in the face of COVID-19, automation and digitalization trends, impacts of the fourth industrial revolution and international integration.

To take advantage of the golden population structure and promote development of a skilled workforce, especially highly skilled workforce, for the purpose of improving productivity and national competitiveness in the new situation, the Prime Minister requests ministries, central authorities and local governments to perform the following tasks:

1. Ministries, central authorities and local governments shall:

a) Continue to properly implement mechanisms and policies for development of vocational education and a skilled workforce; further carry out digital transformation and online training, with a focus on retraining and regular training the workforce to bring about great changes in terms of size, quality and efficiency of vocational education; ensure that learners acquire professional skills, digital skills, soft skills, entrepreneurship skills, languages, etc. required by the labor market. Strive to reach the vocational education level of ASEAN-4 countries by 2030 and of G20 countries by 2045;

b) Properly forecast demands for collection and update of open data on skilled workforce by sector, job and qualification, especially for new jobs and skills, and update the data on a periodical basis; increase application of information technology to connecting supply and demand to improve worker training and employment efficiency, including workers returning from abroad to utilize their strengths in work and increase income in connection with sustainable employment;

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d) Direct review and reorganization of systems of vocational education institutions according to targets stated in Resolutions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the Government; promptly stabilize organizational structure, diversify investment sources, and ensure improvement of quality and performance of vocational education institutions after reorganization; boost development of vocational education institutions having autonomy and performing well;

dd) Tighten cooperation between the State, educational institutions and enterprises in vocational education; encourage enterprises to recognize, employ and pay workers based on their skills and capacity; employ workers having received training or granted the national skills certificate as prescribed by law;

e) Increase multilateral and bilateral international cooperation in vocational education such as training cooperation; scientific research; academic exchange; training and refresher courses for teachers and managerial officials; school administration. Enable foreign investors to open high quality vocational education institutions in Vietnam;

g) Pay attention to contents of vocational education development and skilled workforce development in development plans, programs, schemes and projects of each sector/local government; prioritize funding for vocational education, which shall be allocated from funding for total state budget expenditure on education and training and programs and projects of each sector/local government, proactively attract and prioritize ODA loans for investment in vocational education institutions as per the law, especially high quality institutions included in planning and institutions providing training in approved key jobs;

h) Review and boost proper implementation and management of programs and projects related to vocational education. Further provide direction and guidelines, inspect, detect and handle violations against regulations on vocational education promptly.

2. The Ministry of Labor - War Invalids and Social Affairs shall:

a) Develop and propose a skills management and assessment system to competent authorities for promulgation; formulate schemes for digital transformation and online teaching in vocational education and schemes for development of IT skills for the workforce; review and amend list of jobs requiring workers holding the national skills certificate;

b) Implement the Vietnamese Qualifications Framework for vocational education; formulate and launch a program for international experts in vocational education;

c) Promulgate standards for persons in charge of professional training and skills assessment in enterprises and provide training and refresher courses based on promulgated standards; promulgate lists of jobs requiring trained workers according to the road map to workforce standardization and international integration; research and provide solutions for improvement of vocational education efficiency in connection with enterprises' demand and the automation trend;

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dd) Propose pilot provision of training at college level to lower secondary school graduates; continue to implement programs transferred from abroad properly to implement them on a large scale in the vocational education system;

e) Summarize and assess programs and projects for vocational education development and skilled workforce development of the 2016 - 2020 national target program; propose the programs and projects for the next period;

g) Propose a Vietnamese skills day, national awards for exemplary learners of vocational education and skills ambassador programs; develop specific programs and plans to honor and promote those with excellent skills to the youth and the society;

3. The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall:

a) Enhance capacity for providing forecast and statistics concerning the skilled workforce, especially skills of the future and new jobs; focus on contents about vocational education development and skills development in plans, programs and projects for development of each sector, region and locality and the whole country;

b) Take charge in consolidating mid-term and annual allocation of funding from state budget and other sources for vocational education development as appropriate to socio-economic development strategies, workforce development strategies and balancing capacity of state budget from time to time.

4. The Ministry of Finance shall:

a) Take charge in consolidating and allocating non-business funding for vocational education programs and projects according to regulations on budget decentralization and propose such allocation to competent authorities for decision; propose suitable on-lending rate for foreign loans used for vocational education development, especially for training of the skilled workforce;f

b) Review, advise on and propose regulations on preferential tariffs applicable to enterprises involved in vocational education to competent authorities for promulgation, ensuring that these regulations are consistent with the Law on Vocational Education and specialized laws, and encourage enterprises to connect with vocational education.

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a) Take charge and cooperate with the Ministry of Labor - War Invalids and Social Affairs in properly providing career counseling and orienting general education students to enrolling in vocational education institutions according to the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 522/QD-TTg dated May 14, 2019 and provide mechanisms for assessment and supervision of performance of these tasks in localities;

b) Promulgate regulations on upper secondary education knowledge and guidelines for teaching of such knowledge and certification of acquisition of such knowledge in vocational education institutions in the third quarter of 2020;

c) Research and propose amendments to mechanisms and policies enabling vocational education students to advance to higher education.

6. The Ministry of Information and Communications shall:

Cooperate with the Central Propaganda and Training Commission and relevant regulatory bodies, proactively and promptly provide information on skilled labor demand for relevant press agencies and grassroots information systems to boost communications activities, create change in social consensus and mindset and encourage the whole society to participate in improving vocational education quality.

7. The State Bank of Vietnam shall:

Take charge and cooperate with relevant regulatory bodies in researching and adopting credit policies that support skilled workforce development, especially for jobs in prioritized sectors, to facilitate credit access of vocational education institutions.

8. People’s Committees of provinces and central-affiliated cities shall:

a)  Focus on improving capacity of vocational education institutions and high quality training based on international standards to meet skilled labor demand and contribute to socio-economic development in their provinces and cities;

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c) Encourage enterprises to employ many skilled workers and vocational education institutions to form a close connection with enterprises; research and establish a unit in charge of connecting vocational education with enterprises on a part-time basis in each province/city to enable enterprises to participate in vocational education.

9. Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Vietnam Association of Small and Medium Enterprises and socio-professional organizations shall:

a) Further enable enterprises to exercise their rights and fulfill their responsibilities concerning vocational education according to regulations of law on labor, employment and vocational education;

b) Formulate cooperation programs of each year or period to promote cooperation between vocational education and enterprises intra vires;

c) Actively participate in units in charge of connecting vocational education with enterprises to assist enterprises with participating in vocational education.

10. Enterprises are encouraged to:

a) Establish vocational education institutions or professional training classes at the workplace to enhance the qualifications and skills of their workers; cooperate with vocational education institutions in providing vocational education and other training programs as prescribed by law;

b) Assign qualified personnel to provide training, develop job lists; national skills standards; expected training outcomes; training programs; and economic - technical norms in vocational education; and participate in councils and boards of directors of vocational education institutions and relevant skills councils;

c) Organize skills exams for workers, assess and recognize skills, and develop professional capacity of workers;

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11. Vietnam Fatherland Front and members thereof, mass organizations and Vietnam Association for Learning Promotion shall pay attention to and prioritize monetary rewards and other encouraging rewards for workers and learners with high achievements in vocational education.

12. Implementation

Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of Governmental agencies, and Chairpersons of People’s Committees of provinces and central-affiliated cities shall formulate specific action programs or plans for implementation of this Directive; and submit annual reports to the Ministry of Labor - War Invalids and Social Affairs for consolidation./.

The Ministry of Labor - War Invalids and Social Affairs shall monitor and expedite implementation of this Directive and submit periodic reports on such implementation to the Prime Minister./.

THE PRIME MINISTER




Nguyen Xuan Phuc

DIRECTIVE

ON PROMOTING SKILLED WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT TO CONTRIBUTE TO IMPROVEMENT OF PRODUCTIVITY AND NATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS IN NEW SITUATION

In recent years, the Communist Party and the State have paid close attention to training and preparation of a skilled workforce, which have undergone positive changes in terms of mindset, number of admission slots and training quality and efficiency. Regulations of law on vocational education are gradually improved; networks of vocational education institutions are widespread and diverse in relation to modes of study and qualifications; quality is enhanced; more models of high quality training and training in connection with enterprises’ demand have been built, greatly contributing to improvement of workforce quality and socio-economic development of the country.

However, skilled workforce size, structure and quality have yet to meet requirements of socio-economic development, especially in the face of COVID-19, automation and digitalization trends, impacts of the fourth industrial revolution and international integration.

To take advantage of the golden population structure and promote development of a skilled workforce, especially highly skilled workforce, for the purpose of improving productivity and national competitiveness in the new situation, the Prime Minister requests ministries, central authorities and local governments to perform the following tasks:

1. Ministries, central authorities and local governments shall:

a) Continue to properly implement mechanisms and policies for development of vocational education and a skilled workforce; further carry out digital transformation and online training, with a focus on retraining and regular training the workforce to bring about great changes in terms of size, quality and efficiency of vocational education; ensure that learners acquire professional skills, digital skills, soft skills, entrepreneurship skills, languages, etc. required by the labor market. Strive to reach the vocational education level of ASEAN-4 countries by 2030 and of G20 countries by 2045;

b) Properly forecast demands for collection and update of open data on skilled workforce by sector, job and qualification, especially for new jobs and skills, and update the data on a periodical basis; increase application of information technology to connecting supply and demand to improve worker training and employment efficiency, including workers returning from abroad to utilize their strengths in work and increase income in connection with sustainable employment;

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...

d) Direct review and reorganization of systems of vocational education institutions according to targets stated in Resolutions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the Government; promptly stabilize organizational structure, diversify investment sources, and ensure improvement of quality and performance of vocational education institutions after reorganization; boost development of vocational education institutions having autonomy and performing well;

dd) Tighten cooperation between the State, educational institutions and enterprises in vocational education; encourage enterprises to recognize, employ and pay workers based on their skills and capacity; employ workers having received training or granted the national skills certificate as prescribed by law;

e) Increase multilateral and bilateral international cooperation in vocational education such as training cooperation; scientific research; academic exchange; training and refresher courses for teachers and managerial officials; school administration. Enable foreign investors to open high quality vocational education institutions in Vietnam;

g) Pay attention to contents of vocational education development and skilled workforce development in development plans, programs, schemes and projects of each sector/local government; prioritize funding for vocational education, which shall be allocated from funding for total state budget expenditure on education and training and programs and projects of each sector/local government, proactively attract and prioritize ODA loans for investment in vocational education institutions as per the law, especially high quality institutions included in planning and institutions providing training in approved key jobs;

h) Review and boost proper implementation and management of programs and projects related to vocational education. Further provide direction and guidelines, inspect, detect and handle violations against regulations on vocational education promptly.

2. The Ministry of Labor - War Invalids and Social Affairs shall:

a) Develop and propose a skills management and assessment system to competent authorities for promulgation; formulate schemes for digital transformation and online teaching in vocational education and schemes for development of IT skills for the workforce; review and amend list of jobs requiring workers holding the national skills certificate;

b) Implement the Vietnamese Qualifications Framework for vocational education; formulate and launch a program for international experts in vocational education;

c) Promulgate standards for persons in charge of professional training and skills assessment in enterprises and provide training and refresher courses based on promulgated standards; promulgate lists of jobs requiring trained workers according to the road map to workforce standardization and international integration; research and provide solutions for improvement of vocational education efficiency in connection with enterprises' demand and the automation trend;

...

...

...

dd) Propose pilot provision of training at college level to lower secondary school graduates; continue to implement programs transferred from abroad properly to implement them on a large scale in the vocational education system;

e) Summarize and assess programs and projects for vocational education development and skilled workforce development of the 2016 - 2020 national target program; propose the programs and projects for the next period;

g) Propose a Vietnamese skills day, national awards for exemplary learners of vocational education and skills ambassador programs; develop specific programs and plans to honor and promote those with excellent skills to the youth and the society;

3. The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall:

a) Enhance capacity for providing forecast and statistics concerning the skilled workforce, especially skills of the future and new jobs; focus on contents about vocational education development and skills development in plans, programs and projects for development of each sector, region and locality and the whole country;

b) Take charge in consolidating mid-term and annual allocation of funding from state budget and other sources for vocational education development as appropriate to socio-economic development strategies, workforce development strategies and balancing capacity of state budget from time to time.

4. The Ministry of Finance shall:

a) Take charge in consolidating and allocating non-business funding for vocational education programs and projects according to regulations on budget decentralization and propose such allocation to competent authorities for decision; propose suitable on-lending rate for foreign loans used for vocational education development, especially for training of the skilled workforce;f

b) Review, advise on and propose regulations on preferential tariffs applicable to enterprises involved in vocational education to competent authorities for promulgation, ensuring that these regulations are consistent with the Law on Vocational Education and specialized laws, and encourage enterprises to connect with vocational education.

...

...

...

a) Take charge and cooperate with the Ministry of Labor - War Invalids and Social Affairs in properly providing career counseling and orienting general education students to enrolling in vocational education institutions according to the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 522/QD-TTg dated May 14, 2019 and provide mechanisms for assessment and supervision of performance of these tasks in localities;

b) Promulgate regulations on upper secondary education knowledge and guidelines for teaching of such knowledge and certification of acquisition of such knowledge in vocational education institutions in the third quarter of 2020;

c) Research and propose amendments to mechanisms and policies enabling vocational education students to advance to higher education.

6. The Ministry of Information and Communications shall:

Cooperate with the Central Propaganda and Training Commission and relevant regulatory bodies, proactively and promptly provide information on skilled labor demand for relevant press agencies and grassroots information systems to boost communications activities, create change in social consensus and mindset and encourage the whole society to participate in improving vocational education quality.

7. The State Bank of Vietnam shall:

Take charge and cooperate with relevant regulatory bodies in researching and adopting credit policies that support skilled workforce development, especially for jobs in prioritized sectors, to facilitate credit access of vocational education institutions.

8. People’s Committees of provinces and central-affiliated cities shall:

a)  Focus on improving capacity of vocational education institutions and high quality training based on international standards to meet skilled labor demand and contribute to socio-economic development in their provinces and cities;

...

...

...

c) Encourage enterprises to employ many skilled workers and vocational education institutions to form a close connection with enterprises; research and establish a unit in charge of connecting vocational education with enterprises on a part-time basis in each province/city to enable enterprises to participate in vocational education.

9. Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Vietnam Association of Small and Medium Enterprises and socio-professional organizations shall:

a) Further enable enterprises to exercise their rights and fulfill their responsibilities concerning vocational education according to regulations of law on labor, employment and vocational education;

b) Formulate cooperation programs of each year or period to promote cooperation between vocational education and enterprises intra vires;

c) Actively participate in units in charge of connecting vocational education with enterprises to assist enterprises with participating in vocational education.

10. Enterprises are encouraged to:

a) Establish vocational education institutions or professional training classes at the workplace to enhance the qualifications and skills of their workers; cooperate with vocational education institutions in providing vocational education and other training programs as prescribed by law;

b) Assign qualified personnel to provide training, develop job lists; national skills standards; expected training outcomes; training programs; and economic - technical norms in vocational education; and participate in councils and boards of directors of vocational education institutions and relevant skills councils;

c) Organize skills exams for workers, assess and recognize skills, and develop professional capacity of workers;

...

...

...

11. Vietnam Fatherland Front and members thereof, mass organizations and Vietnam Association for Learning Promotion shall pay attention to and prioritize monetary rewards and other encouraging rewards for workers and learners with high achievements in vocational education.

12. Implementation

Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of Governmental agencies, and Chairpersons of People’s Committees of provinces and central-affiliated cities shall formulate specific action programs or plans for implementation of this Directive; and submit annual reports to the Ministry of Labor - War Invalids and Social Affairs for consolidation./.

The Ministry of Labor - War Invalids and Social Affairs shall monitor and expedite implementation of this Directive and submit periodic reports on such implementation to the Prime Minister./.

THE PRIME MINISTER




Nguyen Xuan Phuc

Directive No. 24/CT-TTg dated May 28, 2020 on promoting skilled workforce development to contribute to improvement of productivity and national competitiveness in new situation