Vietnam

The Vietnamese economy has seen rapid growth in the past three decades.¹⁸ In its pursuit to continue this growth trend and achieve regional and international competitiveness, Vietnam is confronted by many challenges - increasing demand for skilled workers, environmental concerns, new technical advancements to name a few. At the same time, currently, about 1.6 million people enter the domestic labour market in search of employment to earn a living.¹⁹ Aspiring to develop into an industrialised country by 2020, Vietnam has chosen a path of green growth. Vocational education is central to this aspiration.²⁰

In view of this, the Government of Vietnam has prioritised vocational skills training and employment promotion. Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) has been made central to the national development goals. The TVET system, which is being tailored to meet the country’s economic and social needs, specifically aims to prioritise sectors and occupations that face significant skills shortages to tap into the employment potential that largely remains unutilised.^21,22

The Ministry of Labour - Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) is the main governing authority for TVET in Vietnam. Directorate of Vocational Education and Training (DVET) under the aegis of MOLISA is the main agency responsible for implementing TVET activities. In addition, while other line ministries such as the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) play an important role in TVET at the central level, local authorities supervise it at the local and provincial level.

Formal TVET is offered at both, secondary and post-secondary levels. Vocational education and training (VET) is offered by secondary vocational schools at the upper secondary level and lasts up to two years. At the post-secondary non-tertiary level, college training also known as practicing bachelor training is offered to students. This training lasts 2-3 years and is offered by vocational colleges, universities under various ministries and related agencies. Upon successful completion of post-secondary non-tertiary level studies, graduates are able to proceed to (general) bachelor programmes at the tertiary education level.

Non-formal and informal TVET involves continuing vocational education and training (C-VET) programmes in the form of in-service, correspondence, or guided self-study training at the elementary, intermediate, and college levels. However, no mechanisms to recognise non-formal and informal prior learning are in place at this stage.

In recent times, Vietnam has witnessed an increase in development efforts by international development agencies and public-private cooperation. Efforts are underway to develop legal frameworks and regulations on qualification and certification of in-company trainers, teachers’ standards, greening TVET, development of TVET institutes, as well as quality assurance.²³

This profile outlines the TVET system in Vietnam and provides information on more recent efforts and developments.

According to Article 4 of the Law on Vocational Education¹, the general objectives of vocational education are: to provide training for personnel directly involved in production, businesses or services, to acquire proficiency equivalent to their training standards, possess professional ethics and good health, gain creative ability, and adapt to the environment in the context of international integration; to improve their productivity and quality; and to enable students to find jobs, self-employment or enter higher education.

Specific objectives pertaining to each level of vocational education are:

1. Elementary level: to equip students for abilities to perform simple tasks of a particular job;
2. Intermediate level: to equip students for abilities to perform elementary-level tasks and some complicated and special tasks, apply technology to their jobs, and work independently or work in groups; and
3. College level: to equip students for abilities to perform intermediate-level tasks and some complicated and special tasks, acquire abilities to create and apply modern technology to their jobs, and instruct and observe other members in their groups in performing the tasks.

Key legislation includes:

• The Law on Vocational Education (Law No. 74/2014/QH13, dated 27th November 2014)¹;
• Vocational Training Development Strategy period 2011-2020 (Decision No. 630/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister dated 29th May 2012)²; and
• Project on “Vocational Training for Rural Workers until 2020” (Decision No.1956/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister dated 27th November 2009).³

Some of the special provisions include:

• TVET ethnic minority students from economically deprived areas, as well as near-poor TVET students in mountainous areas are allowed to have tuition reduction from public TVET institutions (Decree No. 86/2015/ND-CP of the Government dated 2nd October 2015); and
• Students from poor and near-poor households, people with disabilities, permanent residents from socio-economically disadvantaged or ethnic or border and island areas are allowed to receive specific scholarships and other allowances (Decision No. 53/2015/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister dated 20th October 2015).

The Law on Vocational Education¹ came into effect in July 2015. Major changes in the national TVET system are regulated in this Law. To implement the Law in practice, a number of activities have been implemented, such as:

• Responsible state management agencies in TVET sector work together to develop and release new under-Law documents (e.g. decrees, circulars, decisions, etc.), which instruct and guide TVET-related entities to implement the Law; and
• National TVET policies that are still suitable with the objectives of the TVET system (e.g. the Vocational Training Development Strategy 2011-2020)⁴ continue to be implemented.

Various stakeholders are involved in the implementation of TVET. They are:

• The Ministry of Labour - Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) is responsible for managing the TVET system, as well as for the development and approval of national occupational skill standards in their responsible sectors;
• Line ministries, e.g. Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Construction, etc., which are partners of MOLISA help in managing TVET;
• Provincial Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (DOLISA) is responsible for state management of TVET activities at provincial level;
• TVET institutions (vocational education and training colleges, vocational education and training secondary schools, vocational education and training centres) are responsible for delivering TVET programmes;
• TVET teacher training institutions comprise universities and colleges that deliver TVET teacher pre-service training programmes;
• Industry (professional associations and enterprises) contributes to the development of occupational standards, curricular, training, testing exercises, assessment, and tracer and enterprise surveys. Level of participation in each type of activity depends on occupations, and willingness of each company or association. While participation of industry in TVET activities is gradually growing, it is still limited, unsystematic and unsustainable.

There are two sources of funding for vocational training: the State budget and non-state budget funding.

• State budget consists of three types: recurrent funding, capital construction investment and programme funding (fund for national target programmes); and
• Non-state budget funding includes vocational training admission charges and tuition fees, incomes from services, business and production activities, counselling and technology transfer done by TVET institutions, as well as investment and funds from domestic and international organisations and individuals.

With respect to recurrent funding sources, funds are spent for the regular operation of TVET institutions.

• Regular spending from State budget for vocational training must be allocated in accordance with the principle of publicity and centralised democracy. It is based on the vocational training scale and socio – economic development conditions of each region and demonstrates the State’s priority policy for popularisation of vocational training and development of vocational training in ethnic and specially disadvantaged areas.
• Financial agencies are responsible for allocating adequate and timely funding to vocational training as dictated by the progress of the academic year. The vocational training management agencies are responsible for managing and utilising the vocational training budget allocated and other income sources efficiently as stipulated by law.

Funding to vocational training institutions is allocated from the budget of provinces and municipalities or industries. This source is generally used to pay the salaries and insurance of teaching and other staff on the payroll. Due to insufficient expenditures on purchase of materials for training, vocational training institutions usually request an additional financial resource called training support fund. Allocations of the training support fund depend on localities.

Under the current mechanism of spending the State budget on vocational training, MOLISA is only allowed to participate in the process of estimating and allocating the State budget for national target programmes in vocational training. MOLISA is not yet allowed to get involved in the estimation and allocation of the State budget for recurrent expenditures and infrastructure development to support vocational training.

National Education System

Figure 1 shows the structure of the National Education System in Vietnam.⁶

Figure 1: Structural framework of the national education system⁷

The Government subsidises major expenditures for public education institutions at all educational levels, such as infrastructure, equipment, salary for teachers and managers, etc. The fund can be provided in the form of annual recurrent fund or national target programmes. Tuition fee of students and learners cover part of operational expenditures of the education and training institutions. Non-public TVET institutions need to fund their own activities and operations. Mandatory years of schools start around early September and end in June of next year.

TVET System

The main target group of TVET is young people (from 15 – 21 years of age). Students must successfully complete their primary education to enrol in the elementary vocational training programmes. Graduates from upper secondary schools, post-secondary education or vocational colleges are eligible to enter tertiary level of education.

Formal TVET System

There are three main types of TVET institutions: vocational education and training centres (elementary level), vocational education and secondary schools (intermediate level), and vocational education and colleges (college level). The three types of TVET institutions exist countrywide.

• Vocational training centres offer elementary training programmes, which last up to 12 months. Graduates are awarded a certificate upon successful completion of the programmes.
• Vocational secondary schools (at post-secondary education) offer intermediate training programmes. Programme duration depends on input level - at lower secondary education level and upper secondary education level training duration is for 1 year and 2 to 3 years respectively. Graduates are awarded a certificate upon successful completion of the programmes.
• Vocational colleges offer college training programmes covering different areas and occupations that graduates of upper secondary schools or vocational secondary schools can choose from. Training duration lasts 1 to 3 years. Graduates are awarded a diploma degree upon successful completion of the programmes.

Curricula

At post-secondary education and college levels, curricular are developed and approved under decision of rector of TVET institutions (Circular No. 03/2017/TT-BLDTBXH).⁸

The theory versus practice ratio depends on training occupations and level of study⁸:

• For intermediate level: depending on training occupations, the theory/practice ratio for programmes varies from 25%-45%/55%-75%.
• For vocational college: depending on training occupations, the theory/practice ratio for programmes varies from 30% - 50%/50% - 70%.

TVET students attend internship programmes in their last year of training.

According to Circular 04/2017/TT-BLDTBXH dated 2 March 2017⁹ released by MOLISA on training occupations at intermediate and college levels, there were 784 occupations at intermediate level and 550 occupations at college level.

TVET Institutes

In March 2018, there were 1,954 TVET institutions in the country. 394 of them were vocational education and colleges (20.16%), 515 were vocational education and secondary schools (26.35%) and 1,045 were vocational education and training centres (53.48%).

There were 1,289 public TVET institutions (accounting for 66.5%), of which vocational education and college accounted for 23.8%, vocational education and secondary schools accounted for 22.9%, vocational education and training centres accounted for 54.3%. Non-public (private and foreign invested) TVET institutions were 655 (33.5%). (DVET 2018)

Non-formal and Informal TVET System

Non-formal and informal training in Vietnam are referred to as continuing vocational education and training (C-VET). The Law on VET (2015) defines C-VET as training that is provided as in-service, correspondence, or guided self-study training at the elementary, intermediate, and college levels. Flexible or part-time vocational training programmes are also considered as C-VET. The Ministry of Labour - Invalids and Social Affairs is responsible for C-VET programmes.

The duration of continuing training depends on the programme and the types of trainees targeted (e.g. unemployed youths, ethnic minority groups, people with disabilities, employed people wanting to pursue further training etc.). Non-formal and informal TVET are offered in TVET institutions or other organisations such as the Women Union, Farmer Union, Youth Union, associations, and companies.

There are no mechanisms to recognise non-formal and informal prior learning .

According to Prime Minister's Decision No. 1982/QD-TTg¹⁰ on approving the Vietnam National Framework, the NQF of Vietnam comprises eight levels, as shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Eight qualification levels of the NQF of Vietnam

The NQF is in line with the ASEAN Qualifications Reference Framework (AQRF).

Vietnam Vocational Training Accreditation Agency (VVTAA), a unit of Directorate of Vocational Education and Training (DVET) under the purview of MOLISA, is responsible for ensuring quality assurance and standards in TVET. The major function of VVTAA is to assist the Director General of DVET to perform State function in the area of accreditation and quality management for vocational education and training at national level.

Purpose of accreditation for vocational education and training is to evaluate and determine the level of achievement of objectives of training programmes of TVET institutions (vocational colleges, vocational secondary schools and vocational training centres) for a given period of time. This helps TVET institutions to continuously improve the quality and effectiveness of training.

The organisation and management of vocational training quality accreditation activities is regulated by Article 66 of the Law on Vocational Education and Training¹ as follows:

1. The organization for education quality accreditation shall assess and recognize the vocational training institutions and vocational training programs satisfying the requirements pertaining to vocational education quality.

2. Organizations for vocational education quality accreditation include

1. Organizations for vocational education quality accreditation established by the State;
2. Organizations for vocational education quality accreditation established by organizations or individuals.

3. An organization for vocational education quality accreditation established according to projects must:

1. Have facilities, equipment and finance meeting the requirements pertaining to the organization for vocational education quality accreditation;
2. Have administrative official and assessor staff meeting the requirements pertaining to the organization for vocational education quality accreditation.

4. The organizations for education quality accreditation shall have legal status, take legal responsibility for their operation; and they are eligible to collect accreditation fees as prescribed in regulations of law.

5. The Head of Vocational Education Authority shall provide guidance on requirements, procedures and periods of vocational education quality accreditation; conditions and competence in establishment, permission for establishment, dissolution of the organizations for vocational education quality accreditation; rights and obligations of organizations for vocational education quality accreditation; recognition of accreditation results of the organizations for vocational education quality accreditation; issuance and revocation of certificate of vocational education quality accreditation; criteria, rights and obligations of assessors; management and issuance of vocational education quality assessor’s cards.

Accreditation is of two types: self-accreditation and external accreditation. An accreditation cycle starts with self-accreditation of TVET institutions.

1. Self-accreditation: TVET institutions across the nation must conduct self-accreditation once a year.
2. External accreditation: This is conducted once every five years for TVET institutions, which have express the need for external accreditation.¹¹

Accreditation for TVET institutions is based on 8 criteria for vocational education training centres, and 9 criteria for vocational colleges and vocational secondary schools. The criteria cover aspects such as: mandate and objectives of institutions; training activities; TVET teachers, managers and staff; training curricular, teaching and learning materials; training facilities and equipment; financial management; services for trainees; monitoring and quality assessment; etc. The criterion, ‘training curricular, teaching and learning materials’ is linked to the NQF, which in turn is in line with the AQRF.¹²

In 2016, over 70% of graduates were hired by the industry upon course completion. Out of these, 69% of graduates came from vocational colleges and 72% from vocational secondary schools respectively. The average starting salary for graduates was VND 4.2 million/month.¹³

Composition of Teaching Workforce

The male-female ratio of teaching workforce in 2016 was 70.82-29.18 (as per draft of Vocational Education and Training Report Viet Nam 2016). TVET teachers come from different backgrounds, including:

• Graduates of University of Technology and Education (UTE) or other universities;
• Graduates of vocational colleges and vocational secondary schools;
• Skilled workers and technicians from industries; and
• Skilled artisans.

According to Circular No. 08/2017/TT-BLDTBXH dated 10 March 2017¹⁴ on standards and qualifications of TVET teachers/instructors:

• At vocational college level:
  • Teachers teaching theoretical subjects must obtain at least a Bachelor’s degree in a specialised field or Bachelor’s in specialised pedagogy in line with the assigned vocation.
  • Teachers/trainers teaching practical subjects must obtain one of the following certificates of vocational skills in line with the assigned vocation: at least a national certificate of vocational skills level 3; or a worker’s certification level 5/7, 4/6; or a certificate of people’s artisan, people’s artist, or people’s doctor; or a vocational college degree or certificate of vocational practice at vocational college level or equivalent.
• At intermediate level (vocational secondary school):
  • Teachers teaching theoretical subjects must obtain at least a Bachelor’s degree in a specialised field or Bachelor’s in specialised pedagogy in line with the assigned vocation.
  • Teachers/trainers teaching practical subjects must obtain one of the following certificates of vocational skills in line with the assigned vocation: at least a national certificate of vocational skills level 2; or a worker’s certification level 4/7, 3/6; or a certificate of meritorious artisan, meritorious artist, or meritorious doctor; or a certificate of vocational practice at vocational college level or vocational college degree or junior college degree or equivalent.
• At elementary level (vocational training centre):
  • Teachers need to obtain at least a diploma of professional secondary school or vocational intermediate school in a major appropriate to the vocation to be taught; or obtain one of certificates of vocational skills in conformity with the vocation to be taught equivalent to elementary level as follows: at least a national certificate of vocational skills level 1; or worker’s certification level 3/7, 2/6; or artisan certificate of province or central-affiliated city.

Salaries of Teachers & Trainers

Starting salaries differ for teachers working at public and non-public TVET institutions. Teachers’ salary at public TVET institutions is based on the qualification level of teachers. In general, teachers’ starting salary is around USD 175 per month. At non-public TVET institutions, starting salary is a negotiation. However, it is not less than the regulated minimum salary, which is regulated differently in different regions of the country.

Teachers’ Professional Development

Pre-Service Teacher Education

The pre-service teacher training model of Vietnam is a consecutive model that requires students to first get a bachelor’s qualification in a technical-technological field. Students are then trained in vocational pedagogy in a designated course programme and awarded a Vocational Pedagogy Certificate.

The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) is responsible for all university level training programmes including pre-service teacher training programmes. Inputs of the pre-service programmes are graduates of upper secondary school. The pre-service training programmes are delivered at five Universities of Technology Education (UTEs) and at the Faculty of Technical Education of some other universities. The programmes may be offered in the form of training credits or time-based curricular.

In-Service Teacher Education

Novice teachers start their job by having a formally structured induction phase. The induction phase is of six months for teachers teaching at elementary level and of twelve months for teachers teaching at intermediate and college level (Circular No. 06/2017/TT-BLDTBXH).¹⁵ During these phases, novice teachers are mentored by experienced teachers while participating in lessons of other teachers, developing lesson plans, giving lessons themselves, etc. Responsibility of preparing content belongs to TVET institutions.

The Ministry of Labour - Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) is responsible for in-service teacher training programmes, which are delivered by 39 Departments for Vocational Pedagogy at vocational colleges. In-service training programmes are structured in modules.

The national TVET teacher’s standard (Circular No. 08/2017/TT-BLDTBXH on standards and qualifications of TVET teachers)¹⁴ that was released in March 2017 forms an important basis for designing and conducting training programmes, such as: professional skills training (updating, upgrading); teaching skills & teaching methodology; teaching media; curriculum development; and internship. It consists of:

• Professional competency: technical, foreign language, ICT;
• Pedagogy competency: qualification, teaching time, teaching preparation, teaching delivery, assessment, training profile management, curriculum/learning material development, training planning, learners’ management, and maintenance of the learning environment; and
• Career development, scientific research: furtherance of qualifications, development of employability skills for learners, and participation in research.

Specifically, MOLISA and provincial Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (DOLISA) provide a vocational pedagogy programme for novice teachers, as well as further pedagogy training programmes on developing integrated teaching plan, competency-based training and training on new technologies for TVET teachers. The pedagogy training certificate course is a national pedagogy standard training programme that focuses on vocational pedagogy comprising vocational psychology and vocational education. The duration of the programme is 400 hours, successful completion of which leads to the pedagogy in-service certificate (by MOLISA). Universities and colleges can use it as a top up programme in pre-service training. Currently, both, teachers with and without this qualification are a part of the system.

In addition to the pedagogy training programme, MOLISA/DVET and provincial Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (DOLISA) also offer practical training programmes with duration of 480 hours for graduates of TVET teacher training universities, and 960 hours for graduates of engineering programmes. Objective of such programmes is to improve the practical skills of TVET teachers in order to make them meet the national practical standards, which are regulated in the Circular No. 08/2017/TT-BLDTBXH on standards and qualifications of TVET teachers.¹⁴

In Vietnam, participation of professional associations is much-required in some specific professions, especially for the development of occupational standards, delivery of training programmes, etc. Thus, quite a few relevant professional associations could be engaged in TVET; however, very few are involved currently. A promising example of private sector cooperation has been the collaboration between Viet Nam Water and Sewage Association and GIZ bilateral programme in Viet Nam on the pilot cooperative training programme.

According to GoinGlobal, 2015 employment trends in Vietnam showed greatest demand,¹

By Area, for:

• Sales
• Information technology
• Business development
• Accounting
• Marketing
• Engineering
• Human resources
• Manufacturing
• Quality control
• Administration/secretarial
• Medical and health

By Sector, for:

• Manufacturing
• Health care/Pharmaceuticals
• Finance  
• IT
• Supply chain

By Skills, for:

• Communication ability
• Problem-solving ability
• Ability to work in teams
• Ability to interpret
• Analytical skills
• Creative decision making
• Adaptability
• Ability to think ahead
• Organisational skills
• Ability to delegate

Key skills needed for the next five to ten years in Vietnam, as well as throughout the Asia-Pacific region, according to Oxford Economics, include:

• Digital business skills
• Agile-thinking skills
• Global-operating skills

According to MOLISA’s newsletter update on the labour market of Vietnam, vocational courses are not preferred over academic courses. In addition, graduates of academic courses (bachelor degrees) earn more than graduates of TVET institutions.¹⁷

At macro level, MOLISA is working on different policies to:

• Encourage involvement of business sector in TVET;
• Empower TVET institutions by giving more autonomy in terms of developing strategic plans, human resources and finance to TVET institutions; and
• Improve quality assurance (QA) mechanism, as well as to continuously provide further training courses to TVET institution teachers and managers for upgrading their competence to meet the national standards.

At implementation level, depending on self-capacity, TVET institutions organise open days and career fairs in collaboration with local enterprises. Quite a number of TVET institutions have developed good relations with enterprises to carry out internship programmes, as well as tracer surveys for their graduates.

With the technical cooperation of GIZ’s “Programme Reform of TVET in Viet Nam”, at policy level, DVET/MOLISA has installed the mechanism for developing a yearly national TVET report – TVET sector monitoring tool - into the TVET system. It is also piloting topics such as criteria for selecting high-quality TVET institutions and facilitating autonomy of TVET institutions. At the TVET institution level, Centre of Excellence for TVET and greening TVET have been piloted. Furthermore, cooperative training has been carried out and has received success in its initial phase.

Some of the key issues include:

• Lack of effective collaboration with industry: The Government and TVET institutions recognise the importance of collaborating with the industry on TVET. Although laws and policies have been formulated to encourage enterprises to work with TVET institutions, not very many effective and close collaboration models have been built so far. Enterprises, in general, have not shown much interest in participating in TVET activities.
• Low image and awareness of TVET in society: Most people consider TVET as the second choice of education pathway. TVET graduates tend to be paid lower than graduates of academic programmes (bachelor degree holders).
• Inadequate reward and social status for TVET teachers/trainers: TVET personnel - teachers, trainers, instructors and school managers are not given the same regard and value as personnel from academia.
• Limited competence of TVET teachers and managers: Many TVET teachers still do not meet the national standards. They lack practical skills and industrial experience, as well as the competence for delivering training programmes based on a student-centred approach. Only a small percentage of TVET institution managers have received management training. Although the Government has recently paid attention to provide training to TVET institution managers, on a national scale, competence of managers still remains low.
• No effective Labour Market Information System (LMIS) exists: Vietnam is making the effort to shift from a supply-driven to a market-oriented TVET system; however, presently LMIS does not exist at a national scale. The lack of an effective LMIS is possibly resulting in a mismatch of training demand and supply- in terms of both quantity and quality.

A number of policies and plans have been formulated to help overcome some of the above-mentioned challenges. Few of these are:

• Vocational Training Development Strategy 2011 – 2020⁴
• Circular No. 08/2017/TT-BLDTBXH on standards and qualifications of TVET teachers¹⁴
• Circular No.06/2017/TT-BLDTBXH on recruitment, employment, and training apply for TVET teachers¹⁵
• Circular No. 03/2017/TT-BLDTBXH on procedure for design, evaluation and issuance of the training programmes.⁸

[1] Law No. 74/2014/QH13 - Law on Vocational Education. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.molisa.gov.vn/en/Pages/Detail-document.aspx?vID=636 [Accessed 1 Oct. 2018].

[2] Decision No. 630/QD-TTg - Approving the vocational training development strategy for the 2011-2020 period. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.molisa.gov.vn/en/Pages/Detail-document.aspx?vID=550 [Accessed 1 Oct. 2018].

[3] Decision No. 1956/QD-TTg - Approving the scheme on vocational training for rural laborers up to 2020. (2009). Retrieved from http://www.molisa.gov.vn/en/Pages/Detail-document.aspx?vID=418 [Accessed 1 Oct. 2018].

[4] MOLISA (Ministry of Labour – Invalids and Social Affairs. (2017). Vocational Training Development Strategy 2011 - 2020. Retrieved from http://www.molisa.gov.vn/en/Pages/Detail-document.aspx?vID=550 [Accessed 1 Oct. 2018].

[5] Decree No. 14/2017/ND-CP - Stipulating Functions, Duties, Authorities and Organization Structure of the Ministry of Labour - Invalids and Social Affairs. (2017). Retrieved from http://www.molisa.gov.vn/en/Pages/Detail-news.aspx?IDNews=1477 [Accessed 1 Oct. 2018].

[6] Structural framework of the national education system. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://vanban.chinhphu.vn/portal/page/portal/chinhphu/hethongvanban?class_id=2&mode=detail&document_id=187037 [Accessed 1 Oct. 2018].

[7] Decision No. 1981/QD-TTG. (2016). Retrieved from https://thuvienphapluat.vn/van-ban/Giao-duc/Quyet-dinh-1981-QD-TTg-phe-duyet-khung-co-cau-he-thong-giao-duc-quoc-dan-328234.aspx [Accessed 1 Oct. 2018].

[8] Circular No. 03/2017/TT-BLDTBXH - regulating the procedure for design, evaluation and issuance of the training programmes; organising compilation, selection and evaluation of the training materials for intermediate and college level vocational education and training. (2017). Retrieved from http://www.molisa.gov.vn/vi/Pages/ChiTietVanBan.aspx?vID=35201 [Accessed 1 Oct. 2018].

[9] Circular 04/2017/TT-BLDTBXH. (2017). Retrieved from http://www.molisa.gov.vn/vi/Pages/ChiTietVanBan.aspx?vID=35202 [Accessed 1 Oct. 2018].

[10] Decision No. 1982/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister dated 18th October 2016 on approving the Vietnam National Framework. (2016). Retrieved from http://www.chinhphu.vn/portal/page/portal/chinhphu/hethongvanban?class_id=2&_page=2&mode=detail&document_id=186972 [Accessed 1 Oct. 2018].

[11] Circular No. 42/2011/TT-BLDTBXH about regulation for process of quality accreditation for vocational education and training. (2011). Retrieved from http://moj.gov.vn/vbpq/lists/vn%20bn%20php%20lut/view_detail.aspx?itemid=27413 [Accessed 1 Oct. 2018].

[12] Circular No. 15/2017/TT-BLĐTBXH about regulation of criteria and standards for quality accreditation of vocational education and training. (2017). Retrieved from http://www.molisa.gov.vn/vi/Pages/ChiTietVanBan.aspx?vID=35341 [Accessed 1 Oct. 2018].

[13] Vietnam News Agency. (2017). 70% of vocational students have jobs after graduation [Infographic]. Retrieved from https://infographics.vn/70-sinh-vien-cac-truong-nghe-co-viec-lam-sau-tot-nghiep/7306.vna [Accessed 1 Oct. 2018].

[14] Circular No. 08/2017/TT-BLDTBXH on standards and qualifications of vocational education teachers. (2017). Retrieved from https://thuvienphapluat.vn/van-ban/Giao-duc/Thong-tu-08-2017-TT-BLDTBXH-chuan-chuyen-mon-nghiep-vu-nha-giao-giao-duc-nghe-nghiep-324210.aspx [Accessed 1 Oct. 2018].

[15] Circular No. 06/2017/TT-BLDTBXH on recruitment, employment, and training apply for TVET teachers. (2017). Retrieved from https://thuvienphapluat.vn/van-ban/Lao-dong-Tien-luong/Thong-tu-06-2017-TT-BLDTBXH-tuyen-dung-su-dung-boi-duong-nha-giao-giao-duc-nghe-nghiep-341853.aspx [Accessed 1 Oct. 2018].

[16] Thompson, M.A. (2015). Employment Trends: Vietnam. Retrieved from http://www.goinglobal.com/articles/1661/ [Accessed 20 Dec. 2017].

[17] MOLISA (Ministry of Labour – Invalids and Social Affairs. (2017). Vietnam Labour Market – Newsletter Update, 14(Q2). Retrieved from http://www.molisa.gov.vn/Images/FileAnPham/fileanpham2017918937744.pdf [Accessed 1 Oct. 2018].

[18] Vietnam Overview. (n.d.). The World Bank. Retrieved from http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/vietnam/overview [Accessed 3 Oct. 2018].

[19] Shaping future of Vietnam’s labour. (2018, September 20). Vietnam Investment Review. Retrieved from https://www.vir.com.vn/shaping-future-of-vietnams-labour-62513.html [Accessed 3 Oct. 2018].

[20] Government of Vietnam. (2012). Vietnam National Green Growth Strategy (VNGGS). Retrieved from https://www.giz.de/de/downloads/VietNam-GreenGrowth-Strategy.pdf [Accessed 3 Oct. 2018].

[21] Resolution No. 142/2016/QH13 - Resolution on five-year socio-economic development plan from 2016-2020. Retrieved from http://www.chinhphu.vn/portal/page/portal/English/strategies/strategiesdetails?categoryId=30&articleId=10057712 [Accessed 3 Oct. 2018].

[22] Government of Vietnam. (2016). The Five Year Socio-Economic Development Plan 2016-2020. Retrieved from http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/839361477533488479/Vietnam-SEDP-2016-2020.pdf [Accessed 3 Oct. 2018].

[23] Background. (n.d.).Trained In Viet Nam. Retrieved from https://www.tvet-vietnam.org/en/topic/39.tvet-in-vietnam.html [Accessed 3 Oct. 2018].