The 2006-2010 Higher Education Renovation Agenda (HERA) of the government of Vietnam formulated the different challenges and goals for the development of higher education.

One of the biggest challenges for Vietnamese universities is to become more market oriented by adopting a more integrated approach to changing market needs and focusing on the required competencies and skills for specific jobs.

Since 2000 the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) and universities have developed a range of initiatives, including the Vietnam-Netherlands Higher Education Project, which introduced Profession-Oriented Higher Education (POHE) at eight Vietnamese universities in the framework of the NPT programme.

Objectives

NICHE will help further develop POHE in the second phase of this project aimed at consolidating and sustaining the supervision and implementation of gender sensitive and labour market focused POHE programmes by MOET and concerned Vietnamese universities.

The project has four specific objectives:

• Finalisation and evaluation of the currently developed and implemented POHE programmes including tracer studies of the new graduates in the labour market and a gender analysis.
• The universities that took part in the first POHE project continuously review, develop and implement programmes that enhance and sustain the orientation on professional profiles in the world of work combining the application of theoretical knowledge, skills as well as attitudes in the required professional behaviour.
• MOET and participating universities have strengthened management and organisational capacity to enhance, disseminate and promote the POHE model and methodology within the Higher Education System and in collaboration with professional bodies and labour market representatives with the aim to increase interaction and relationships with the world of work.
• MOET is using POHE as an essential policy instrument to achieve the HERA goals and has completed the development of a policy framework for the establishment, implementation, regulation and quality control of POHE education programmes.

Sources: https://www.wur.nl/en/show/nichevnm103.htm