WUSC - Key Conduit for Providing Assistance to Vietnamese Education and Training

 

A common element through all WUSC Vietnam programmes has been the involvement of Canadian volunteers. Hundreds of Canadian students and professionals have participated in WUSC programmes bringing expertise to Vietnam and bringing back to Canada experiences and new friendships that last a lifetime. Each year Canadians participate in our programme through three streams: regular long-term volunteers, Students Without Borders (SWB), and Leave for Change (L4C). Our regular volunteers generally sign up for one or two years and are placed onsite with one of our partners as advisors in their particular areas of expertise. SWB participants are students from Canadian universities studying at graduate and undergraduate levels. Some students come in groups and focus on a project or evaluation, while other students are placed as interns among our partners working on communications, proposal writing, and research. All of these students gain a tremendous experience as well as fulfilling part of their degree requirements. Leave for Change volunteers are career professionals coming from our private sector partners in Canada. They typically come for a three week assignment in highly specialized areas, which have included baking, fire prevention, marketing, and restaurant management among others. The L4C programme allows professionals from Canada to use their holidays to volunteer oversees and provides their organizations with a creative way to engage globally in a Corporate Social Responsibility programme.

 

WUSC is proud that the people-to-people development strategy it employs has underpinned bilateral relations with Vietnam and brought forth strong partnerships, many of which have evolved into business relationships. One of WUSC's key roles is to link training institutions to enterprises so that curriculum can be tailored towards current labour market needs. We encourage partnerships between enterprises and schools so that together they can train a capable workforce that will support Vietnam's rapid advancement towards industrialization.

 

The future looks promising for WUSC's partnership with community colleges in Vietnam as demand for Canadian input increases based on the realization that Canada's community college model is one of the best in the world and one Vietnam would like to emulate. Recognizing that the private sector continues to drive employment, we are also entering into a partnership with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (CanCham) to provide business school interns to Canadian companies in Vietnam. Understanding the importance of the private sector's role, WUSC established the Canadian Learning and Information Co. Ltd (CLiC) in Vietnam a decade ago with the objectives of project management and language training. CLiC's largest contract to date is the management of the Programme Support Unit for DFAT-D in Hanoi.

 

From the very early years, when assisting with language training was the main point of collaboration, we are now seeing more and more areas where Canada and Vietnam can work together and benefit mutually. This is evident in the effort to train youth for Vietnam’s growing economy. WUSC and its partners understand quality jobs for youth are the surest way to sustainable improvements in lifestyle. It is a goal worth pursuing and WUSC's people-to-people approach to development ensures each collaboration lasts well after the end of the assignment.