The Vocational Ed ucation Programme Vietnam (BBPV) assists in strengthening the capacity of Vietnam ’s vocational education system in developing and delivering market-oriented training and education. It is therefore essential to provide feed back as to how successful graduates of BBPV partner schools are competing on the labor market.
Tracer s tudies are empirical studies that follow the career path of the graduates trained at the respective educational institute s . T hey supply important information , e.g. about if, where and in which field the graduates are employed and h ow they assess the vocational education and training regarding its relevance for their employment in retrospect. As an essential external feed back to the schools‘ management tracer studies are suitable instrument s of quality control .
Within the scope of the BBPV tracer studies are essential on two levels:
On the school-level tracer studies are very important instruments for the proof of the relevance of an offered training course for the labor market in the catchment area of the school. Rather than counting the success only in numbers of graduates, tracer studies test, whether their qualification corresponds to the demand of the economy. With the help of tracer studies educational institutions can see, to what extent their graduates are in demand. The data provided by companies and graduates will then provide guidance to the school-management in improving their services and hence their graduates‘ perspectives.
On the programme-level tracer studies are used as a tool to prove the impact of the program’s approach. T he general objective of the program is the „Improvement of the efficiency and orientation towards the demand of the labour market of the Vietnamese vocational education and training system“. Two of the main indications are: A) a high degree of satisfaction within the graduates regarding the practical relevance of their education and training and B) a high degree of satisfaction within the enterprises regarding the qualification of the graduates.
Depending on the size of the samples and sub-clusters other aspects may be quantified, so as the promotion of disadvantaged persons, women or poor people .
Tracer studies are still rare in the Vietnamese Vocational Education System. A few studies on a small scale have been conducted by some BBPV partner institutions. However these surveys were carried out selectively and did not apply a common and systematic approach. Furthermore the labour market in Vietnam ’s transforming economy is changing rapidly & asking for periodical monitoring and adjustment. The objective of the BBPV is to assist in establishing a monitoring capacity, which can be applied by Vietnamese organizations and schools. Within these TORs tracer studies shall be prepared, executed and evaluated exemplarily in order to provide feed back on the relevance of the qualifications provided and the satisfaction of graduates and their employers.
This project is part of the cooperation between Germany and Vietnam through the Vocational Education Program Vietnam (BBPV). Within the strategic component of quality management the BBPV will support the partner institutions in developing and implementing a monitoring system including the conduct of periodical tracer studies.
Tasks:
Development of a monitoring concept: Develop a system by which information can by systematically collected on the employment and satisfaction of graduates and their employers with the respective qualification on an institutional level.
Implementation of the survey in the partner schools: Conduct and interpret tracer studies exemplarily in selected partner schools of the BBPV (as well as in selected control schools).
