On Friday 18 August 2023, Mr. David Lambukly, CEO of the Vanuatu Qualifications Authority (VQA) had the absolute privilege to meet with Gregory Simmons and Shane Northington at their Australia Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) office in Melbourne.
During the meeting the two organizations shared details of the work they both do in the VET regulatory space and talk about the Digital and Data Transformation journeys they’re on.
Mr. Lambukly was accompanied by Mr. Nicholas Venables from the Australia Pacific Training Coalition, and Ms. Monica Kovats from DFAT Canberra.
All are looking forward to the opportunity for continued dialogue and building long-lasting relations between their nations’ respective agencies.
Mr. Lambukly explained that this is a great opportunity for VQA and Vanuatu as a whole to learn and assisted by a long time regulator of VET sector in Australia and as everyone know Australia’s VET sector is internationally recognized due to a good and effective quality assurance system established by ASQA. Mr. Lambukly further explained that the details of the partnership arrangements will be published once the partnership will be ready for signing.
VQA CEO takes the opportunity to thank Australia Government for its financial support in funding CEO trip to Australia through Australia Pacific Training Coalition (APTC). And a THANK YU TUMAS to APTC country Director for Vanuatu and Nauru for the arrangements for the meeting.
The Vanuatu Qualification Authority (VQA) is the Principal Government Agency mandated under its 2014 Act to provide advice, regulate, coordinate, and quality assure the Post - School Education and Training (PSET) Sector in Vanuatu. Its long-term strategy is guided by the Vanuatu National Sustainable Development Plan 2030 Goal 4, the PSET Policy 2016–2020, and the National Human Resource Development Plan 2030 [NHRDP].
The NHRDP 2030 identifies occupational priorities that need to be developed to respond to skills demands for the private and public sectors, hence the NSDP objectives will be achieved. During its approval by the then Council of Ministers (CoM) in 2019, CoM tasks the VQA Board to coordinate the implementation of the NHRDP and to assist the VQA Board in this task, the Authority has employed a NHRDP Coordinator to facilitate NHRDP implementation.
The NHRDP technical document has identified priority occupations at Technician/Associate professional and Professional levels and VQA identified relevant courses to be developed, accredited and delivered in order to respond to these priority occupations. And VQA has decided to source out the development of these courses to individual or organisations that have the experiences and expertise to develop these courses on its behalf And on Thursday, 4 of May, 2023, the VQA has signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with Health, Safety, Environment, Quality Vanuatu (HSEQ) and Vocational Training and Advocacy Consultancy (VTAC) to develop the courses and their Units of Competency.
The contracted companies will develop courses at Vanuatu Qualifications Framework (VQF) Certificate III, Certificate IV and Diploma and these courses are at Financial Services, Information and communication Technology, Automotive, Maritime, Tourism, Education and Training and Health Sectors.
