The Project "COMET" Sponsored by The U.S Agency for International Development

University of Economics- The University of Danang (UE-UD) was honored to be selected as one of five Vietnamese university partners of the project “Connecting the Mekong through Education and Training” (COMET) sponsored by The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Delegates of UE-UD including Dr. Đoàn Ngọc Phi Anh; Dr. Hoàng Thị Thanh Hà; Dr. Đường Nguyễn Hưng; Dr. Nguyễn Hữu Cường; Dr. Võ Thị Quỳnh Nga will participate in USAID COMET’s First Leadership Summit and Training of Trainers which will be held at the Pullman Bangkok Grande Sukhumvit on March 25, 2016 – April 1, 2016. The Summit will bring together participants including instructors and administrators from the Mekong Learning Centers – USAID COMET’s university and vocational technical college leadership partners, representatives from private sector partners, USAID and U.S. Government officials, and other USAID-funded project representatives.  Following the Summit from March 28 to April 1, 2016, the project will conduct an in-depth training on the MekongSkills2Work Sourcebook: A Guide for Facilitators for the instructors and administrators from the Mekong Learning Centers in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand.

Members of the faculties of Accounting (including both accounting and auditing programs), Statistics and Infomatics, and Tourism would implement the MekongSkills2Work toolkits within their courses. UE-UD aims to equip graduates with the right hard and soft skills to meet Central Vietnam’s labor market needs. With this goal, UE-UD hopes to enthusiastically implement MS2W to enhance students’ work-based skill development in and out of the classroom.

UE-UD views the core benefits of MS2W as threefold. First, MS2W’s innovative learning and ICT approaches will create greater opportunity for professor-student mentorship. Second, UE-UD aims to enhance industry engagement and leverage industry feedback to make sure that curriculum match the labor market’s needs. Third, UE-UD instructors look forward to implementing the Blended Learning Model to help students develop critical thinking skills in new environments. 

USAID COMET was lauched in October 2014 as a five year,12.4 milion workforce development project in the Lower Mekong countries of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. USAID works to bridge the gap between the private sector, universities and vocational centers to build up the supply of skilled workers to meet the demands of local businesses. The project helps universities and vocational centers increase the number of skilled workers in STEM+AT fields in the Lower Mekong countries, ultimately contributing to a strong professional workforce capable of tackling development challenges. A particular focus is placed on enabling greater access to educational opportunities among disadvantaged youth.