The Association of Francophone Universities (AUF) opens employment support centres in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. (Photo: Courtesy of AUF)   

NDO/VNA – The Association of Francophone Universities (AUF) on September 27 opened two employment support centres in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, with the aim of connecting students with job opportunities, increase their integration into the labour market and encourage their start-up spirit.

One centre – named the Centre d'employabilite francophone (CEF) in French - is based in Hanoi University, while the other is based in the southern branch of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences in Ho Chi Minh City.

The two centres will have projects relating to consultation, job-seeking support, soft-skills training, occupational certification and start-ups.

Jean-Marc Lavest, Director of AUF Asia and Pacific, said that in May 2020 the AUF launched a global poll. Feedback was received from more than 15,000 state agencies, university managers, lecturers and students, from over 75 countries.

This feedback helped the AUF and its partners to develop training roadmaps for the francophone university, allowing them to address real-world issues, he said.

The feedback showed that student integration into the labour market was one of the top concerns in Asian countries, he said.

Nguyen Thi Cuc Phuong, vice-principal of Hanoi University, said that the CEF in Hanoi aimed to help secondary school students to select suitable courses to attend in university.

In addition, the centre expected to equip university students with the necessary skills to integrate into the labour market confidently and more easily, she said.

Truong Huy, a student of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City National University, said that, with the support of the CEF, he hoped that Vietnamese students could access more job opportunities in both Vietnam and francophone countries.

There are eight CEFs in the Asia- Pacific region, including the two newly opened centres in Vietnam; Cambodia, China, Laos, Mongolia, Thailand and Vanuatu each has one.

A total of 69 CEFs across the world are connected with each other through an integrated platform that provides distance learning programmes and shares events and best practices in the field of employment support for students.

This is also a place to share educational resources, creating optimal conditions to connect schools and businesses.