In order to celebrate the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Vocational Education and Training between Workforce Development Agency (WDA) of Ministry of Labor, and TAFE Directors Australia (TDA) and Thai-German Institute (TGI), the “Taiwan-Australia/ -Thailand MOU Exchange Ceremony and Skills Transformation for Post-Pandemic Workforce International Forum” was organized by WDA on 25 March 2021.
The ceremony began under the witness of Vice Minister of Labor Lin San-Quei, Director General of WDA Shih Jen-Yang, together with the CEO of TAFE Directors Australia Craig Robertson and the President of Thai-German Institute Somwang Boonrakcharoen, performed a successful O2O digital MOU exchange ceremony. Vice Minister Lin stated that Taiwan has been promoting labor affairs collaboration with Asia-Pacific countries and has achieved satisfactory outcome. Taiwan’s effort on international vocational training cooperation was demonstrated in this event, and by harnessing this advantage, Taiwan also aims to assist the facilitation of digital upskilling in the Asia-Pacific region and the international community in the trend of digital transformation. At the end of the ceremony Director General Shih expressed her appreciation to representatives of Australia and Thailand
Subsequently, representatives of international organization and industries were invited as keynote speakers/panelists to speak on “Skills development in the time of COVID-19: Taking stock of the initial responses in technical and vocational education and training” and “Thriving after COVID-19: What skills do employees need?,” followed with public and private representatives from Australia, Belgium, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam and others across the world, sharing their respective innovative and creative measures in regard to talent upskilling and reskilling in the time of COVID-19.
Even though international exchange activities have been restricted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, delegates from government, academia and industry sectors of Taiwan and other countries were able to participate in this hybrid meeting amid this extraordinary period of time. Delegates exchanged views over vocational training cooperation and explored issues in relation to post-pandemic future of work, innovative skills and digital upskilling. By discussing relevant strategies and roadmaps, participants aim to continue working on the current international cooperation platform and facilitating the quality growth of vocational training cooperation mechanism.