Vietnam advances ASEAN qualifications framework

The International Organization for Migration (IOM), in collaboration with Vietnam's Department of Vocational and Continuing Education under the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET), hosted a national workshop on August 21 to discuss the ASEAN Qualifications Reference Framework (AQRF). Over 80 participants from government agencies, education institutions, universities, vocational schools, enterprises, and business associations attended the event.

Mitsue Pembroke, Officer-in-Charge at IOM Vietnam, addressed the importance of qualifications recognition and labor mobility during the workshop.

The AQRF offers a unified regional framework for evaluating qualifications across ASEAN member states, fostering mutual trust in national education and skills systems. This supports student and worker mobility, as well as lifelong learning through various pathways. The AQRF Referencing Report, endorsed by the AQRF Committee in October 2025 and published by MoET in December 2025, is a significant step towards enhancing transparency, comparability, and trustworthiness of Vietnamese qualifications on a regional and global scale.

Following the endorsement, the report aims to bolster qualifications recognition, labor mobility, and safe, regular, and skills-based migration pathways. However, mere referencing does not guarantee recognition. For recognition to be effective, Vietnam must continue strengthening its education and training system, including curricula, learning outcomes, assessment methods, quality assurance, and consistent qualification recognition practices.

During the workshop, participants deliberated on Vietnam's post-referencing implementation plan, shared regional experiences, and suggested recommendations for benchmarking the country's education and training system against those of other ASEAN nations. They also emphasized the necessity of better coordination among education and training, labor migration, and industry stakeholders.

The workshop explored how Vietnam could leverage AQRF referencing by benchmarking competency assessment and certification systems against the ASEAN Guiding Principles. This would help move towards stronger trust in skills standards, assessment, certification, and quality assurance. Thailand, for instance, has aligned its national quality assurance and workforce verification systems with employers and authorities to better evaluate migrant professionals' competencies.

Similarly, the Philippines has utilized the AQRF to enhance trust in the skills and educational qualifications of its workers, making them more easily recognized when seeking opportunities across ASEAN. These examples illustrate how the AQRF can improve institutional coordination, bolster quality assurance and certification systems, promote lifelong learning, and connect qualifications and skills with labor mobility.

For Vietnam, improved recognition of workers' qualifications and skills in destination countries could lead to better job matching, migration outcomes, and worker protection. Recognizing prior learning (RPL) acquired overseas could aid returning migrant workers in reintegrating into the domestic labor market, accessing suitable employment, and continuing their learning pathways.

Mitsue Pembroke, officer-in-charge at IOM Vietnam, stressed that "workers' skills and qualifications must be visible, transferable, and aligned with labor market needs for labor mobility to deliver meaningful benefits."