On the occasion of the 38^th anniversary ceremony of RMUTT an international forum discussing the “The role of technological universities and TVET to cope with a sustainable future workforce” was held on the 18^th of January 2013 in Bangkok. The main purpose of this forum was to initiate a round-table discussion and give the relevant regional organizations active in TVET and Higher Education a voice and enhance the quality of vocational teacher education through common cooperation.

 

The round-table discussion was chaired by RMUTT President, Prof Numyoot Songthanapitak, the parties participating were

• ASEAN University Network (AUN) represented by Executive Director Dr Nantana Gajsani,
• Colombo Plan Staff College for Technicians Education (CPSC) represented by Director General Dr Mohammad Naim Yaakub,
• Regional Cooperation Platform for Vocational Teacher Education and Training in Asia (RCP) represented by the Chairman of the RCP-Steering Committee Prof Dr Feng Xiao and the Director of the RCP-Secretariat Dr Thomas Schroeder,
• SEAMEO VOCTECH represented by Director Mr Alias and
• UNESCO Bangkok represented by the Chief of the Education and Policy Reform Unit Mr Gwang-Chol Chang.

The chairman, President Prof Numyoot Songthanapitak, opened the discussion by emphasizing how vital it is to radically improve the cooperation and exchange of best practices in Vocational Teacher Education and TVET in the entire region. He made it extremely clear how VTE and TVET must become a self-reliant scientific field and academic discipline and rigorously cooperate in common research activities. Societal sustainability and continuous improvement and development of VTE and TVET-systems have to be grounded in hard facts gained through targeted research on the relevant significant subjects by the academic world. These regional research activities ultimately produce an evidence-based formulation of national policy and strategies to improve and fortify VTE and TVET.

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