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A Vietnamese perspective: Job opportunities beyond frontiers

The four main goals of the AEC are unified market and production; competitive economic zones; development of regions; and integration with the global economy. There are eight types of workers that are free to move between ASEAN countries – accountants, architects, dentists, doctors, engineers, nurses, transportation staff and tourist officials.

Pham Thu Ha (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Tue, May 24, 2016

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A Vietnamese perspective: Job opportunities beyond frontiers According to an International Labour Organization (ILO) report, the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) will create about 14 million new jobs. (AP/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

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ccording to an International Labour Organization (ILO) report, the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) will create about 14 million new jobs. Young people in ASEAN are zealously preparing for this. Will you step beyond the frontier to take a chance, or will you just sit and wait for your name to show up on unemployed bachelor lists?

 

Trend of studying Burmese, Thai

At a Burmese language class in Cau Giay, Hanoi, Vietnam, there are only four students, who take 24 lessons for 5 million VND [US$200]. Two of those students are tour guides, whose company intends to make a huge investment in the Myanmar tourist market. 

The youngest in the class is a final-year student preparing for a volunteer trip to teach Vietnamese at a primary school in Yangon, Myanmar. She is the only one waiting for opportunities from the AEC. If she sees a good job opportunity in Myanmar, she will apply for it.

Architect Truong Van Son of GK Architecture is also a teacher of Burmese for masters services and at Phuong Nam Education in Ho Chi Minh City. 

Truong Van Son, who has been in Myanmar for seven years, said: “I thought the trend of studying ASEAN languages should have happened earlier, but not until the foundation of the AEC.”

He stated that although Burmese classes were still limited, student numbers were increasing. Previously, the class only interested people who wanted to learn about Myanmar. Now, a lot of students who intend to work in Myanmar enroll. 

“However, our friends on the other side of the frontier have prepared sooner and much better than us,” he added.

He has been teaching Vietnamese to friends from Myanmar who come to Ho Chi Minh City to learn Vietnamese and work for multinational companies. “They were doing it even before the AEC was founded. And you, Vietnamese students, are losing your chances in ‘your backyard’,” added Van Son.

The education system in Myanmar has invested in foreign languages for a long time. English is taught from Grade 6. Furthermore, Burmese students graduate two years sooner than their Vietnamese counterparts.

Last March, a meeting between Vietnamese Minister of Education Pham Vu Luan and Myanmar Deputy Education Minister Zaw Min Aung took place. The most important thing the deputy minister proposed was the establishment of a major Vietnamese teaching center at a Myanmar university.

Bui Hoang Dieu has just graduated from Hanoi University, majoring in English. He registered to learn Thai as a second language, and that helped him find a job. He has just returned from Thailand after a month teaching Vietnamese to Thai people. Thais, he added, are eager to learn Vietnamese. However, the trend is not mutual. 

“Many large Thai enterprises are located in Vietnam, but the number of Vietnamese people who know Thai language is small. It seems many teachers at my university see that huge potential so they go to Thailand, do research to open a new major of Thai language at Hanoi University,” said Hoang Dieu.

                                     

Trend of seeking jobs across frontiers

Nguyen Thu Ha is studying an MA of environmental toxicology at Chulabhorn Graduate Institute in Bangkok, Thailand. 

Environmental toxicology is a new major in Vietnam, but its application is very popular. Toxicity and cancer have a firm connection; one pattern can be a toxic substance triggering the formation of tumors and also inhibiting the growth of cancer cells. The field is essential for communities. 

Ha said: “After graduation, students can apply for jobs in institutes, hospitals, universities or pharmaceutical companies. But in Vietnam, the opportunities for this kind of job are not easy; even though [the field] is essential. Meanwhile, in other ASEAN countries, the demand for labor in this field is very open. I believe that I could find a good job in Thailand, or I could do research at a Singaporean institute.”

Nguyen Thu Ha is pictured in a laboratory at the Chulabhorn Graduate Institute in Bangkok, Thailand.(-/Pham Thu Ha)

Kaung Myat Ahkar from Myanmar, a third year student of law at Dagon University, had a similar experience. At present, Kaung Myat Ahkar is an intern at SCG Legal Counsel Limited in Bangkok. Kaung Myat Ahkar found the chance on Facebook and quickly applied for the position. 

The law student said such internships were hard to find in Myanmar, but easier in other ASEAN countries.

“When frontiers open it means chances and challenges will come. We are running out of time to prepare for that,” said Myat Ahkar.

Khine Zar was born and grew up in Yangon. She is taking a major of communication at Seameo. With the advantage of English like other students in Yangon, she secured good jobs at Air China and Huawei Techgroup. 

However, she is now getting better offers from Singapore and Indonesia. When the AEC was formed, job opportunities became more attractive, and Khine Zar has not hesitated to change her line of work. 

A friend of Khine Zar, Htet Myat Swe, has just found a good job with a high salary at SCG Cement-Building Materials in Bangkok. Many young people in Myanmar are looking for new pathways across frontiers. They have good foreign language skills and a modern approach to work; they are ready to step through an open door.

 

“Hurry”

The four main goals of the AEC are unified market and production; competitive economic zones; development of regions; and integration with the global economy. There are eight types of workers that are free to move between ASEAN countries – accountants, architects, dentists, doctors, engineers, nurses, transportation staff and tourist officials.

Also, high-level human resources workers, particularly those with special training or university degrees and fluent in a foreign language, especially English, are free to move.

General Directorate of Vocational Training deputy director general AP Dr. Cao Duc Sam stated: “We now have 170 vocational colleges, 306 vocational schools, there are 45 schools invested with high-quality focus. From now to 2020, there will be 30 vocational ASEAN schools. The degree will be recognized in the region and all over the world. Studying these programs, Vietnamese laborers will have the full skills to work in any country in the region. Bachelors, architects, even when they get a good degree in their country, they still need other certification to be recognized by the region and the world.”

However, Vietnamese students do know not much about the AEC, nor its chances. They also do not recognize the preparations being undertaken by universities or the related policies.

Many still question the chances of learning Burmese and seeking a job in the developing economy that holds only 0.2% of the Asian economy. 

However, law student Kaung Myat Ahkar stated that: “The potential of Myanmar is not small. According to an [International Monetary Fund] IMF report, the economic scale of Myanmar may rise four times to US$200 billion by 2030.

“With a population of about 60 million, our country is now welcoming investment as well as ODA [official development assistance] from international organization such as the [World Bank] WB, [Asian Development Bank] ADB and developed countries such as Japan and Korea. Young people from Thailand and Indonesia are trying to come to Myanmar. And once the AEC door is open, Vietnamese friends, if you do not hurry, it will be too late.”

 

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