Towards a Mutual Recognition of Skills in CLM countries for AEC 2015 and beyond

To achieve ASEAN’s goal of a single market and production base with freer movement of skilled labor, it is necessary for the ASEAN member states (AMS) to develop a common framework to which national skills standards and the assessment and certification systems are benchmarked and recognized and allow for AMS to recognize the skills of other AMS especially for migrant workers. In response to this, member states have been taking efforts in improving their national training and quality assurance systems for improved mutual connectivity in skills standards and qualifications. Qualifications frameworks are usually established to support national developments and responses due to changes in the workplaces requirements and the labour markets. This includes a well-developed education and training system with a valid certification process for knowledge and skills. The establishment of a qualifications framework, with the strong involvement of industry, professional bodies, and community stakeholders, will provide governments with a strategic platform that they have not had previously for ensuring that all of the TVET strategies are linked to one another and supporting national development objectives. The existence of a fully functional national skills standards and quality assurance framework is not a pre-requisite for the mutual recognition of skills. The more developed ASEAN member states, however, have comparatively comprehensive frameworks and may well be advanced in the mutual recognition of skills process. At the same time, they will gain and learn from the more advanced skills policies and systems of Korea. However, other ASEAN member states like Cambodia, Lao PDR and Myanmar are gradually strengthening their skills frameworks. It is within this context that ASEAN Leaders have encouraged the lesser-developed AMS to learn from the good practices in ASEAN and try to raise the levels of their respective skills standards as an incremental approach to the ASEAN framework.

Project symbol

RAS/15/50/ROK

Admin unit

RO-Asia and the Pacific

Start date

01/07/2015

End date

31/05/2018

Total allocation

764607

Total expenditure

Status

Closed

755727

Development Partners

Republic of Korea, Ministry of Labour

Country/Countries

Asia and the Pacific - regional

Outcomes

Advocacy for decent work