However, the technical vocational education and training (TVET) sector does not yet have the quantitative or qualitative capacity to meet the current and future demands of the Mongolian industry.
Against this background, the multilateral Vocational Skills Development Project aims to improve the employability of Mongolian youth and adults in the mineral resource sector as well as related industries.
In November 2015, the global mining company Rio Tinto and Oyu Tolgoi entered into a development partnership with GIZ. Situated in the southern Gobi desert of Mongolia, Oyu Tolgoi is jointly owned by the Government of Mongolia (34 percent) and Turquoise Hill Resources (66 percent, of which Rio Tinto owns 51 percent). Since 2010, Rio Tinto has been the manager of the Oyu Tolgoi – the world leading copper and gold mine project.
The goal of this partnership is to improve the quality of vocational training in Mongolia by strengthening the capacities of three polytechnic colleges in Dalanzadgad, Darkhan and Dornod to act as “capacity development centres” for selected mining relevant technical qualifications.
The capacity development centres will not only offer vocational education to students according to international standards and the needs of the industry, but also provide further training for teachers from other TVET schools and for unemployed, self-employed and other workers in the sector. In addition, the centers will serve as training hubs for Mongolian participants of the international WorldSkills competition in the respective disciplines.
While Rio Tinto and Oyu Tolgoi finance the procurement of technical equipment and the secondment of two international technical advisors at these centres, GIZ develops new competency-based training curricula and helps to build the capacity of trainers and in-company-instructors.
In August 2016, Festo Didactic, one of the world leading providers of equipment and solutions for technical education, joined this partnership in the framework of a development partnership with the private sector (develoPPP.de). The objective is to establish the first ever training course in industrial mechatronics in Mongolia at the capacity development centre in Darkhan. Festo Didactic will provide learning systems and teaching and learning material, and contribute to develop a national curriculum in the field of industrial mechatronics and provide on the job training as well as further training at their training centers in Germany and China to qualify Mongolian trainers.
The establishment of capacity development centers and the new training course in industrial mechatronics are significant milestones in the development of the Mongolian TVET sector. With global market leaders like Rio Tinto and Festo Didactic , Mongolia is one step closer to realizing its full potential in the raw materials sector.
The project is co-financed by the governments of Germany, Switzerland and Australia and jointly implemented by the Mongolian Ministry of Labour and Social Protection and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
