KHS supports technical, management training in Viet Nam

The German Vietnamese Technology Academy (GVTA) recently founded in Viet Nam, is a unique concept on the educational map of the country. One of the chief reasons for setting up this educational institution in Ho Chi Minh City is that many of the machines used for training purposes in Viet Nam are often out of date. At the same time there is a dearth of qualified employees in the food and beverage industries in particular. As this is the third largest industrial sector in the Vietnamese economy with an especially high growth rate, much needs to be done to develop it – in a very short space of time.

KHS, an international manufacturer of filling and packaging technology for the beverage, food, and non-food sectors decided to become involved in the project.

The GVTA centre is in fact a cooperative platform which pools the expertise of KHS and several other German companies who work closely with KHS, amongst them Siemens, Sick, Danfoss, Phoenix Contact, Endress + Hauser, and VideoJet. Facilities and much of the infrastructure and human resources for the GVTA have been provided by the Ho Chi Minh City University of Food Industry or HUFI. Consultants gpdm, specialised in educational projects and project management, have taken on the coordination of the academy. One of the tasks gpdm is responsible for is helping to develop the curriculum which is geared towards the technology provided by the cooperative partners and based on German occupational and academic educational standards.

The aim of the GVTA is to help 2000 to 4000 students a year gain a bachelor’s or master’s degree and to provide them with an outstanding technical and theoretical course of training. Werner Gessner, head of Market Zone Asia Pacific at KHS GmbH, explains: “By contributing to this extremely important project for the future KHS is creating a win-win situation. The students will profit from being able to train on cutting-edge equipment provided by KHS. In the future our customers will benefit from well-trained personnel – and also have the chance to send their own regular employees to the Technology Centre to study KHS systems. One of the main points of this project for us, however, is that we’ll be actively supporting the country and its people in their ongoing development in the long term. KHS has been present on the Vietnamese market for some time now. We do good business here and would like to increase our commitment to Viet Nam.” The inauguration ceremony showed just how important the opening of the GVTA is to both Viet Nam and Germany. Many high-ranking officials from the Vietnamese business and politics sectors were present. Dr Philipp R?sler, Germany’s federal minister of economics and technology attended the event. Furthermore, the GVTA will serve as anMercurial Superfly High