On the 17 September 2022, Ms. Thitiporn Chirasawadi, the Director of the Devawongse Varopakarn Institute of Foreign Affairs, presided over the closing ceremony of the English Training Programme for Vocational Teachers in the EEC (Online Course).
               The course ran every Saturday from 20 August - 17 September 2022 (inclusive of self-directed learning) with a total of thirty hours. The fifteen participants were from four institutes, namely; Chonburi Vocational College, Chonburi Technical College, Chachoensao Vocational College and Phanomsarakham Technical College.
               The Devawongse Varopakarn Institute of Foreign Affairs (DVIFA), in cooperation with the Bureau of Personnel Competency Development (BPCD), organized an English Training Programme for Vocational Teachers in the EEC (Online Course). The course objectives were to enhance English communication competency as well as to develop learning management skills by integrating the content and English language capabilities of vocational teachers. The course was purposely designed to support teachers in becoming high quality educational exponents, which is in line with the country’s drive towards the goals of Thailand 4.0. It aims to enhance the skills of the personnel involved in vocational education to an international level pursuant with the 20-year national strategy to build economic commetitiveness through human capital development mechanisms.
               On this occasion, Dr. Surapong Ermuthai, the Director of the Bureau of Personnel Competency Development (BPCD), has praised and delivered a thank you speech to DVIFA for their collaboration and partnership in organising this training project. Dr. Surapong also mentioned that the success of this project has contributed to an improvement in the quality of English language useage and the English training management of professional vocational teachers allowing them to be more efficient. Dr. Surapong expressed a wish to create opportunities to expand this kind of academic cooperation with vocational teachers under the the Bureau of Personnel Competency Development in other areas in the future.
               Then Ms. Thitiporn offered congratulations to all the trainees who have successfully completed this training course. She strongly hoped that the participants will be able to implement the knowledge and experience gained on the course to work and achieve their goals more efficiently. In addition, Ms. Thitiporn encouraged the participants to continuously practice and improve their English, on various online platforms that can be easily accessed, as part of their life-long learning.
               This will be one of a number of mechanisms put in place to help to lay the foundations to produce personnel who will be able to work in factories and establishments with the language and academic readiness to promote Thailand’s economic competitiveness, sustainability and stability in the long term.