Skills recognition within Asean

Many countries are experiencing skills deficits and are looking to bring in skilled workers as a means of alleviating these shortages. How the skills of workers from overseas are assessed, accredited and compensated has been a contentious issue in many countries. Within the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) skills recognition gained increased prominence in recent years and became the basis for a major project, on which this paper is based, from 2004 to 2007. Sending and receiving countries in ASEAN have different motivations but they all want improved skills development and accreditation mechanisms. This paper will focus on three case studies. Sending countries, such as Laos and Cambodia, are keen to develop their technical and vocational education training (TVET) systems and skills recognition arrangements quickly, and possibly in co-operation with other countries in ASEAN (Thailand and Vietnam). Thus their systems are on the verge of significant structural reform. Receiving countries, such as Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei, already have a range of skills training and recognition systems in place for their own workers. Singapore will be used as an example of how its own workers are accredited and how foreign workers are assessed and accredited. It remains to be seen how ASEAN workers from elsewhere will be accredited by Singapore in the future. The viability of a true common labour market within ASEAN by 2015 will depend on how these skills recognition arrangements emerge and develop. It is timely to examine the early stage of this process