Delegations from the thirteen ASEAN+3 countries — the ten ASEAN nations plus Korea, Japan and China — recently gathered in Seoul to share policies and experiences on the development and implementation of the National Competency Standards (NCS). The 2015 ASEAN+3 Human Resources Development Forum opened on April 14 at the Human Resources Development Service of Korea (HRDSK) and continued through April 16.
Marking its third year, this year’s forum was attended by around 80 participants from the 13 countries, including delegations from the Korean ministry of labor and education, the World Bank, the International Labor Organization and UNESCO.
The NCS is a systematized standard to evaluate the knowledge, technologies and attitude of laborers, depending on their working level and industry. It covers a range of fields, including management skills for certain roles and the capability to react to accidents. The standards are utilized in training courses and textbooks for human resource development plans.
President Park Young-bum of the HRDSK spoke about his institution’s training policies and experiences which, he said, have since formed a solid foundation for the nation’s economic development. He stressed the importance of the development of skilled human resources.
Halsey Rogers, a lead economist at the World Bank, gave the congratulatory speech, saying that efforts by the Korean government, combined with the World Bank’s professionalism, made it possible to hold this event and that it will give all participants a new opportunity to continue to improve the development of human resources.
After the forum, participants toured the LG Learning Center in Pyeongtaek and the Korea Polytechnics school to learn about Korea’s human resources development courses.
