This is to notify and inform the general public that the SHORT-TERM WORK PERMIT (E-Work Permit) is now being initiated by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Employment. The employers wishing to import foreign workers even for the duration less than 30 days should now compulsorily apply online through BLMIS with immediate effect. Besides the normal required documents, the individual/FWRA/employers should submit the medical clearance certificate of the foreigners obtained from the country of origin.This notification is referred to the approval of the night halt work permits only and for other categories and updates, MoICE will keep notifying in future.

Australia Bhutan TVET Sector Reform Project

Graduation ceremony, 10 February 2022

  1. Past Support:

The Government of NSW and the RGoB signed a “Letter of Intent” on October 13, 2016 during the visit of Hon’ble Prime Minister of Bhutan to Australia. Under this bilateral arrangement, the Government of Australia agreed to provide support to “Strengthen Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET)” in Bhutan. The letter of Intent was signed by Dasho Sonam Wangchuk, Secretary of MoLHR on behalf of RGoB and Hon’ble John Barilaro MP, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Skills, and Minister for Small Business on behalf of the Government of New South Wales, Australia.

The project was implemented successfully in three phases by the Department of Technical Education, MoLHR with technical support from TAFE-New South Wales, Australia. The project focused on capacity building of TVET professionals, largely on governance aspects:

Phase-I – was conducted from 24-28 April, 2017 at Hotel Migmar, Thimphu, Bhutan. Total of 36 instructors from Technical Training Institutes, Institutes of Zorig Chusum and Private Training Institutes and officers from the Ministry took part in the program.

Phase-II – was conducted at TAFE-NSW, Australia from 27 August to 8 September 2017. Seven participants selected from phase-I attended the program.

Phase-III – was conducted from 16-20 October 2017 at Institute of Management Studies in Serbithang, Thimphu, Bhutan. A total of 28 participants attended the program, which included newly recruited Principals of TTIs and IZCs along with some participants from Phase-I and II.

The in-country training was provided by experienced resource persons from Australia—Mrs. Patricia Thompson, Senior Manager International Secretariat, lead program coordinator, Mr. Marty Burgess, Faculty Director, Trades and Technology, TAFE NSW South Region, Mrs. Irene Ireland, Project Director, TAFE-New South Wales, Sydney Region, Australia.

  1. Current Collaboration with Government of Australia.:

The collaboration between Australia and the Ministry of Labour and Human Resources started in 2016, with the signing of the Letter of Intent between the Government of New South Wales and MoLHR. A total of 36 TVET professionals benefited from the project, implemented with technical support from TAFE New South Wales, from April – October 2017.

Noting the success of the project and considering the reputation of TAFE Australia in supporting the TVET reform process, the Ministry strongly felt the need for the continuation of the support from TAFE Australia.

To this end, a proposal designed to strengthen Bhutan’s TVET system was submitted to the Government of Australia in 2017, and the Government of Australia endorsed the project in the beginning of 2020 with COVID 19 delaying the project implementation.

Albeit the limitations posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the project was launched on March 1, 2021, in the presence of the Honorable Dasho Sonam Wangchuk, previous Secretary of the MOLHR and His Excellency Bryce Hutchesson, Deputy Head of Mission at the Australian High Commission in New Delhi.

The Project budget was funded by the Government of Australia with an amount of AUD $284,080, in collaboration with TAFE Queensland, Melbourne Polytechnic & TAFE Australia on March 1, 2021. The project phase-I & phase-II successfully ended on January 30, 2022.

  1. Brief report on Program & Trainings implemented in collaboration with TAFE Queensland’s & Melbourne Polytechnic experts from March 1, 2021 to January 30, 2022:
  • All the courses were delivered online over Zoom. A total of 75 participants successfully completed the International Skills Training (IST) course.
  • A total of 19 lecturers and officials from the Royal Institute of Tourism Hospitality (RITH) & Tourism & Management (BITH)IST attended the course for Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) (Trainer and Assessor Course).
  • A total of 28 officials from the DoL, MoLHR and OHS officials from private industries attended  the IST course for OHS.
  • A total of 28 DoS officials, MoLHR, TTI instructors, and representatives from public and private industries attended the assessor training & competency-based assessment training-International Skills Training (IST) courses.
  1. Future Support

In light of the expectation of TVET system undergoing major transformation process in the coming years, the following areas of cooperation could be explored with the Government of Australia:

  1. Deployment of TVET professionals and expatriates to Bhutan (standard and curriculum development experts, lecturers, TVET experts)
  2. Capacity building of Bhutanese TVET professionals in Australia
  3. Scholarship support to TVET graduates
  4. Institutional linkages between Bhutan’s TVET and TAFE TVET institutes.

Announcements…

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