VSS Director General Nguyen The Manh and Professor Neil Quigley, Principal of Waikato University, co-chaired the signing ceremony.

At the ceremony, leaders of the two sides reviewed their cooperation results during the 2016-2021 period. During that period, the two sides implemented cooperation activities relating to training and improving professional capacity for officers of the VSS.

VSS Director General Nguyen The Manh speaks at the event

During the 2016-2021 period, more than 200 public cadres and officers of VSS attended training courses on English language skills and social security at Waikato University. As well as experiencing the language and culture of New Zealand, they also had opportunities to get access to a professional education environment, an advanced social security system and a multi-cultural working style, which helped them become more confident and head towards a creative, dynamic and responsible working style as well as international integration.

Knowledge and experience achieved during their studies at Waikato University are important and useful sources of information for VSS during the process of assessing and adjusting the implementation of social insurance, health insurance and unemployment insurance policies in line with the socio-economic conditions of the country during each period of development.

Also, cooperation activities with Waikato University have made active contributions to enhancing the capacity of public cadres and officers at the VSS, particularly their foreign language skills, helping to meet the increasing demand of the regional and international integration process.

VSS Director General Nguyễn Thế Mạnh said the cooperation between the two agencies was effective, helping to meet demand and falling in line with the Party’s and State’s orientation as well as the trends of the region and the world, particularly in the field of social security.

Professor Neil Quigley, Principal of Waikato University speaks at the event 

Professor Neil Quigley said the cooperation between the two sides gained positive results. It also helped to strengthen the connection between the two agencies and the two countries. VSS officers who studied at Waikato University left a good impression on local people in New Zealand. 

On the foundation of achievements gained over past years, leaders of VSS and Waikato University discussed and agreed to continue to cooperate in the future with the signing of a new MoU to meet increasing demand and higher requirements.

The MoU signed between the two sides for the 2022-2025 period will continue to focus on improving the capacity of VSS officers to better meet demand and interests of people more professionally, thus helping to improve the quality of the social insurance sector.

The MoU will be an important legal basis for the two sides to build concrete action plans for each year and coordinate in implementing cooperation projects during the 2022-2025 period, helping to promote the cooperation between the two sides more practically, effectively and sustainably.

Leaders of VSS and Waikato University sign the MoU 

The MoU sets long-term targets in scientific research, organising and participating in international conferences and workshops, postgraduate training support, information exchanges, building and implementing training programmes relating to social security.

It also sets short-term targets on improving the capacity of VSS public cadres and officers by organising short-term English language training courses and providing updated information relating to the field of social security.

Fields of cooperation within the framework of the MoU include social security operation, digital transformation and information security, financial management, good administration, English language training relating to social security and other fields in line with the capacity and demand of the two sides.

A view of the signing ceremony

At the ceremony, VSS Director General Nguyen The Manh and Principal of Waikato University Professor Neil Quigley signed the MoU on Cooperation during the 2022-2025 period, opening up a new cooperation period and formalising the university's support in training and improving the capacity of VSS officers./.