A Preliminary Approach toward Development of the TVET Research and Development (R & D) Sector for Sustainable Development in Myanmar

Abstract

The research and innovation in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) are crucial in helping achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. However, most developing countries including Myanmar fail to systematically collect information on TVET, and research in TVET is regarded as a neglected area. Therefore, the aim of the study is to take a preliminary approach toward the development of the TVET research and development (R & D) sector in Myanmar by highlighting the insights on how to initiate and promote TVET research and innovation in the country. To achieve the aim, the study conducted a literature review, a need analysis of the TVET R & D sector of the country and a contextual analysis of the focal TVET organization, and it identified the best practices from other countries. The drive to develop a concept of the TVET R & D sector in the country highlighted the need for the TVET sector development through R & D. Regarding the findings from the SWOT analysis, the focal TVET organization has to apply the suggested strategies including development of a R & D framework, training of the researchers, networking and cooperation to develop the TVET R & D sector in the country. Finally, a preliminary approach toward the TVET R & D sector development of Myanmar was taken for the sustainable development of the country.

1. Introduction

All United Nations member states worldwide have adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals for a better and more sustainable future for all on a global scale for ecological, social and economic sustainability as well as for poverty reduction by 2030 [1,2]. The Education 2030 Agenda calls on member states to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all, with the aim of overcoming challenges posed by rapid technological developments, sustained high levels of youth unemployment, demographic changes and a growing demand for green skills [3]. As a branch of the Education Sector, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) can substantially ensure inclusive and equitable quality education for all including disadvantaged and minority groups, promote lifelong learning opportunities for all types of learners—youths and adults, reach higher levels of skills development and youth employment, and meet the growing industrial demand in the digitalization age. Myanmar, being one of the developing countries in Southeast Asia, is making its earnest efforts to promote the TVET sector for the sustainable development of the country.

According to the reports [4,5], the Myanmar population has reached 54 million in 2020, out of which around 21 million reside in urban areas. Per capita gross domestic product (GDP) accounted for approximately United States dollar (USD) 1500 in 2020.

According to the TVET system review 2018 [6], the rapid economic growth and structural transformation in Myanmar has made an expansion of jobs in the private domestic sector with more than 24 million in the recent years. Agriculture had become the main source of employment in Myanmar, employing nearly half of the labor force until 2018. However, compared to that in 2000 and 2010, there was a sliding fall because of a shift in Myanmar’s economy—from agriculture sector toward the service and industry sector. During 2000–2018, the total share of the service and industry sector had grown from about 24% to over 50%.

Regarding the payment and skilled labor availability in the Asia region, Figure 1 shows the comparison of the minimum monthly wage and ease of finding skilled employees in eight Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries. It is found that Myanmar has the lowest minimum monthly wage, with USD 112 among these countries, and the employers could hardly find the right skilled employees required for the industry and service sector in the country. Then, Lao PDR and Cambodia have the second and third lowest minimum monthly wage, respectively, and they have experienced such a similar condition of no ease of finding the skilled employees. It is interesting to note that among these countries, the Philippines provides the highest minimum monthly wage to the employees, with USD 328, and this country also has become among the easiest ones to find skilled employees, since it seems to have a systematic and well-developed TVET system.

Figure 2 shows the status of employment and labor force in nine ASEAN member countries. Among these countries, the labor force participation rate in Myanmar accounts for approximately 64% where its low-, medium- and high-skilled employment shares are 23%, 70% and 7%, respectively. The median age of its working population is 36 years. It appears that Myanmar has comparatively a higher medium-skilled employment share than that of some ASEAN member countries. In contrast, Singapore, being a developed country with an excellent education and training system, has the largest share of high-skilled employment among the countries.

As per the classification of Myanmar’s conventional household population into the labor force categories in 2017 [10], Myanmar had 34.8 million working age population (aged 15 and above), out of which 21.7 million accounted for labor force of the country (of which 45% were female) and the rest were outside of labor force (of which 69% were female).

As shown in Figure 3, in terms of the level of education against the employment rate in Myanmar, there is comparatively a lower employment rate for the graduates with vocational certificates and undergraduate diplomas, accounting for only 0.7% in total. It might be due to the probability of having slower economic growth and lower industrial development of the country compared to other Southeast Asian countries. Meanwhile, it sheds a light on the role of the technical and vocational education sector of the country, largely affecting the perception of the students, parents and other concerned stakeholders. The slower economic development and lower industrial development of the country have greatly impacted the development of the TVET sector and vice visa. These graduates are largely associated with the TVET programs offered by the department of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (DTVET), which is a focal TVET department in Myanmar.

In Myanmar, the TVET institutions under DTVET provide a wide range of the different TVET programs: (a) the secondary school level; (b) the post-secondary school level; (c) the training courses for the youths and workers who need to upskill or reskill; (d) the competency-based training courses for the youths who are below 18 years old but have left school for several years; and (e) the adult programs for life-long learning [12]. The qualification framework for all types of the TVET courses in Myanmar is based in the Myanmar National Qualification Framework (MNQF), which is still at a draft stage [6]. The majority of the competency-based short courses have been offered with vocational and technical skills certificates at Levels 1–4 in the MNQF under the standards and guidelines of National Skills Standard Authority (NSSA) [6].

According to the DTVET’s report [13], with the aim to sustainably nurture the qualified human resources essential for fulfilling local industrial needs and promoting the socio-economic development of the country, DTVET has opened over (70) TVET institutions around the country (Figure 4). These institutions offer a variety of 2-year-certificate technology courses, 3-year-diploma engineering courses and other competency-based short courses. In order to ensure quality assurance in TVET and a demand-driven education system, DTVET is implementing a quality management system in the TVET sector in line with international standards and upgrading teaching–learning and the research sector by using effective and efficient technologies and methodologies. Moreover, it is expanding TVET training schools in accordance with the needs of the region for the socio-economic development of the country. As shown in

Table 1. Number of Students and Teachers in TVET Schools under DTVET during 2019–2020 [14].

Institutes/Schools	No. of TVET Schools	Students	Teachers
Government Technical Institute/Government Technological College	28	16,629	1753
Government Technical High School	35	8289	1515
Vocational School	6	774 (From Jan to July, 2020)	117
TVET Teacher Training College	1	-	123
Total	70	25,692	3508

, the total number of the students and teachers from 70 TVET schools during 2019–2020 accounted for over 25,000 and 3500, respectively. These figures might change over the coming years due to the expansion of the new schools and the introduction of new programs and new modes (i.e., regular programs, evening programs and short-term programs).

During the recent years, there have been four main sources of financing of the TVET system in Myanmar: (a) public financing through budgets for TVET training in concerned ministries; (b) household financing through expenditure on education and materials; (c) assistance of the development partners from major multilateral and bilateral organizations such as the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), The European Union (EU), Swisscontact, Finnish Refugee Council (FRC), Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), and (d) public–private partnerships which have involved significant contributions from the private sector in equipping and providing trainings in TVET institutions [6].

TVET in Myanmar has been perceived as a high priority for sustainable human resource development in enhancing vocational training systems through relevant training programs, consultancy projects, R & D assistance, and information and communication and technology services [15]. TVET graduates and skilled workers are the backbone of the country for economic growth [16]. Therefore, TVET research centers are nowadays playing a crucial role in promoting social innovation and sustainable TVET sector development through the valuable research findings for both real-life applications and policy recommendations. These research centers can also help ensure the provision of the quality TVET system for all stakeholders, hence leading the socio-economic development of a country.

1.1. Problem Statement for the TVET R & D Sector of Myanmar and Other Developing Countries

Skilled human resources are one of the major binding constraints to sustain high economic growth in Asia [17,18]. Despite that, the TVET research relates directly to the development and promotion of the TVET sector to enhance skilled human resources development; most developing countries in Asia, including Myanmar, fail to systematically collect information on TVET, public or private, nor do they conduct much research to identify issues except where externally instigated and financed [15,17,18]. In addition, the government and financing agencies do not give priority to TVET R & D [18], which has been conducted with investment and resource allocation [19]. In most developing countries, limited funding, a lack of clear leadership and insufficient foundational research and support are the key challenges, perceiving that research in TVET is seen as a neglected area [20]. However, there is a shared understanding that the need to build and sustain research networks is plagued by a lack of resources—financial, human and material [21]. Further limitations to networking efforts include the lack of awareness of networks and networking opportunities that currently exist [21]. Hence, it is pointed out that a lack of data and research on TVET is an almost universal handicap to progress [18]. Therefore, research in TVET is quite limited in most developing countries, and only few countries have professional networks, TVET journals, information and communications technology (ICT)-based meeting places and other means of supporting the development of professional “nodes” on TVET [22]. Meanwhile, it could be seen that the TVET research organizations in developed countries are well structured to efficiently conduct the R & D of the TVET sector, for example, The Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training (KRIVET) in Korea [23], Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training (JILPT) in Japan [24] and the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) in Germany [25].

In Myanmar, most higher education institutions have developed the R & D sector and strengthened the networks of the researchers not only for the promotion of research and innovation but also for capacity building of the staff and branding the image of the institutions [26,27]. Being quite different from the development in higher education institutions, research and innovation aspects are solely at the initial stage in TVET institutions of Myanmar [13,15]. Hence, it is observed that Myanmar urgently needs the development of the TVET R & D sector for promotion of education, training, innovation and sustainable development of the country.

1.2. Aim of the Study and Research Questions

TVET research is necessary for the socio-economic development of a country because every single research finding can have a positive impact on the quality TVET programs [16]. Hence, excellent education and research systems are really prerequisites for the innovation, social participation, employment, and economic growth of the country [28].

The National Education Strategic Plan (NESP) (2016–2021) of Myanmar [29] proposed the establishment of a research center with the following purposes: (a) to conduct studies on skills types, localized employment needs, teacher requirements, teaching aids and pedagogies, and updated vocational subjects; (b) to estimate the required supply from TVET providers using labor market surveys; (c) to represent an important step toward becoming more aware of and reactive to skills needs and to reflect a centralized approach.

In order to successfully grasp the forward-looking opportunities for the TVET sector development in Myanmar through networks and cooperative functions, the aim of the study is to take a preliminary approach toward the development of the TVET R & D sector in Myanmar by highlighting the insights on how to initiate and promote TVET research and innovation in the country.

The study addressed three following academic research questions:

(a)

What is the drive to develop a concept of the TVET R & D sector in Myanmar?

(b)

What are the contributions of R & D to the TVET sector development in accordance with the best practices and lessons learned from other countries?

(c)

How can the TVET R & D sector be ensured for good initiation and long-term success for the sustainable development of Myanmar?

2. Materials and Methods

The data related to the study was collated to a feasible extent from the published TVET research articles, review articles, books, government reports, and reports by the local and international organizations such as the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, and the International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (UNESCO-UNEVOC) by 2022. Then, the study conducted a literature review, and it synthesized and evaluated the data related to TVET R & D, focusing majorly on the roles of TVET research centers. Then, the need was analyzed based on the previous literature resources. The contextual analysis of the organization for the R & D sector is conducted by means of the SWOT analysis by consulting with departmental officers from DTVET. The best practices and lessons learned from the TVET research centers of other countries are identified from the previous literature. Finally, a concept of the TVET R & D sector of Myanmar was developed, and suggestions for the sustainable management of this sector were provided.

To address the three proposed academic research questions mentioned above, the study applied a qualitative research method through a literature review, a need analysis and a contextual analysis of the organization by means of SWOT analysis.

Limitations of the Study

There are several TVET line ministries in Myanmar including the Ministry of Labor, Ministry Industry, Ministry of Boarder affairs, and Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock and Irrigation, to name a few. All those ministries have their own TVET institutions, mostly offering the certificate courses in TVET programs. This study relates only to the TVET sector of DTVET under the Ministry of Science and Technology, which is a focal point of the TVET system as well that greatly offers a diverge range of the TVET programs—from the competence-based short courses to regular diploma programs in engineering in Myanmar. DTVET has a wider coverage of the TVET system in Myanmar. However, there are limited literature sources related to the TVET R & D sector in Myanmar since it is a developing country among the ASEAN member countries. Therefore, the future directions of the research studies will focus on the research-based recommendations on the TVET sector development and the influence and impact of TVET research on strengthening and promoting the TVET R & D sector in Myanmar.

3. Results and Discussion

3.1. The Drive to Develop a Concept of the TVET R & D Sector in Myanmar

The drive to develop a concept of the TVET R & D sector in Myanmar is majorly supported by the need analysis of the TVET R & D Sector in Myanmar and the contextual analysis of the organization (DTVET).

3.1.1. Need Analysis of the TVET R & D Sector in Myanmar

Myanmar is making efforts to strengthen career-relevant education streams that recognize the 21st century needs for hard and soft skills sets and to ensure a demand-driven TVET system that must contribute to the country’s plans for sustainable economic development, with the recent review necessary to realign the current skills mismatch and improve the forecasting of occupational skills to meet ever-evolving demands [30]. Hence, the TVET sector is opening doors of opportunities for skills development, workforce development and human resource development to boost the local economic growth in Myanmar. Currently, the TVET-related line ministries in Myanmar are responsible for the TVET sector development of the country, out of which the Ministry of Science and Technology is the focal point of this sector. During 2016–2021, NESP set a five-year strategy aimed at reforming the education sector with an emphasis on better involving the private sector in the development of the TVET systems with three priority areas: (a) Expanding access to TVET for various target groups including ethnic and disadvantaged populations and people with disabilities; (b) Strengthening the quality and relevance of TVET; and (c) Strengthening TVET management [28]. As mentioned above, the proposal of NESP [28] relates closely to the establishment of a research center to enhance the research capacities in the TVET sector development to meet all TVET stakeholders’ needs and expectations.

The TVET sector in Myanmar has been strengthened and promoted to a considerable extent due to the government’s robust focus and the development partners’ support during the last few years. However, there still exists challenges and barriers such as school–industry partnership, the perception of the public on TVET sector, capacities of teachers, and quality management [6,13,14,31,32,33]. Therefore, it appears that the TVET research needs to highlight the initiatives and innovative ways for the TVET institutions to develop the quality TVET research centers in different TVET institutions nationwide. In addition, the TVET research is helpful to achieve high-quality TVET publications and to have a possibility of networking opportunities with the international TVET research organizations via research cooperation projects, forums, conferences, webinars, etc. [16]. Knowledge-sharing events and trainings from experienced and qualified researchers to junior researchers will have a multiplied effect on the development of the R & D sector of a country. Similarly, the effective TVET research methods, innovative initiatives and techniques applied in developed countries could be, to a considerable extent, helpful and beneficial to a developing country such as Myanmar for promotion of the TVET sector.

The TVET research could strongly support the achievement of the DTVET’s vision of Myanmar—to continuously nurture and train the regionally competitive technical and vocational human resources in line with local industrial needs in order to support the socio-economic development of the country [34], and it could fulfill the indicators of the Myanmar Sustainable Development Plan (MSDP) (2018–2030) (Goal 3: “Job creation and private sector led growth” and Goal 4: “human resources and social development for a 21st century society”) [35] as well as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) (2030) (more specifically, SDG 4: “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” and SDG 8: “Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all”) [36]. Nowadays, the TVET sector in Myanmar is advancing a new transition for the skills development, workforce development and socio-economic development of the country. However, Myanmar lacks the TVET research centers to clearly identify the challenges, threads, and barriers as well as opportunities and innovative initiatives for the socio-economic development of the country [13,15]. Hence, there is a huge gap to fill up in the TVET R & D sector in the country. From the need analysis of the TVET R & D sector in Myanmar, the following suggestions are made to successfully develop the R & D sector in Myanmar:

(a)

Lessons learned from the developed countries;

(b)

Establishment of a research center;

(c)

Promotion of networking activities and cooperation projects;

(d)

Knowledge-sharing events, conferences and forums;

(e)

Training of the researchers.

3.1.2. Contextual Analysis of the Organization for the R & D Sector

Figure 5 illustrates a SWOT analysis of the current context of the DTVET organization. DTVET is principally responsible for a focal TVET sector of the country. The authors consulted with the departmental officers from DTVET to carry out the analysis. In accordance with the SWOT Analysis for the TVET R & D Sector in Myanmar, DTVET has obvious strengths such as qualified researchers who are well-graduated from foreign countries and qualified teachers from TVET schools as potential researchers. Meanwhile, its weaknesses account for the need of more awareness of TVET R & D among teachers, more trainings and cooperation networks. The opportunities relate to the guidelines of the visionary leaders, support of the Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Strategic Plan (2022–2027) and networking potential from local and international organizations. At the same time, the threads are caused by the little interest of most stakeholders (especially from industries), a departmental staff transfer policy that makes it hard to stably organize the research teams, and some delays due to some unpredictable issues such as politics and pandemics.

Regarding the findings from the SWOT Analysis, the following strategies are suggested for the development of the TVET R & D sector in Myanmar:

(a)

Develop a task force to develop both an R & D framework and start an R & D center.

(b)

Assign the potential researchers from the qualified teachers who are of great interest in research and innovation.

(c)

Work under the guidelines of TVET leaders and in line with STI Strategic Plan.

(d)

Train the researchers to be capable of research activities.

(e)

Raise awareness of the R & D sector among all the TVET teachers and administrative staff.

(f)

Cooperate with industries for win–win research and innovation.

(g)

Cooperate with international organizations and research centers. through UNESCO-UNEVOC projects, ASEAN TVET projects, etc.

(h)

Revise some departmental policies such as involvement of stakeholders, departmental staff transfer, etc.

(i)

Define risk management for the R & D sector.

3.2. The Contributions of R & D to the TVET Sector Development in Accordance with the Best Practices and Lessons Learned from Other Countries

Research on TVET is a relatively young field within the domain of educational research [37]. The foundations and development of TVET research institutes on a global scale started only in the second half of the twentieth century; for instance, the All-Union Research Institute for Technical and Vocational Education in the USSR in Leningrad was founded in 1963, the Center for Research and Leadership in Vocational and Technical Education in the United States was founded in 1965, the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) in Germany was founded in 1970, and the National Center for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) in Australia was founded in 1981 [37,38].

The UNESCO-UNEVOC promotes increased opportunities for productive work, sustainable livelihoods, personal empowerment and socio-economic development, aiming to achieve the education for all and education for sustainable development by strengthening and promoting the TVET sector in the member countries through its innovative projects, capacity-building programs and collaborative activities [39]. It has 228 UNEVOC centers as a network with its member countries in 2021, out of which 53 centers are hosted at research institutes, 63 in ministries responsible for TVET, 48 in training providers and 65 in national bodies and regulators. The distributions of locations of these centers hosted in 53 research institutes are shown in Figure 6. Myanmar, being part of Asia and the Pacific region, became a member of the UNESCO-UNEVOC in 2004, and the Myanmar UNEVOC center is hosted at the Government Technical Institute (Insein) in Yangon [40].

The research institutes hosted as the UNEVOC centers are implementing the following activities to promote the TVET sector in line with the guidelines of UNESCO-UNEVOC: (a) capacity building and upskilling; (b) new knowledge generation and resource development; (c) network reinforcement, peer learning, sharing and bridging of experiences [41].

The brief information about the TVET R & D sector in some different countries around the world is shown in

Table 2. Brief information about some research organizations around the world [16,23,24,25,38,39,42,43,44,45,46,47].

Country/Region	Examples of TVET Research Organizations	Organization Structure	Contributions of Main R & D Areas to TVET Sector Development	International Projects	Funding Resources	Year of Establishment
Korea	Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training (KRIVET)	(6) Divisions: Strategic Planning Division; Future Human Resources Research Division, Lifelong Vocational Education Research Division; Lifelong Vocational Education Research Division; National Career Development Research Division; Managerial Support Division	Vocational education, qualification system, HRD, Industry–academia apprenticeship, Career education,	TVET projects with UNESCO, OECD, World Bank, ILO (Asia, Africa, etc.)	- Fund by government, - Fund from cooperation projects with development partners, international organization - Fund from other stakeholders such as Industries	1997
Germany	The Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB)	(5) Departments: VET Research and Monitoring; Structure and Regulation of VET; VET International; Vocational Training—Initiatives; Central Services	Future challenges in VET; stimulate innovation in national and international vocational systems, consultancy services; develop new, practices; oriented solutions for both initial and continuing vocational education and training	TVET projects with (14) European Countries, UNESCO-UNEVOC	- Fund by government - Fund from cooperation projects with development partners, international organization - Fund from other stakeholders such as industries	1970
Japan	Japan Institute for Labor Policy and Training (JILPT)	Comprehensive research on labor policies, training of staff and other personnel related to labor affairs, dissemination of research results	Potential future developments in employment and labor, vocational skills development suited to diverse needs, HRD, career formation support, labor policies, distribution of research results and formation of policy proposals	Foreign Researcher Invitation Programs	- Fund by Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare	2003 (JILPT)
Sub-Saharan Africa	TVET Authority (Kenya) National Vocational Training Institute (Ghana) Botswana Educational Research Association	Varies	TVET policy and standards, curriculum design, TVET programming, TVET teacher education, employment and industry, equality in and access to TVET, Green TVET, ICT, entrepreneurship	TVET projects with BMBF and DAADUNICEF, UK (DFID) - The European Commission, China’s Cooperation with Kenya and SSA, CIDA, SDC, JSPS, JICA-RI, JIRCAS, and others	- Fund by government - Fund from cooperation projects with development partners, international organization - Fund from other stakeholders such as industries	2013 (Kenya) 1970 (Ghana) 1982 (Botswana)
Singapore	Institute of Technical Education (ITE)	Different schools at ITE colleges	Skills future initiatives; Icube in ITE; 3D Virtual Reality (VR); 3D Augmented Reality (AR);Innovation in ITE: The development of applied research, entrepreneurship, the incubation of new technology firms, as well as the development of consultancy activities and technology diffusion for small- and medium-sized enterprises	TVET Research and Innovation projects: Icube in ITE; 3D Virtual Reality (VR); 3D Augmented Reality (AR), etc.	- Fund by government - Fund by private sector such as industries and companies	1992
Australia	National Center for Vocational Education Research (NCVER)	Board of NCVER, Executive Team, Management Team	Strategic program related to vocational education and training research, national vocational education and training, statistics and survey data, sharing of research findings to the world, cooperation with international research organizations, commercial consultancies	Vocational education and training research projects under commonwealth and state and territory ministers	- Owned by the Commonwealth and state and territory ministers with responsibility for vocational education and training	1981
Bonn, Germany	International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training; (UNESCO-UNEVOC)	The UNEVOC network (The major UNEVOC center at Bonn Germany and the country-related UNEVOC centers in member countries)	Education for all, education for sustainable development, improvement of TVET sector in member countries, international collaboration between centers, experts and stakeholders	TVET-related projects in member countries	- Fund by both UNESCO and Germany Government	2002

Note: VET: Vocational Education and Training; HRD: Human resource development; ICT: information and communication technology; UNESCO: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization; UNESCO-UNEVOC: International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training; OECD: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development; ILO: International Labor Organization; BMBF: Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung; DAAD: Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (German: German Academic Exchange Service); UNICEF: The United Nations Children’s Fund; UK (DFID): United Kingdom (The Department for International Development); SSA: Sub-Saharan Africa; CIDA: Canadian International Development Agency; SDC: Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation; JSPS: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science; JICA-RI: The Japan International Cooperation Agency; JIRCAS: Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences; ITE: Institute of Technical Education; NCVER: National Center for Vocational Education Research.

. It is seen that most research organizations have their own international TVET projects and research funding resources supported majorly by government funding, and in some cases, they are fully funded or co-funded by industries and international organizations to lead a sustainable research center in the long term. In addition, the research cooperation projects and networking activities are observed to be some crucial aspects for enhancing the quality of the organizational R & D. From the table, the structure of the research organization, contributions of R & D, international projects and types of funding resources can be learned for the development of the TVET R & D sector in Myanmar.

The TVET sector plays a vital role in the realization of Sustainable Development Goals [28] since it equips the youths (including dropouts and disadvantaged groups) and adults with the required skills, knowledge and attitudes for industry. Thus, the sector helps increase household incomes, reducing poverty, improving better living standards and enabling more access to the inclusive education and socio-economic development of a country. TVET R & D is one of the pillars to support the effectiveness of the TVET sector. Therefore, some best practices and recommendations associated with TVET R & D from other countries are shown as follows:

(a)

Globally, in terms of the TVET R & D related to vocational education and training (VET), Hiller and Gregson [48] pointed out that the challenges of supporting the initiatives in the context of the increasing demands settled upon practitioners, since VET is aimed at meeting the economic goals of many nation states. They provided an insight into how the vocational practitioners from England have been encouraged to examine their professional practice through two initiatives: a research network and a higher education-supported practitioner-research program.

(b)

In Zambia, the researchers [49] focused on the research of societal challenges related to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Along with the research motivation for high unemployment rate of young people in the country, their TVET system emphasized the informal apprenticeships more closely than before, offering youths more access to affordable training and future employment.

(c)

In some Sub-Saharan African countries, TVET research in ICT [50] highlighted the introduction or use of new technologies in cooperation with development partners, funders and institutional networks. The research promoted access to new technologies in the TVET institutions and managed to apply new approaches in TVET.

(d)

Regarding the research skills of TVET researchers [50], South Africa had faced the limited breadth of research skills of the researchers due to the consequences of a weak tradition of education research in the region. Therefore, to reduce the limitations of research skills development effectively and efficiently, they suggested that the affordable opportunities such as possibilities of research activities that can be conducted in universities need to be offered. Additionally, the universities have to offer postgraduate and doctoral studies for TVET research studies.

(e)

In terms of the limited availability of research funding, and research capacity and performance challenges including the limited breadth of research skills trainings, the researchers [20] indicated that networking opportunities from the institutions are a great option, since good networking tools can help researchers from the different countries and institutions to connect and communicate, which are considered so helpful in knowledge and skills exchange as well as in research dissemination. As one of the productive networks, they proposed that the interaction of the virtual research community (i.e., exchanged by email, WhatsApp, etc.) is intrinsically motivated rather than being based on the research funding availability, but simply on an interest in the TVET research [51].

(f)

Another possible way of promoting the technical skills of the teachers and researchers is to help enable them to have access to Open Educational Resources (OER), Open and Distance Learning (ODL) programs, flexible learning, blended learning, etc. [16].

(g)

Haßler et al. [20] pointed out that without adequate salaries, creating more highly skilled jobs will not solve the technical capacity problems. Similarly, few incentives for highly skilled workers including researchers might lead to scarcity of qualified researchers who prefer to work abroad for well-paid jobs. Therefore, more attractive incentives for the researchers play an important role in keeping them motivated and stayed focused on the development of the TVET R & D sector.

(h)

Sustainable approaches toward funding TVET research can be taken by cooperating strongly with private sectors from companies and industries, local and international development partners and international research organizations, in additional to the government funding [16,43,44].

(i)

The suggested research themes that need more specialization in promotion of the TVET sector development are observed in

Table 3. Suggested research themes for TVET sector development.

Research Themes

References

TVET policy Perception and awareness of importance of TVET Curriculum design and development TVET teacher education Smart teaching and learning School and industry partnership Labor market information Skills development and employment ICT and digitalization Branding of TVET institutions Innovation and entrepreneurship Leadership and management Qualifications and accreditations Quality management system Equality in and access to TVET Human resource development Lifelong TVET education Trend analysis Sustainability in TVET Green TVET

[16,20,23,29,41,52,53,54]

:

3.3. How the TVET R and D Sector Can Be Ensured for Good Initiation and Long-Term Success for the Sustainable Development of Myanmar

3.3.1. An Initiative as the Best Practices of TVET R & D Sector

As shown in Figure 7, Haßler et al. [28] illustrate an overview of the impact of research on the TVET system in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), in which research funding promotes TVET research on four levels—namely, policy and standards, cooperation, teacher education and TVET programming (A., green). They assert that the research findings have a significant influence on (a) government and other stakeholders for policy and standards, (b) cooperation and networking, (c) regulation and provision of professional development and (d) TVET provider for TVET programming (B., blue). Then, these influences lead to changes in TVET for improved policy and standards, effective cooperation, robust support for TVET educators and high-quality TVET programming for TVET students (C., yellow).

At the bottom right, the figure simply indicates the ultimate impact of TVET research: high-quality TVET programming leads to more qualified workers, who, in turn, contribute to innovations in industry and commerce. It suggests that a highly developed commercial sector requires the continuous development of TVET teachers and TVET training programs along with the improvements in corresponding TVET training standards and cooperation with industry and commerce.

The figure could be used as a systematic guideline for the development of the R & D sector in Myanmar in strengthening and promoting the TVET sector of the country.

3.3.2. Conceptualizing and Development of the R & D Center in Myanmar

As shown in Figure 8, the conceptualization of TVET R & D center in Myanmar is developed, based on several crucial aspects including the need analysis of TVET R & D center in Myanmar, the contextual analysis of the organization (i.e., DTVET) and the best practices and lesson learned from other countries as mentioned above. It is suggested that a framework and a conceptual development plan of the center will play a vital role in successful establishment; hence, these will need to be well designed and developed. The conceptual development plan is expected to constitute three categories: (a) Departmental capacity development (e.g., qualified human resources development in the R & D sector, policy, etc.); (b) Cooperation (how to cooperate locally and globally with any relevant organizations); (c) R & D (e.g., how to undertake R & D). Meanwhile, the robust support for the center related to quality management system, human resources, finance, equipment, methods, etc., will need to be ensured.

Finally, in accordance with the evidence-based implications and suggestions from the findings of research studies, the TVET sector development can be strengthened and expanded. As mentioned above, since TVET R & D relates to the educational, social and economic innovation, it can have a positive impact on the achievement of SDG 4 and SDG 8. In addition, it can also directly or indirectly affect the fulfillment of the other relevant SDGs such as SDG 1: no poverty, SDG 5: gender equality, SDG 8: industry, innovation and infrastructure, by providing the concerned departments with policy recommendations for workforce development and socio-economic development. Overall, the figure shows a proposed concept of how the TVET R & D center could be formed, strengthened and expanded, and it highlights how TVET R & D could support the SDGs.

3.3.3. Suggestions for the Development of TVET R & D Sector in Myanmar

The excellent systems related to education and research are solely prerequisites for the innovation, social participation, employment and economic growth of a country [28]. Since TVET research is crucial in helping achieve the realization of sustainable development goals, it needs to be interdisciplinary, broad and systematic, long-term, to have accurate measures as well as to be undertaken in the context of other research branches, such as social scientific research, education research and other specialist subject disciplines [55]. To sustainably develop the TVET sector, research policy will play a key role in strengthening and expanding of TVET sector, followed by an institutional framework, qualified human resources, cooperation and sustainable research funding that needs to be ensured from the government, industries and development partners. The regional and global networks such as SEAMEO-VOCTECH, CPSC, and UNESCO-UNEVOC are greatly supportive for the enhancement of the departmental research capacity through trainings, workshops, and skills exchange. It is necessary for the department to offer the opportunities of research studies and open education resources for the teachers and potential researchers to enhance their professional development. Additionally, it is crucial to provide the students with some reasonable support related to TVET research in their master’s and doctoral study programs (e.g., funding supports for research proposal and publications), as well as to promote the virtual research community and ICT-based TVET research among TVET institutions. TVET programs have had more emphasis on hands-on experiences rather than theoretical aspects to equip the graduates with the required knowledge, skills and attitudes for the specific workplace. It is essential to learn the lessons and adopt the best practices from other developing and developed countries to promote the TVET R & D sector. Hence, a “one-size-fits-all” approach is not aimed for a TVET system, since TVET needs an all-inclusive and more comprehensive approach that has been largely involved by all stakeholders for the sustainable development of a country.

4. Conclusions

TVET research is playing a crucial role in promoting the sustainable TVET sector development across the globe. It is essential for the innovation, social participation, employment, human resources development and economic growth of a country. The TVET research organizations in developed countries are well structured to efficiently conduct the R & D of the TVET sector. However, TVET R & D is regarded as a neglected area in most developing countries including Myanmar due to lack of clear leadership, little interest of most stakeholders in it, limited funding, lack of qualified human resources, insufficient research and support, etc. In this study, the drive to develop the R & D for the TVET sector development in Myanmar as well as the SWOT analysis highlighted the suggestions and strategies required for development of the R & D sector in Myanmar. Best practices and lessons learned from other countries could benefit the further development of the R & D sector in Myanmar. The conceptualization and development of the TVET R & D center in Myanmar will be helpful to the organization, since it can show a preliminary roadmap for the TVET R & D sector of a country in the near future. However, DTVET needs to carefully utilize all available resources and enhance the roles of some departmental policies for establishing, strengthening and promoting this sector by working collaboratively with all the stakeholders.

As a future plan, the follow-up research studies will focus on research-based recommendations on the TVET sector development, and the impact of TVET research on strengthening and promoting the TVET R & D sector in Myanmar.