At The Academy in Vang Vieng, Laos;

On Tuesday 6 February 2024, day two of Luxembourg's Minister for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs, Xaviel Bettel, visit to Laos in south-east Asia, the visit saw the minister and delegation visit a hotel school in Vang Vieng in the afternoon.

Following lunch in Luang Prabang, it was then off to the train station to catch an LCR train to travel the 110km to Vang Vieng to visit a local school in the presence of Laos' Vice-Minister of Education and Sports.

Vang Vieng is becoming a tourist destination, second to Luang Prabang, offering nature / ecology holidays as well as adventure sports - from white-water rafting, kayaking and rock climbing to hot air ballooning, paragliding and ziplining - and also partying.

The Vientiane Province Technical College (VPTC) and "The Academy" Training for Hotel & Restaurant has it main campus in Viengkham, located circa 50km for the capital city, Vientiane, with a secondary campus at Vang Vieng. There, introduced by Lee Sheridan, Thonglor Vilarthong welcomed the minister and delegation and then introduced the institution.

It was established in 1986 and received college status in 2010; it receives technical guidance and financial support from the Ministry of Education and Sports. It has evolved into the most prominent vocational training institutions in the province. In the 2022-23 academic year, over 1,400 students were enrolled in more than 25 vocational disciplines at the two campuses. The most popular courses include IT, electrical engineering, accounting and tourism/hospitality and has capacity for around 200 students. Its long-term goal is to become a stand-alone college with a sole focus on tourism/hospitality and to become a role model in the sector. 

Following the relaxing of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in July 2022, it opened full-time as a quasi-commercial enterprise. It receives funding from the Skills for Tourism Project which is supported under the current Skills for Tourism, Agriculture and Forestry (STAF) programme, co-funded by Luxembourg, Switzerland and the EU. 

The academy currently operates with twelve full-time service and supervisory staff, all of whom are recent graduates of the tourism/hospitality programmes at the college. In addition, the Academy hires current students as part-time staff. 

Guided Tour and Discussion

The delegation was then given a tour of the premises, in three groups, each led by VPTC/Academy personnel, visiting the kitchen area, hotel and meeting rooms, student dormitories, classrooms, etc. During the tour, Tony Donovan (STAF Team Leader/Senior Sector Adviser at LuxDev) explained that while the level of English of many hospitality sector students is low, they are taking steps to improve it, often including extra-curricular activities. 

He also explained that, while the institution has a capacity for 300 students at any one time, they currently have 130 enrolled; this, he explained, was due to a currently downturn in enrolment in the education sector. While some courses can be as short as three months, others are as long as three years, after which students receive a higher education diploma. He also confirmed that the starting age is 17/18 years of age, and that many students receive a government stipend / grant. In answer to a question from Minister Bettel, he stated that almost 100% of students are successful in getting jobs in the hospitality sector once they have graduated. Many teachers, meanwhile, currently have a second, or even a third, job, to make a living. 

The guided tour took them to the antiquated cooking facilities for students; one project currently in th planning stage is to replace this by a two-storey building with modern cooking facilities as well as a covered terrace which would then be open to the public as another revenue-generating initiative. Another one is to transform classrooms into smart classrooms by the use and adoption of technology. 

Minister Bettel linked the comparative hospitality school supported by Luxembourg in Capo Verde, and another one about to start in Benin, in Africa; in addition to the EIDE in Diekirch, he was thinking out loud about the possibility of introducing a rotation of a couple of weeks or months involving students at the four hospitality schools. 

Future of Bilateral Development Aid

Afterwards, Minister Bettel gave a press briefing at which he revealed that Luxembourg will not be renewing bilateral development actions in Niger, Mali and Burkino Faso, unless the (political) situation changes in those countries. In relation to Senegal, he said that Luxembourg in monitoring the situation and no decision on future bilateral support has yet been taken. In relation to Laos, he stated that one can see the difference that the bilateral aid in making. For all countries, multilateral aid (via the UN, etc.), will continue.

Dinner

That evening, a dinner was held in the presence of the Vice-Minister of Education and Sports at The Academy. 

That night was spent at Vang Vieng.