Since it opened in Da Nang in 2010, the Passerelles numériques Vietnam (PNV) has become a ‘dream house’ for underprivileged youths who have a strong passion for IT.  It offers access to educational opportunities for passionate and proactive young people.

Pham Dinh Suu (1st left) happy on his graduation day

To date, PNV has provided free IT training courses for a total of over 300 poor pupils from 7 central regional localities, including the city.  Interestingly, many of the graduates have now found suitable jobs as IT engineers and programmers at companies both at home and abroad.

PNV belongs to Passerelles numériques (PN), a French non-profit organisation operating in Cambodia, the Philippines and Viet Nam.  Its mission is to enable young, underprivileged people to improve their employability through education in the digital industry, and to increase their potential and willpower.  PN’s beneficiaries are typically underprivileged or disadvantaged, and in extremely precarious situations.

Nguyen Van Dung from Quang Tri Province’s Vinh Linh District, one of the graduates, said he had to put aside his dream of pursuing higher education after graduating from a senior high school because his family is very poor.  Luckily, Dung had the chance to attend a PNV-funded IT training course free of charge. 

Dung happily said his participation in the course marked a significant turning point in his life as this strong-willed man not only obtained a much-coveted job but he also learned valuable life skills through such a practical course.

Another lucky man, Pham Dinh Suu from Quang Nam Province’s Thang Binh District, is now an IT programmer at the city-based Enouvo IT Solutions Ltd.  The young man said, during his IT course, he had a chance to enhance his English skills, which made him even more confident to communicate with his foreign colleagues. 

Since 2010, PNV has provided numerous 2-year international-standard IT training courses for poor rural youths from across the central region with the aim of helping them develop their potential and willpower. 

Every year, representatives from PNV’s selection team go to these localities and implement a rigorous 4-step process to enroll talented and motivated underprivileged youths into their free courses.

Besides 2-year IT training courses, PNV is currently offering 3-year IT ones.  PNV is working with the Da Nang Vocation Training College to collaborate in the curriculum design and share the training delivery.  At the end of the training, graduates receive College degrees, recognised by the Vietnamese Ministry of Labour Invalids and Social Affairs, and a Passerelles numériques certificate.

With a higher level of education and more experience in a real working environment, these courses aim to enable trainees who are future IT experts to enhance their hard and soft skills even more.  In particular, the College degree will also allow them to obtain stable, qualified and well-respected jobs, thereby creating a step further to end the cycle of poverty for themselves and their families in a sustainable manner. 

PNV also provides an intense additional curriculum to enhance graduates’ employability.  Designed to match the requirements of local businesses, it focuses on IT practice, via practical projects, the English language, professional and soft skills, including logical and critical thinking, autonomy and initiative creation. 

Currently, many graduates from PNV’s training courses are working for the city’s leading IT companies, including FPT Software Da Nang, Axon Active, MagRabbit, AsNet, Gameloft, Green Global and SeaDev.