News: AGEP-Workshop „Reintegration into Domestic Job Markets – Vietnam“

Robin Pass reports on a recent workshop by the German Association of Postgraduate Programmes with special Relevance to Developing Countries (AGEP) held in Hanoi in September. Moreover, he provides a short overview of the recent AGEP-Webinar on “Development Finance”.


On September 9^th and 10^th 2016, the third workshop on “Reintegration into domestic job markets – Vietnam” was held at the Vietnamese-German Center at the Hanoi University of Science and Technology (HUST) in Vietnam. The event was organized by AGEP Network Coordinator Robin Pass and facilitated by Prof. Wilhelm Löwenstein and Dr. Gabriele Bäcker from the Institute of Development Research and Development Policy.

Building on the results generated in the first two workshops, the overall objective of the third event was to identify and develop a bundle of concrete practices to be implemented in Vietnam, to support the reintegration process of future graduates of the AGEP-study programmes.


Prof. Löwenstein, Ngoc Diep Tran who is a Vietnamese graduate from the MADM intake 2004, Dr. Bäcker, Robin Pass at the workshop (photo: Pass)

For that purpose, 15 alumni from courses of the AGEP-programme, as well as a matching number of carefully selected employers from different key sectors, were invited. Working out their specific interests and possible contributions in the reintegration process, these actors are supposed to play a vital role in the implementation of the developed projects afterwards. The general idea behind this is to activate the alumni and their huge potential and have them play a more active and central role in the future.

A video documentation of the event is provided here. You can find further information on the event and the follow-up here.

AGEP-Webinar on “Development Finance”

On September 6^th 2016, the fifth AGEP-Webinar was held at the Institute of Development Research and Development Policy. Dr. Thomas Koch, Director of the Strategic Projects Department of the KfW branch DEG (Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft) provided the participating students of the Master in Development Management, as well as the virtual attendees from all over the world, with a general understanding of development finance institutions, their role and mandate, and an in-depth look at how the DEG works with private investors in development cooperation.

Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) provide finance to the private sector for investments that promote development and help companies invest, especially in countries with various market restrictions. However, financial institutions often appear complex and the vocabulary and workings cryptic. The webinar served to make their activities more accessible to students.

The webinar was streamed live from the Ruhr-University Bochum to the community group: The AGEP-Network in the Alumniportal Deutschland. In order to watch this webinar offline, and to join in for future events, all you have to do is join the Alumniportal Deutschland, if you have not already done so, and become a member of group: The AGEP–Network. Joining the network is free of charge. An introduction to the AGEP-Network in the Alumniportal is provided by this video.

For further information on this webinar, please visit the Alumniportal.



Robin Pass
Research Fellow and AGEP-Network Coordinator
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Phone: +49 (0)234 / 32-19024
Fax: +49 (0)234 / 32-14294