Myanmar and Vietnam both have increasing growth in energy consumption however limited supply to cater the increasing demand. Lighting is large and rapidly growing source of electricity demand in both countries. Most of the current lighting design, lamps and lighting technologies used are inefficient.

There are several barriers to the adoption of energy efficient lighting in Myanmar and Vietnam. Some of these barriers include lack of awareness and information; lack of qualified personals; lack of adequately equipped and staffed labs and limited experience of energy efficiency testing among engineers, etc. To overcome these barriers, there is a strong need of education development, training, and improvement of educational infrastructure in the field of energy efficient lighting.

The main objective of DESL project is to improve the accessibility and quality of higher education in the field of energy efficient and smart lighting systems at universities in Vietnam and Myanmar in order to reduce the electricity consumption and minimize the environmental impacts related to increased energy use. The project aims to enhance the relevance of higher education for labor market and society by providing education and training reflecting the needs of the local labor market.

The project intends to upgrade the existing courses and design new courses in energy efficient and smart lighting to train the manpower needed for the development of both partner countries. The project actions are also aimed at enabling teaching staff to receive upgraded training of skills as well as knowledge, improve their pedagogical capacities, and  provide them with the state of art tools for education and learning. The project also intends to provide the beneficiaries international exposure and experience, and establish linkage and corporation among academic institution, industry, and policy makers.