EDUCATION-VIETNAM: Test time Ahead for University Graduates

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Tran Dinh Thanh Lam

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam, Jul 19 2001 (IPS) - Just as in previous years, more than 2 million senior secondary school graduates took their national university entrance examinations in early July.

But quite unlike past years, there were significantly fewer students who registered for entrance examinations to get into law or economics, business management or architecture in Vietnam’s 170 colleges and universities.

Instead, more and more students are seeking entry into fisheries and agriculture courses, according to the head of the University Department Do Van Chung at the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET).

The shift reflects not just a change in the courses popular among youngsters in this country of 80 million people — but the reality of life under economic reforms over the last decade.

Graduates from the schools of economics, polytechnics, business and medicine have found difficulty in finding adequate jobs, and this has convinced many would-be students to think twice about their future career paths.

The change in career trends also bring with it a lesson. Parents have long been under the false impression that a university certification is a guarantee of finding a well-paid job, and thus make every effort to secure a college seat for their children.

But in fact, far too many well-qualified graduates have had to sharply lower their expectations upon arrival in the job market.

Recent surveys by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs show that by Jul. 1, 46,769 university graduates remained unemployed, an increase of 56 percent in just five years.

The problem stems from employers’ preference for qualified technicians and workers, said Tran Huu Nghia, director of the Fimexco Employment Service Centre. Most employers are not looking for graduates from natural or social sciences and humanities universities, but that is what the country is increasingly turning out.

“Courses such as economics, business management, trading and law are over-supplied,” said Phung Khac Binh, director of the political affairs department of the labour ministry. “It causes a great waste of money and grey matter.”

Experts say that as the nation modernises, the demands of employers are growing but university and vocational training remains rigid and unrealistic and the quality of such training has come under growing criticism.

Of students interviewed in a recent Ministry of Education and Training survey, 81.8 percent said material and technological conditions at universities and colleges could not meet demand for training. Seventy-five percent said old textbooks and out-of-date teaching equipment are the root causes of ineffectiveness in training.

Experts also point out that nationwide, there are 448 further education institutes, colleges and universities but only 147 vocational training centres.

According to the education ministry, 384,000 students entered colleges, universities and institutes of higher education last year. Only 150,000 school went to vocational training schools, where training conditions are worse even as demand for better-quality training rises.

“Even graduates from technical training schools barely met job requirements,” said Nghiem Trong Quy, head of education ministry’s general job training department.

“Courses of vocational training centres have not been updated for the past eight years while the labour market has been rapidly changing,” Quy said. “An example — companies now use digital technology but those schools still train without it.”

“Generally, graduates cannot meet demands of the labour market,” Quy said. This means graduates fail to find jobs to fit qualifications, so enterprises are left wanting for skilled staff. “The educational establishment needs a more profound shake-up if it is to supply human resources the country requires, ” said professor Duong Thieu Tong of Ho Chi Minh City University.

Moreover, students are left to themselves to explore the labour market after they graduate, because their ill-equipped schools have neither counselling nor vocational centres to help them.

So, while in some sectors vast queues of applicants await jobs, other sectors are crying out for trained staff. The agriculture sector is one such sector as its low level of unemployment — 0.82 percent last year — testifies.

According to an education ministry survey, in Ho Chi Minh City state enterprises had a 43 percent shortage of skilled and technically trained labourers.

This shortage has become more acute as more and more talents have been lured to work at private or foreign invested companies, where wage levels for skilled experts are believed to be five to six times higher.

To meet their demand for qualified personnel, many companies have adopted the policy of hiring young graduates and training them on the job.

Unilever Vietnam, the consumer goods giant, began recruiting outstanding university students to various executive posts three years ago. Every year, the company works with HCMC’s Polytechnic, Economics and Foreign Trade colleges to compile lists of students and their performance.

The company selects 500 students with 75 percent of marks and above, and invites each one of them to apply for a position. Every year, Unilever will hire up to 20 students to administrative posts with a starting salary of 5 million Vietnamese dong (345 U.S. dollars). Domestic companies like PetroVietnam and Thai Tuan Textiles also do the same.

Companies that do not have the resources for internal recruitment departments seek help from headhunters like Price Waterhouse Coopers, Arthur Anderson, Ernst & Young, KPLM, Deloitte and pay them from 1,500 to 2,000 dollars to find qualified staff.

Domestic firms –Tan Duc, Net Viet, Sinh Minh and Profec — offer the service at much lower price, 100 to 300 dollars.

Headhunters say it is not easy to find qualified personnel since most of them are already on high salaries and enjoying good working conditions. So they have to scour state-run companies for their best cadres.

Luckily for them, the old value of sticking with a job for a lifetime has changed, and more and more youngsters today are willing to move to places that offer better pay packages and more promotion opportunities.

Engineer Nguyen Viet Trung, 29, quit his job at a state-run electronics firm not just because of the better salary his new job brings. “I want to work at a foreign company and have the opportunity to receive further training and to work in better conditions.”

For even for the best university graduates, the need for further and higher education remains one of the strongest pull factors for a job.