Universities with too low entrance scores, coal vocational schools lose recruitment opportunities

This issue was raised at the Conference on deploying vocationaleducation and continuing education enrollment in 2025, held on May 16.

Ms. Phan Thi Le Thu, Vice Principal of Far East College, said that the current identification and stratification between colleges and universities in the eyes of learners has not been properly communicated, leading to the lack of attractiveness of vocational training programs.

"The general mentality of parents is still heavily focused on degrees. Parents want their children to go to university rather than college and then transfer. Therefore, they are willing to send their children to a university "at random", which feels more prestigious than vocational training, and then think about it after finishing school, without caring about quality.

Meanwhile, the entrance standards of many universities are currently quite low, some are extremely low, average students can also pass the university entrance exam easily," Ms. Thu stated the current situation.

Hanoi students participate in the Festival connecting vocational education with the labor market (Photo: Hoang Hong).

In addition, Ms. Thu said that the fact that universities are allowed to extend their enrollment period to November every year also narrows the enrollment opportunities for college and intermediate levels. The inequality in time to reach students is also the reason why vocational schools lose their enrollment advantage compared to universities.

Sharing the same view, Mr. Dang Viet Xo, Principal of Vietnam College of Industry and Trade, cited two notable figures in the 2024 university and college admissions season: More than 200 universities recruited about 551,000 students, nearly 830 colleges and intermediate schools recruited about 430,000 students.

According to Mr. Xo, this shows an imbalance between training levels, causing a situation of "too many teachers and not enough workers".

"University education is elite training, only recruiting at a certain level, leaving the rest of the opportunities for vocational education," Mr. Xo said, at the same time proposing that the Ministry of Education and Training tighten the quality of university admissions so that students who fail the university entrance exam can go to college like before.

The Vice Principal of Far East College also made a similar recommendation, hoping that the Ministry would review and raise university entrance standards, especially for non-specific majors.

Ms. Thu also proposed shortening the university admission time and synchronizing admission time between university, college and secondary education systems.

Responding to the above comments, Deputy Minister of Education and Training Hoang Minh Son shared the difficulties and problems that vocational schools have not been able to resolve for many years. However, Mr. Son said that "tightening" university entrance fees is against the law.

"We must ensure people's right to education. We cannot, in order to recruit more people for vocational education, hinder their path to university education," said Mr. Son.

Deputy Minister Son also said that the current method of vocational school recruitment communication is not accurate.

He cited demeaning messages such as "too many teachers, not enough workers" and "no job after graduating from university" as incorrect approaches and in reality cannot break the psychology of parents and students who love to go to university.

Mr. Son emphasized that schools need to improve training quality, create value for learners, and meet the needs of the labor market, then the number of students will increase automatically.

"Schools must show students the benefits of studying, future job opportunities and good income. Consider them as your own children to advise, don't consider them as people you have to "herd" in, it won't last," said Deputy Minister Son.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/dai-hoc-lay-diem-dau-vao-qua-thap-truong-nghe-than-mat-co-hoi-tuyen-sinh-20250517002922481.htm