Paradox of technical training: rejecting 14 million salary, choosing 7-8 million salary

A paradox in engineering training today is that graduates are afraid of hard work outside of construction sites, preferring to stay in big cities despite low salaries.

Recently, during a press conference commemorating the 60th anniversary of the university's founding (March 24, 1962 - March 24, 2022), the leaders of the University of Transport shared some information about the current enrollment and training situation of the university in particular and the engineering field in general.

According to Associate Professor Nguyen Ngoc Long, Rector of the University of Transport, the university is a leading training institution in the country in the field of transportation, contributing to the training of experts for neighboring countries such as Laos and Cambodia. It aspires to become a multidisciplinary, research-oriented university with prestige and quality on par with other universities in Asia. However, the university is currently facing difficulties in student recruitment, which affects the quality of training. One reason for this is the misconception about the profession held by the general public.

Lecturers from the University of Transport introduced the Thang Long Bridge surface treatment technology, researched by the university, to students.

Quy Hien

According to Associate Professor Long, with a large and experienced faculty holding doctoral degrees or appointed associate professorships, the university has the largest capacity among current training institutions in the field of transportation engineering. Its training capacity in this field is estimated at around 1,500 students per year, but currently, the university only enrolls about 600 students, and even then, it struggles to meet the target. The reason is that applicants are hesitant to pursue engineering fields, even though the job market always has a demand for them (every year, over 90% of graduates find employment in their field of study).

In particular, many students, even after enrolling in engineering programs, still have a reluctance to work hard and prefer to stay in big cities to find easy jobs, even if they pay less.

“Recently, a company asked me to introduce some students to technical positions with a salary of 14 million VND/month, requiring them to work in the Central Highlands. However, the students all refused, fearing the hardship of traveling far. They wanted to stay in Hanoi even if the salary was only 7-8 million VND/month,” Associate Professor Long shared.

Associate Professor Nguyen Thanh Chuong, Vice Rector of the University of Transport, also stated that the reasons why training programs in transportation are facing difficulties in student recruitment are due to the negative impacts of the current development of the transportation sector. For about five years now, government investment in transportation has decreased significantly, leading to a decrease in demand for human resources.

Highly skilled personnel are both scarce and lacking in expertise.

“The University of Transport is the only institution that trains students in railway-related fields. However, the railway sector has been stagnant for several years. The North-South railway system, approximately 2,000 km long, has been almost completely inactive in recent years. As a result, students are reluctant to pursue these programs. Meanwhile, the university cannot stop training because every country needs transportation infrastructure. The current stagnation is only temporary. In the long term, for a country to develop, transportation infrastructure plays a crucial role; it is the foundation for the socio-economic development of the nation. Therefore, we believe that these fields of study should continue, with expanded specializations, to train high-quality human resources,” Associate Professor Chuong said.

According to Associate Professor Chuong's analysis, the current training activities of the entire system are operating under a self-regulating mechanism based on the demand for enrollment in universities. This has led to a rush of students pursuing careers in the police, military, economics, etc. Society is largely indifferent to technical fields, creating a large gap and threatening the security of human resources for the country's future development. Currently, this crisis has already occurred. Many businesses still have to hire foreign personnel for certain positions, even though the country has the capacity to train personnel to fill these positions.

"Not only is there a shortage and weakness in highly skilled technical personnel, but this also applies to management personnel, causing the cost and expenses of our transportation projects to increase," Associate Professor Chuong commented.

Another reason why engineering training is not attractive to students is the unappealing income compared to professions in economics, business, and services. The current income of engineers and technical staff in construction companies is around 7-9 million VND/month, and even some positions requiring higher qualifications only earn 15-16 million VND/month.

Associate Professor Chuong suggested: “The State needs to have a policy of commissioning specialized fields with in-depth expertise. For example, the railway industry has specialties in locomotives, carriages, urban rail systems, etc. The road transport industry has signal control systems, electronic traffic systems, etc. Only then, when the country has the conditions to invest in developing transportation infrastructure, will we have the human resources readily available to meet the demand.”

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/nghich-ly-dao-tao-nganh-ky-thuat-che-luong-14-trieu-chon-luong-7-8-trieu-1851441025.htm