The Ministry of Education and Training has been assigned by the Government to preside over the development of a Decree regulating scholarship policies and living expenses for students studying basic sciences , key engineering and strategic technologies to attract and support capable students to study key fields, contributing to promoting innovation, improving the quality of human resources and increasing national competitiveness. The draft decree is currently being solicited for comments.
There should be more preferential policies for female students, students from remote areas, ethnic minorities and students with difficult circumstances to study basic sciences to ensure fairness and support for the right subjects.
PHOTO: DAO NGOC THACH
Accordingly, the subjects of application of the decree include students, graduate students, and postgraduates studying basic sciences such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, computer science, key engineering fields such as information technology, electricity - electronics, mechanics, new materials... and strategic technologies such as biotechnology, nanotechnology, renewable energy...
According to the draft, the proposed scholarship level is based on academic performance, specifically: 100% of tuition fees for excellent students, 70% for good students and 50% for fair students. In addition, students will receive a living allowance of VND3.63 million/month, for a maximum of 10 months/school year. This living allowance is equal to the living allowance of students majoring in education.
STUDENT ENROLLMENT IS STILL LOW, ENTRANCE SCORES ARE NOT HIGH
According to Dr. Tran Thanh Thuong, Head of Admissions and Student Affairs Department of Ho Chi Minh City University of Technical Education, the current number of students studying STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics), including basic sciences, is still low compared to developed countries. "Although the number of STEM students has increased by more than 10% each year recently, this group only accounts for about 27-29% of total university students. This shows that there is a need for stronger attraction policies to encourage learners to choose STEM majors, especially in the context of the 4.0 industrial revolution and digital transformation," Dr. Thuong commented.
At Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade, majors such as biotechnology, mechanics, electronics... belong to the group of key strategic and technical majors, with an annual enrollment of about 700 students and currently accounting for only about 10% of the total number of students at the school.
Dalat University has an annual quota of 30 students for each major in mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology, but each year it only recruits about 10 students per major, and some years only a few students per major. A few years ago, the school supported a 10% tuition reduction to attract students to these majors, but it was not effective. Majors in data science, nuclear engineering, control engineering and automation technology... can be counted on the fingers or sometimes have more than ten students.
Due to the small number of applicants, the benchmark scores for many basic science, engineering and technology majors at some schools are only 17-19 points. With this admission score, the quality of training will certainly be affected to some extent.
Students in basic sciences, key engineering and strategic technology will receive scholarships and living expenses.
Photo: Dao Ngoc Thach
NEED TO DETERMINE THRESHOLDS TO ENSURE INPUT QUALITY
Dr. Tran Huu Duy, Head of Training Department of Dalat University, commented that when this scholarship policy is issued, it will certainly have a positive impact on attracting students to study basic sciences, key engineering and strategic technology.
"Although similar to the policy for pedagogical students, for the pedagogical sector, the Ministry of Education and Training assigns quotas to schools according to training needs, so the quality of input enrollment is very high. Meanwhile, for basic sciences, engineering, and technology, schools themselves determine quotas based on their capacity, so if schools do not focus on improving quality and enroll students indiscriminately, they will not achieve the goal of training talents in this field. Therefore, in addition to academic constraints, there should be binding conditions in enrollment and training activities to produce excellent scientists and engineers to serve the goals set by the decree," Dr. Duy shared.
According to Dr. Duy, the quality of input admission is a very important factor that determines the learning ability of students, so to enjoy the policy, students in these majors also need to meet the input quality assurance threshold of the Ministry of Education and Training, similar to the medical and pedagogical majors.
Master Pham Thai Son, Director of the Admissions and Communications Center of Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade, also said that in order to attract good students, it is necessary to regulate the input quality, avoiding the situation where the admission scores for some necessary majors such as biotechnology, electronics, mechanics... are much lower than those for majors such as economics , law...
Sharing the same view, Dr. Tran Thanh Thuong acknowledged that when the Government has such a policy, it will have a great impact on enrollment and attract more and more talented students, creating motivation for innovation and sustainable socio-economic development in the future. "However, there also needs to be a threshold to ensure input quality for these fields, like medicine and pedagogy, to recruit good students," Mr. Thuong commented.
HAVE CLEAR EMPLOYMENT POLICY
In addition, to improve the long-term effectiveness of scholarship policies and living expenses for students majoring in basic sciences, Dr. Tran Thanh Thuong believes that scholarships should be integrated with academic and career counseling programs. Accordingly, each scholarship recipient (especially female students or students from disadvantaged areas) can be connected with a mentor who is a lecturer or senior in the industry to support them in both professional and soft skills.
"Being advised will help students become more confident and reduce the rate of dropping out of their majors. At the same time, we need to build a commitment mechanism that requires students receiving scholarships to sign an agreement to work or contribute to the field/industry or sponsoring unit after graduation for a certain period of time. Commitment to work will help ensure human resources to serve society and increase students' responsibility for the scholarship they are awarded," Dr. Thuong said.
Master Pham Thai Son further suggested: "There needs to be a clear policy on employment for graduates. Specifically, these fields need to provide many job opportunities with attractive salaries and promotion prospects, from which students will be more motivated to study and develop."
Need more preferential policies for female students
In addition to providing scholarships and living expenses for students in these majors in general, Dr. Tran Thanh Thuong, Head of Admissions and Student Affairs Department of Ho Chi Minh City University of Technical Education, proposed that there should be additional preferential policies for female students, students from remote areas, ethnic minorities and students with difficult circumstances to ensure fairness and support for the right subjects.
"This priority not only helps increase the number of learners but also diversifies human resources, adding different perspectives and skills to the field that requires creativity. In addition, it is necessary to design full scholarship packages including living expenses for especially excellent or difficult cases, to create conditions for them to wholeheartedly pursue their studies," said Dr. Thuong.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/sinh-vien-nganh-khoa-hoc-co-ban-se-duoc-nhan-hoc-bong-va-sinh-hoat-phi-185250713180429842.htm
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