These opinions were raised at the College and Secondary School Admissions Conference organized by the Ministry of Education and Training on the morning of May 16.

Vocational schools worry that universities will 'suck' all their candidates

Ms. Phan Thi Le Thu, Vice Principal of Far East College, said that the current recruitment of vocational schools is difficult due to the mentality of “preferring degrees”. Most students want to go to university, and parents are also more proud when their children pass the university entrance exam instead of college. Meanwhile, the current university entrance standards, some schools have “extremely low” standards. Average students are also capable of passing the university entrance exam.

“Many parents send their children to university without caring about the school or whether the major is suitable. They just finish school and then decide,” said Ms. Thu.

Mr. Dang Viet Xo, Principal of Vietnam College of Industry and Commerce, also acknowledged similar difficulties. He said that currently, many universities still do not meet training requirements and goals, but students still flock to them.

Even because the current university admission methods are diverse (about 20 methods), students have many opportunities to get in, so even though they know it is difficult to find a job, they still study. This has made it very difficult for vocationaltraining institutions to recruit students.

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Mr. Dang Viet Xo, Principal of Vietnam College of Industry and Commerce. Photo: Ngoc Trang

He cited statistics that in 2024, there will be approximately 551,000 students entering university. Meanwhile, at both college and secondary levels, the target for 2025 is only about 530,000.

“This figure shows the imbalance between current training levels. University education should only train elites, and should only recruit at a certain level, leaving the rest for vocational education,” he said, suggesting that the Ministry of Education and Training needs to have a plan to ensure balance and tighten the quality of university admissions, and at the same time, there needs to be guidance and advice for students who “fail the university entrance exam to enter college”, in the context that university education and vocational education have “come together under one roof”.

According to Mr. Pham Xuan Khanh, Principal of Hanoi College of Technology, although according to statistics, most graduates have jobs, enrollment is still very difficult.

“Over the years, the school has tried to recruit students through many different methods, including knocking on the doors of high schools and continuing education centers to be able to directly reach students. This method is costly but not really effective,” said Mr. Khanh.

First of all , we must look back at ourselves and change our way of thinking.

In response to the school leaders’ comments, Deputy Minister of Education and Training Hoang Minh Son said he knew all these difficulties, including the bottlenecks that have not been resolved for many years. However, he also said that schools need to look back at themselves, first of all, they need to change their way of thinking.

“Schools still look at it from their own perspective, about the difficulties in recruiting students and the number of students recruited, but no one has mentioned why vocational schools exist and what their mission is.

Vocational education exists to train people and provide human resources for national development. Therefore, schools must better meet the human resource needs of businesses and bring better value to learners. By doing these two things, the number of students will increase,” he said.

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Deputy Minister of Education and Training Hoang Minh Son. Photo: Ngoc Trang

Besides, he also said that schools should not ask the opposite question of how to increase the number first.

“Schools that propose tightening universities have inappropriate communications, such as saying that there is currently “too many teachers and not enough workers”, praising vocational schools to lower universities, saying “there are no jobs after graduating from university”. This is the wrong approach and we cannot go far if we continue to approach like this”.

To improve the enrollment situation, the Deputy Minister of Education and Training suggested that schools need to change their mindset of "doing well in vocational education to do well in streaming, not streaming to increase the number of people studying vocational education".

In addition, schools need to advise and provide reliable, transparent information so that students can make choices. To gain students' trust, first of all, there must be specific data.

“Schools must show students the benefits of studying, future jobs, and salaries. The easiest way is to consider them as your own children to advise them, not as people you have to “herd” into, it will not last and will drag them down together,” he said.

More than 1 million students choose the same career group, the hottest are automobiles and information technology . Of the 2.43 million students choosing to study a profession in 2024, nearly half will choose the engineering - technology group, especially focusing on automobile technology, electrical technology, and information technology.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/trach-dh-hut-ca-hoc-sinh-trung-binh-bo-gd-dt-noi-truong-nghe-tu-xem-lai-minh-2401817.html