VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has tightened the control over non-full time training modes after the criticism over the training quality, which has made the training scale narrowed.

Students tired of in-service training courses

Enrolling in in-service (work-study) university training courses (students can study was once in fashion in big cities of Vietnam. Laborers believed that they would get job promotions if they had more university degrees.

The high demand then prompted schools to enlarge their training scale and set up more in-service training courses. The number of such classes became so high that they became the main “bread earners” for schools.

However, the increase in the number of training course meant the decrease in the training quality. Those bachelors who finish in-service training courses have been refused by employers because of their bad qualifications.

All the students could pass the entrance exams to study at schools and all of them can finish school after certain periods of study.

Therefore, in-service training has become less attractive. The HCM City Food Industry University planned to enroll 200 students for the in-service training, but it found 99 students only.

With the modest number of students, the school can only maintain two training majors – accountancy and information technology, while it has to stop the training of other majors.

Pham Thai Son, Deputy Head of the Training Division, said the school plans to enroll 300 more students in November, but he thinks it would find 100 students only.

Both Dr. Tran Dinh Ly, Head of the Training Division of the HCM City Agriculture & Forestry University and Dr. Nguyen Tien Dung from the HCM City University of Technique Education, both confirmed the considerable fall in the number of students for in-service training, admitting that the mode of training has become no more attractive.

Minister of Education and Training Pham Vu Luan has requested universities to draw up the plans to gradually cut down the numbers of in-service training students.

In 2012, the number of in-service training students was equal to 60 percent of the number of full-time training. Meanwhile, the figure would decrease to 50 percent in 2013 and decrease further in the next years.

No more college graduates go through to universities

Like in-service training graduates, the students who finish junior colleges (3-year training) and pass credit to study at universities (4-5 year training), are believed to have bad qualifications.

Most of them are the students who failed the national university entrance exams and they have to “take a roundabout” to universities: they study at junior colleges first and then attend the entrance exams (with easier requirements) to study at universities.

Therefore, MOET has decided to tighten the regulations to ensure the high quality of the input university students by stipulating that junior college graduates can only pass credits to study at universities and attend the entrance exams after 36 months since the graduation day.

Those students, who want to study at universities sooner, would have to attend the national university entrance exams like the students who just finish high school.

Dung from the HCM City University of Technique Education said in previous years, the school received 300 applications for studying at the school, while it has received tens of applications only so far this year.

Meanwhile, Ly from the agriculture and forestry school said the school is considering stopping the training mode because there are no more students to enroll.

Thanh Mai