VietNamNet Bridge – Self-funded overseas studying proves to be the choice of a lot of students who wish to obtain higher education, but fail the domestic university entrance exams.

Going abroad because of… bad learning capacity

The national university entrance exams will take place in four months, but Vietnamese parents have to make decisions on their children’s future right now.

Thu Huong, a parent in Ngoc Khanh residential quarter in Hanoi, said she fears her son would fail the university entrance exams because he does not do really good in school.

“I think I will let him go studying in Japan or Australia because of the simple procedures,” she said. “He is my only child; therefore, he must obtain the higher education.”

Tran Thanh Ngan in Thanh Xuan district agreed that studying overseas is the best choice for the students, who are not sure if they can pass the university entrance exams.

Ngan and her husband have decided that their daughter would study at a school Australia. “We are following necessary procedures with the assistance of an overseas study consultancy firm. My daughter would be able to go to Australia right after she attends the high school finals, slated for early June,” Ngan said.

“My daughter’s learning capability is not good enough to enter domestic schools. However, she feels ashamed if she cannot obtain university education,” she explained why she has decided to enroll her daughter in a school in Australia.

“If she stays at home after high school and has no job to do, she may be entangled in bad business,” she added.

Foreign university degrees better than domestic?

Huong, Ngan and many other parents in Hanoi, for some reasons, choose the overseas studying for their children.

First, the domestic entrance exams to state owned schools have become stiffer with the higher competition ratio, which means fewer opportunities for university education. Studying overseas could be an alternative, though the parents would have to pay big money to fund their children’s studies.

Second, Vietnamese parents believe that the Vietnamese education is too academic and unnecessary heavy for their children, and that it would be better for their children to study at foreign schools which can provide the modern education.

Viet Anh, a 12th grader of a high school in Dong Da district in Hanoi, admitted that he does not think he would pass the entrance exams to a domestic school. Therefore, he has enrolled in a college in Japan.

“They (the school’s management board) accept my learning capability at the average level, while I can continue learning Japanese in Japan,” Anh said.

“I hope I can arrange time for both the studying and working in Japan. If everything goes smoothly, I can earn money to fund my study, and then pass credits to continue the higher education,” he added.

A report of the Ministry of Education and Training showed that the number of Vietnamese studying abroad has been increasing rapidly in recent years. About 100,000 Vietnamese students now study in 47 countries in the world, 90 percent of whom fund the studies themselves.

Chi Mai