VietNamNet Bridge - The high percentage of unemployed university graduates in Vietnam is higher than in other parts of the world and there are not enough skilled workers for the national economy, experts say.

Vietnam has made a big leap in the last two decades by offering more opportunities for people to access higher education. 

The number of university students has increased from 2 percent to 20 percent with 200 students for every 10,000 people.   

However, the high unemployment rate of university graduates and the decreasing number of students registering to study universities since 2010 show the situation is getting worse.

A university lecturer noted that while social and economic conditions have seen big changes over the last many years, Vietnam’s higher education remains unchanged.

Students nowadays are called “i-generation students”, i.e., learners who can use digital telecommunication devices proficiently and have the opportunities to access many information sources. 

Meanwhile, Vietnamese schools still apply “traditional teaching methods”, the lecturer noted.

“Classrooms, lecture halls, libraries remain the major teaching instruments. Reading lectures remain the major teaching method. Examinations and tests remain the major solution to assess students’ abilities,” he said.

The teaching methods and instruments have become out of date. No teacher has the fund of knowledge huge enough to compare with the knowledge students can find in mass media just with computer mouse clicks. 

Higher education is no longer very attractive to students.

Phung Thien Bao, a 12th grader, who is making hectic preparations for the high school finals, said he has to follow university education at any costs, but just to obtain bachelor’s degree, while he does not hope he can receive necessary knowledge and skills from university.

“The only thing universities can provide is the bachelor’s degree. If you want to get knowledge and other things for your job promotion and successes in your life, you need to find elsewhere,” he said.

In fact, Bao noted, bachelor’s degree is the minimum level of degree workers have to have when applying for jobs.

“There are numerous candidates who have bachelor’s degree,” he explained. “Therefore, in order to be more outstanding, you need to have master’s degree or doctorate.”

“This has resulted in the so-called ‘degree inflation’ in Vietnam,” he said. “The education degrees to be granted by Vietnamese schools will not be reliable in employers’ eyes.”

What will happen if Vietnamese students cannot find what they want at universities? 

Pham Thi Ly, an analyst, in her article in Nguoi Lao Dong, wrote that Vietnamese students would either try to find the things they want from other sources rather than schools, or they will become lost.

CV