HA NOI – This year vocational training schools are facing declining enrolment
numbers due to fierce competition from universities, who are opening their own
vocational schools and extending the enrolment season in order to attract more
students, the General Department of Vocational Training has said.
There are more than 450
vocational schools, and nearly 900 centres with more than 800 training courses.
It was expected that 1.9 million students would enrol at these institutions in
2012. However, the impact of university enrolment policies has meant that this
figure has reached only 1.1 million so far this year, about 60 per cent of the
target.
According to Pham Vu Minh, office
manager of the department, universities have an unfair competitive advantage as
they offer qualifications - such as bachelor diplomas - that are more
prestigious for employers.
Minh also recognised that
vocational training schools have not been efficient in spreading information
about the education and benefits they offer. "Schools and relevant
agencies should enhance their communication with students graduating from high schools
and secondary schools in order to give them some career direction. Otherwise we
will end up with a situation of having too many teachers and too few
students," he said. A 2010 survey from the Viet Nam Institute of
Educational Sciences (VNIES), showed that 85 per cent of students graduating
from high school wanted to study long-term courses at a university; with 56 per
cent willing to re-take college exams the following year if it was necessary
for them to enrol into this kind of higher education. Only 8 per cent said they
were seriously considering a vocational training programme.
This year, the deadline for
university enrolment has been extended until December 11, giving many students
the opportunity to wait for their final exam results and make a decision about
their future. Statistics show that vocational school is often their last
choice.
Tong Minh Ha, a student at the
Vocational Phu Chau College, said "I could not pass the university
entrance examination, I had to choose this school because I don't want to be
unemployed in the future."
The vice-headmaster of Phu Chau
Vocational Training, Cao Gia Nuc, has confirmed that the vocational centres
(which operate in the northern provinces of Thai Binh and Lao Cai, as well as
in Ha Noi and HCM City) are struggling. "We have enrolled only around 300
students, which is about 40 per cent of the number we were hoping for this
year. We are facing many difficulties."
As the school is privately run,
it does not get any financial support from the state budget. With the number of
paying students low, there is a lack of money available for investment in
building facilities, student activities, and the building of professional
programmes to entice students in the future.
Nuc said these private schools
would be more effective with some government support.
Mac Van Tien, director of the
National Institute for Vocational Training under the Ministry of Labour,
Invalids and Social Affairs, said that vocational schools must focus on
acquiring investment. He acknowledged that improving the quality of vocational
training was the requirement of both business and society.
He added that while currently
more than 70 per cent of students graduating from vocational schools found work
or were able to become self-employed, continued innovation and improvement were
needed to raise standards even higher, allowing graduates to meet the
increasing demands of businesses and the labour market.
Tien called for the Government to
support vocational schools more strongly by creating policies and framework to
help them secure investment and thrive.
VNA
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