In
Vietnam, it is the mother of all battles that is fought year after year: more
than close to a million or more students sit for their university entrance
examinations, fighting for a few hundred thousand seats.
This
year is no exception.
As many as 1.5 million students have to fight
for just over 415,000 seats at higher-education institutions.
In recent years, though, another dimension has
been added to the event.
It has also become a competition among
non-public universities, many of which do not hesitate to employ some trickery
to attract as many students as allowed by the Ministry of Education and
Training.
This year it seemed that the race has really
heated up. Schools which are newly-built or less known are offering various
benefits to attract students, ranging from discounts on tuition to multiple
year scholarships.
Some, like Luong The Vinh University in the
northern province of Nam Dinh, has offered students VND550,000-1 million
(US$26.5-48) in cash if they agree to enroll in the school. Those who introduce
students to the school’s enrollment department also receive “brokerage” fees of
VND250,000 ($12) per student.
Even though the “commercialization of education”
has been greatly lamented lately in Vietnam, it is the first time that such
lures have been openly used.
Luong The Vinh University has not been alone
in its overboard efforts to attract students, and the nation has watched this
process with some anxiety as values long-held sacred began disappearing under
the onslaught of commercialization.
However, the matter here isn’t only about
commercialization. It isn’t about the legality of methods deployed either,
because even if some practices were found to be illegal, it’s very likely that
violators are let off with a meager fine. In previous years, no school has ever
been forced to close down or suspend admitting students following the exposure
of their dubious practices.
The current debate is highlighting one of the
major problems that has faced Vietnam’s education sector for years: too many
universities are being established while the total quota of students to be
admitted to universities increases just slightly every year. In fact, Vietnam
now has over 400 universities and colleges compared to 376 recorded in 2009.
Worse still, many of them are allowed to be
established without strict control over their quality in terms of lecturers and
infrastructure, a problem long pointed out by the local media.
Even though the education ministry acts tough
whenever the media exposes a school with dubious quality, the problem is still
there and is growing.
One key factor that has been mentioned before
but never taken seriously is the obsession of Vietnamese people with university
degrees. Any other avenue of education is ignored and used as a last resort.
While some people argue that this is a
deep-rooted social consciousness problem that cannot be changed easily,
inaction is no longer an option.
The education ministry needs to cooperate with
related agencies to question the belief that “university is the only entrance
to a successful life.” Many conferences have been held over the years to
discuss the problem, but in practice, nothing has really been done so far.
Once this belief is changed and people see
vocational training in many areas, especially growth vocations such as computer
science, as a viable, respectable option that not only imparts skills, but also
opens paths to stable livelihoods, a lot of these questionable practices will
disappear.
It would also be an effective way to address
the nation’s dearth of skilled workers, and make it a more attractive
investment destination.
Thanh Nien News
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