Vietnam - World Bank: Vietnamese students lack skills

HANOI - While access to higher education has been growing fast in Vietnam over the last decade, many challenges remain for tertiary education institutions to improve skill delivery, said the World Bank in a report released in Hanoi on Thursday.

The World Bank’s report “Putting Higher Education to Work: Skills and Research for Productivity and Growth in East Asia” said the supply of higher education graduates remains below par regionally and does not yet address the needs of the labor market.

Vietnamese employers find gaps to be particularly severe in communication and English skills, as well as practical knowledge of one’s job, in newly hired graduates. And skill gaps are found to be significantly larger in technologically intensive sub-sectors, constraining technological improvements and innovation.

Higher education also needs to do a better job of providing the type of research needed to boost innovation. Quality research enables universities to produce ideas for the business community and contribute to technology upgrading in firms, generating knowledge and technological innovation.

International rankings and research output indicate that the Vietnamese higher education system is not yet providing research of sufficient quality. Even university involvement in technology adaptation and upgrading is limited.

According to surveys, for instance, less than 3% of firms declare cooperating with universities or research institutes in product innovation.

Clearly, beyond simply providing skills, Vietnamese universities need to do more to support innovation through research and technology.

According to the report, “higher education does not produce the expected results because higher education institutions are “disconnected” from the other actors at the core of the higher education system.”

For Vietnam to continue its rapid growth and achieve continued technological deepening, these main priorities are evident for higher education:  addressing skills gaps through better graduate quality and more inclusiveness; encouraging selected university-industry linkages to improve curriculum relevance, support entrepreneurship, and help with technological upgrading.

Chien Thang - The Saigon Times Daily

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