Vietnam - Students flock to career day for study abroad consultancy

Numerous high school students in Ho Chi Minh City and neighboring localities flooded Saturday into an exam and career counseling festival organized by Tuoi Tre newspaper to seek information on study abroad.

The festival, which concluded Sunday at the HCMC University of Technology campus, was intended to provide high school students with advice on career choices and July’s national university entrance exams, which Vietnam uses to choose students for higher education.

Nguyen Duy Tan, a 12th-grader at An Duong Vuong High School in HCMC’s Tan Phu District, spent half an hour asking a consultant at the JM Education Counseling Center stand about procedures for studying in the U.S.

“I really want to study in an international environment,” Tan told your correspondents. “I have looked for information from several international school stands, and was quite satisfied with the consultancy.”

Tan added that he also wanted to sit for the entrance exams even though he preferred studying abroad.

“I may enroll for the International University under the Vietnam National University – HCMC, where enrollees will spend the first two years studying in Vietnam, and the other two in another country,” he said.

A ninth-grader at the HCMC-based Chu Van An Middle School, Huynh Ngoc Kim Hao, who was filling out a questionnaire at a nearby study abroad consultancy booth, said she would like to study in the U.S. after finishing high school.

“Language barrier may be a hindrance, but I am quite confident of my English proficiency becauce I have prepared for it since my first year in middle school,” Hao said.

Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, a 12th-grader at Nguyen Huu Tien High School located in HCMC’s Hoc Mon District, said she would choose to study overseas if her family could afford it.

“I prefer studying in a foreign country to enrolling in an international school at home, as I do not trust its quality,” Hien said.

A 12th-grader at Binh Phu High School in HCMC’s Tan Phu District said she would also apply to an international university if she was able to arrange enough financing.

A sophomore at RMIT Vietnam, an Australian university, believed students could not only learn a lot from an international school’s advanced training methodology but they could also benefit very much from the experiences of their international lecturers.

Tuoi Tre has held the festival for ten consecutive years now.

Parents go for consulting, too

Do Minh Huyen, hailing from HCMC’s District 10, and her husband decided to attend the festival to find any available information on overseas study since their son was busy with schooling.

“An international school at home or abroad will alike give my son a better education,” Huyen explained.

Similarly, Nguyen Van Quan and his daughter, 12th-grader Nguyen Thi Minh Tam of the HCMC-based Gia Dinh High School, tried the whole day to obtain consulting from many international schools, such as RMIT, Saigon International University, and Hong Bang University International.

“The thing is I want to select the best among them for my daughter,” Quan said.

Promising future for education market

Many international schools partook in the festival, most of which were very optimistic about the education sector in Vietnam.

Donovan, a lecturer at Melior Business School which is located in HCMC’s Phu Nhuan District, said the Vietnamese education would be strongly improving in the next five years, especially when it came to learning English.

Malte Stokhop, director of Nuffic Neso Vietnam, a Dutch education support office, suggested Vietnam should send more students to the Netherlands, which he said has many similaries with the Southeast Asian country, and concentrate more on applied courses instead of general disciplines.

TRUONG SON - VIET TOAN

Tuoi Tre

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