VietNamNet Bridge – University lecturers do not go to
libraries, because they know that they cannot find anything useful there for
their scientific research works. Meanwhile, students say they would rather seek
materials from second-hand book shops.
Lecturers don’t think highly of libraries
“I have never gone to the
libraries in Vietnam, because I cannot see any materials I need there,” said
Thanh Hai, who has returned from France after finishing a state funded training
course to obtain doctorate.
“What you can find at Vietnamese
libraries are just some basic materials for school subjects which can only
satisfy a part of the demand of students. Meanwhile, there is nothing there for
lecturers like us,” said Nguyen Duc Minh, PhD, about the library of the
university where he is working now.
The lecturers who finish overseas
training courses all have the same complaints that while in foreign countries,
libraries prove to be the best addresses for anyone to find any documents, in
Vietnam, library does not have any significance.
According to Minh, what he and
other Vietnamese lecturers or postgraduates need are the scientific articles
published on prestigious journals, because they need to learn about the most
updated scientific achievements in the world.
“The materials are really very
useful for us, because they can provide the information about the science
development in the world, show us where we are now and what we should do, what
we should teach students. Meanwhile, the materials cannot be found at Vietnamese
libraries,” Minh said, adding that he even cannot find important articles
published on Vietnamese journals at Vietnamese universities’ libraries.
Minh said he can see a big
difference between domestic and foreign universities. While foreign universities
act as the research and teaching centers, the universities in Vietnam only
implements one job – teaching. The difference in the roles of the universities
has led to the different investment levels in libraries.
He went on to say that searching
for updated materials and carrying out scientific research are the vital job of
university lecturers. If they do not carry out scientific research and cannot
find sponsor for their research works, they would lose their jobs. Meanwhile,
in Vietnam, university lecturers still can live well even if they do not
publish any scientific research works.
Meanwhile, a lecturer of the
Hanoi University of Social Sciences and Humanity complained that lecturers have
to buy materials from foreign sources with their own money, though the books
are always very expensive. Meanwhile, the university libraries can only satisfy
a small demand of lecturers.
Students compared with “frog in a well”
Vietnamese people have a saying:
"Ech ngoi day gieng coi troi bang vung" (Sitting at the bottom of
wells, frogs think that the sky is as wide as a lid") which ridicules
someone who is narrow-minded but arrogant.
Since students cannot access
different sources of materials to serve their study and research, they lack
important knowledge, but still think that their knowledge is deep enough
already.
Most of the surveyed students
said that the textbooks with basic knowledge are the main source of materials
for them to study.
The lecturer from the Hanoi
University of Social Sciences and Humanity said while a lot of changes have
occurred in the society with a lot of problems arisen, students now still
follow the old psychology materials provided by Russia half a century ago.
A student of the Journalist
Faculty of the school said that he goes to libraries just because he wants a
quiet place to read books, while he does not expect to find anything useful
there.
Nguyen Hien
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