Vietnam's academic quality might hold back the economy

TIN LIÊN QUAN
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In the article, the writer mentioned Nguyen Van Duc, who graduated two years ago with a bachelor’s degree in economics from one of Vietnam’s best universities. Today, he earns about $250 a month as a motorbike taxi driver in Ha Noi.

Critically, Duc is among thousands of Vietnamese college graduates who can’t find jobs in their chosen field, despite the fact that nation’s unemployment rate is just 2.3 percent.

While Vietnam's students are only equipped with basic skills for low-wage assembly-line work, its colleges and universities are failing to prepare youth for more complex work.

College students frequently spend much of their first two years learning about revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh, socialism and party history at the expense of critical thinking and other skills expected by employers, according to Ms. Uyen.

Hence, newly graduates with college degrees are often denied by firms due to their lack of adequate skills, says the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The unemployed rate among young people with university degrees is 17 percent, as to be shown in the graph by Bloomberg.

University graduates have the highest jobless rate among young people in Vietnam.

Facing this reality, more Vietnamese parents are now sending their children overseas to study, hoping to improve their future career, the writer spotted.

“The number of Vietnamese studying in Japan, including language schools, grew more than 12-fold in the six years to May 2016, reaching about 54,000, according to the Japan Student Services Organization.”

“Vietnam has expanded the number of colleges and universities across the nation over the last decade to about 450. The government plans to have 560,000 new students enter college and university in 2020, which will be about an 8 percent increase over 10 years”, as reported by the Bloomberg's writer.

On the contrary, just a third of Vietnam’s labor force had a high school degree last year, according to the Institute of Labour Science and Social Affairs.

At this stage of development, Vietnam has posted rapid expansion rates even with its low productivity record - the World Bank forecasts growth will exceed 6 percent until 2019. But it remains miles behind regional peers when it comes to getting the most out of its workforce.

The economy has one of the weakest industrial productivity levels in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Singapore’s is 26 times higher than Vietnam; Malaysia 6.5 times greater and Thailand and Philippines about 1.5 times, the writer put it.

But according to Bloomberg, the scenario might brighten up.

“Companies are also providing additional education to get workers up to speed. FPT Corp., the country’s largest listed telecom and technology company, has educational branches around the country for about 20,000 high school, college and university students. Intel Corp., which operates an assembly and test plant in Ho Chi Minh City, has committed to spending $22 million on several programs”- Ms. Uyen stated in the article.

But for those stuck in the state system, education can be “a big waste of time and money,” said Luu Quang Tuan, deputy head of the Institute of Labour Science and Social Affairs.

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