VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam currently has 412 universities and colleges. On average each province or city has about 6.6 universities and colleges. There are about 2.2 million students of the total population of about 95 million, higher percentage than in some developed countries. This is one of the reasons the number of unemployed graduates is rising.

According to a recent workshop on human resources training held by the Central Commission for Propaganda and Education, the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, and GIZ, 225,000 people who hold bachelor and master degrees were jobless in the first quarter of 2016.

Studies by Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Quang from the National Economics University show that in recent years higher education in Vietnam has developed significantly in scale and number, not quality.

There are many causes for the poor quality of higher education in Vietnam, such as weak and cumbersome capacity of advisory and management at the macro and micro level.

Financial management is also a reason. Universities recruit many students to have financial sources, and do not pay attention to training quality and the requirement of the labor market. As a result, the number of jobless graduates is on the rise.

Labour experts also said that a mismatch between employer requirements and graduate skills is the main reason why degree holders are facing employment problems.

The training for workers remained weak while the quality and structure of human resources had yet to meet the demands of enterprises, he said.

According to domestic and foreign experts, human resources in Vietnam are of a lower quality than in many developing countries in the region, and are being out competed in the labour market.

Many businesses, especially foreign-invested ones, refuse to employ graduates and instead want to conduct training themselves as they do not trust the quality of training from educational institutions in Vietnam.

Phuong Mai