VietNamNet Bridge - Going to university is no longer ‘a must’ for many Vietnamese students, who would rather go to vocational schools and work at factories than attend university and remain unemployed.

A report of the Hanoi Education and Training Department shows that 76,046 students have registered to attend the 2016 national high school finals on July 1-4. 

Of these, 16,390 students would attend finals to obtain high school graduation certificates.

According to Ngo Van Chat, a senior official of the department, the number of students planning not to go to university this year is higher than last year (16,390 vs 11,000).

A report of the Hoa Binh provincial Education and Training Department shows that of 8,100 students to attend the high school finals, 5,600 students, or 70 percent, only aim for high school graduation, and will not apply to study at universities.

A report of the Hanoi Education and Training Department shows that 76,046 students have registered to attend the 2016 national high school finals on July 1-4.

In Nghe An province, 31,698 students have registered to attend the high school finals and 12,113 students, or 40 percent, only aim for high school graduation.

Other provinces have also reported sharp decreases in the number of examinees. 

The number of registrations in Thanh Hoa province, for example, decreased by 16,000 compared to last year, while Nam Dinh fell 9,000 and Bac Giang fell by 6,000.

The figures show that fewer Vietnamese students think that going to university is a must.

In the past, university was the choice of the majority of students, while only weak students accepted to go to vocational schools or work.

However, students seem to have become more practical. The fact that hundreds of thousands of university graduates are unemployed has opened their eyes. 

They have realized that higher education is not a guarantee for their future.

Many university graduates have to ‘put bachelor’s degree into a drawer’ and go back to vocational school because industrial zones and factories only need skilled workers, not bachelor degree graduates.

Le Viet Khuyen from the Vietnam Association of Junior Colleges and Universities said this was a big waste of society’s resources.

Nguyen Cao, a teacher, wrote in Giao Duc Viet Nam newspaper that students now we're more pragmatic. 

They just need to spend one or two years to go to vocational school to become skilled workers and be able to fend for themselves.

He said the decrease in the number of students who plan to continue studying at university should be welcomed. 

As more high school graduates go to vocational school, Vietnam will have more skilled workers for those kind of jobs.


GDVN