VietNamNet Bridge – Getting a university education was once the dream cherished by all Vietnamese high school students. However, a bachelor’s degree has lost some of its value in the country.

In the past, university education was considered “valuable luggage for everyone to make his way in the world”. However, Vietnamese students now are rethinking the value of bachelor’s degree.

Higher education cannot always help students find good jobs as they once thought. A report of the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs showed that 174,000 university graduates were still jobless by the end of the third quarter of 2014. Meanwhile, another 750,000 students had been reportedly taking jobs which do not require university education.

Hoang Thuy Mai, a 2014 Hanoi National University graduate, noted that bachelor’s degree does not have high significance in employers’ eyes, because university graduates are so “numerous” nowadays.

“They (the employers) tend to pay higher attention to candidates’ dynamism, soft skills and work style,” Mai said.

“Bachelor’s degrees are the minimum requirement for you to be shortlisted by the employers,” she added.

Do Thuy Phuong, who graduated from the HCM City Economics & Law University three years ago, still cannot find a job in her university major.

Phuong now works as a garment worker at a foreign-invested garment company in Bien Hoa City in Dong Nai province.

“They (the employers) only looked for candidates with at least two years of experience,” Phuong said.

“I wish I had not wasted four years at university,” she said. “I wish I had gone to work right after I finished high school.”

An analyst noted that employers tend to devalue the bachelor’s degrees granted by Vietnamese schools.

“Vietnamese schools are believed to run unreasonable training curriculums, and therefore, they cannot produce the workers who can work well right after they finish school,” the analyst said.

NTV, who finished the Geography Faculty of the HCM City University of Social Sciences and Humanities, now works as an operator for a private company

V said she decided to study geography because she dreamed of becoming a tour guide. With a good-looking appearance and knowledge about history and geography, V was recruited by a travel firm.

However, V did not actually work as a tour guide and instead went with tourists and did odd jobs, like buying goods for tourists and picking up litter on buses.

“When I asked the company director why I was not allowed to work as a tour guide, I was told that the knowledge I received at school was too general and academic, and that I need a five-year probation period to become more professional,” V said.

Thanh Mai