VietNamNet Bridge – A lot of bachelors and masters stay unemployed in the labor market where businesses now need blue collar workers more than bachelors or masters.

Nguyen Khanh Trung graduated the Chinese literature major after following the joint training program of the HCM City University of Education and the Anhui University. After that, he continued his study and obtained the master degree in the same major.

Trung spent some years working as a lecturer of the HCM City University of Education and now, he is the first year student of a vocational school.

“I feel I still lack some skills which allow me to fulfill my hobbies. Therefore, I decided to go to vocational school. I also think that the vocational training would help me have a better future,” he said.

The student explained that he now studies the culinary management, hoping that the knowledge would be useful for him to run a restaurant of his own which specializes in serving Chinese and Vietnamese cuisines.

TTHT, who has the economics degree from the HCM City Economics University and English degree from the HCM City University of Social Sciences and Humanity, one master degree of economics, now goes to a medical school to become a physician.

“I go to work everyday, but I still follow a training course in healthcare, hoping to help my family members in taking care for their health,” she said.

Do Xuan Truong, who finished the HCM City Industry University and the Lac Hong University, is now following a training course on information technology at a vocational school.

When asked why she decided to go back to school, though she has had higher education, HT said that the knowledge she received from the universities is too academic which cannot be applied in reality. Therefore, T decided to go to vocational school to practice necessary skills useful for her jobs. She also thinks that the more she studies, the better she can prepare for the future life.

“If you have both the academic knowledge from universities and the good skills from vocational schools, you would have more job opportunities and you would succeed in your life,” T said.

“The society now needs the workers who can really undertake their works, not the workers who only have theoretical knowledge,” she added.

Khanh Trung has also noted that a lot of people with university degrees stay unemployed because they cannot satisfy the demand of the employers. They only have the theoretical knowledge they receive from universities, which does not allow them to get adapted to the works immediately.

“A lot of my friends, who are bachelors in economics, also go to vocational schools now. They need more practical knowledge and skills to run their own business,” Trung said.

Dr Pham Nhu Nghe, a senior official of the Ministry of Education and Training, said he can understand why the people like Khanh Trung or THT want to go to vocational school after obtaining university or higher education degrees.

In principle, universities provide academic knowledge to help learners make research and creations, while vocational schools provide practical skills.

He has also noted that Vietnamese have become more “abreast of the times” nowadays when deciding what to study. In the past, nearly all high school graduates wished to further study at universities, thinking that there were more job opportunities for bachelors. However, they have realized that a lot of workers who are bachelors and masters remain jobless.

Tien Phong