VietNamNet Bridge – The 150 polled businesses in Hanoi gave 3.05 points when asked to assess the university graduates’ capability to adapt to the works. One is the lowest and five is the highest in the marking scheme.

New graduates not highly appreciated

The research team headed by Nguyen Ngoc Phuong, MA, from the Ly Tu Trong Technique Junior College in HCM City, has completed a survey on the qualification of university and junior college graduates by consulting with automobile maintenance companies in the city.

What the research team has found in the survey may hurt schools’ pride. The polled businesses said the knowledge students receive at schools is outdated, while new knowledge about the latest technologies has not been updated.

The businesses have warned that if the schools do not change their curriculums immediately, the theory they provide to students would be useless in practice.

Most graduates only have theoretical knowledge, while they are weak at practice. As a result, it takes businesses six months at least to re-train graduates before they can work independently.

The lack of practical knowledge has been attributed to the poor conditions of training establishments. Learners have short internship time, while they can only make practice with old equipments.

Businesses have also complained about the working behaviors, foreign language skill, discipline, professionalism of new graduates.

Regarding the graduates’ capability to meet the requirements at work, Ngo Thi Thanh Tung, MA, from the Vietnam Education Science Institute, said new graduates got 3.05 out of 5 marks.

Tung and her research team asked the polled businesses to give marks on 16 criteria. The average and above marks were only given to 8 criteria, while less than 3 were given to others, including the capability of working independently and foreign language skill.

Especially, businesses don’t highly appreciate candidates’ knowledge about the business environment and the capability of working under hard pressure.

A report by the Information Technology Institute showed that 72 percent of information technology school graduates don’t have practice experiences, 42 percent lack teamwork skill, while 70 percent are weak at foreign language skill. 77.2 percent of businesses have to spend money to train new graduates until they can get adapted to the works.

What do businesses want?

Of the 16 criteria Tung suggested, the employers regards the capability of solving professional matters as the top priority requirement. The capability of organizing and implementing works is believed to be the second important virtue workers need to have.

The other criteria have been put in orders as follows: the capability of working independently, the capability of searching and using information, foreign language skill, information technology skill, communication skill, the capability of working in teams.

The businesses’ owners said they would give privileges to the candidates who love their jobs, have high discipline, have good knowledge about business environment, have the capability of working under pressure and have creativeness.

A businessman noted that Vietnamese workers are not creative enough. They just try to imitate servilely others’ instruction and guidance, while they don’t have ideas of their own. Meanwhile, businesses need original ideas, which can make breakthrough in the businesses’ operation.

Kim Chi