VietNamNet Bridge – Studying at foreign universities proves to be the dream of all Vietnamese high school graduates. However, in many cases, the study is not as wonderful as dreamed.

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Working hard to fund study

Le Thi Lua, a postgraduate majoring in business administration at Jigyou University, when asked about the study in Japan, said her life now is just like the one of an export worker. She has to work hard everyday after the school hours. If she doesn’t, she would have no money to stay in Japan.

Lua said she has been meeting big difficulties in every way as a self-funded student. She received the half-year scholarship for the first year of study from the Student Support Fund, with which she had yen65,000 a month to cover her basic needs.

Before leaving for Japan, she received yen200,000 from her parents, who are farmers and have to work hard every day on the rice fields.

In Japan, Lua lives in a rental room for which she has to pay yen 70,000. In the first month in Japan alone, she spent yen140,000. Therefore, she decided to go work to get money from the second month in Japan.

In the first six months, Lua only had 30 working hours at two restaurants a week. However, she has spent more time on earning her living over the last year, when she has more free time.

Lua said if she does not have go to school, she would work from 6 am until 1.am of the next morning. She estimated that she had to wash some 500 dishes every day.

If she is too busy with the study, she can earn yen80,000-90,000 a month from the extra jobs. And she can earn up to yen120,000 in holidays.

“The jobs give me money. But I have to work too hard and sometimes I don’t have time for studying,” she complained.

Duc Tuan from Hanoi is now a second year student of the Daegu University in South Korea. After finishing the Hanoi Industry Junior College, Tuan went to South Korea as an export worker. And after six years of working there, he decided to stay in the country to continue his university education.

In daytime, Tuan goes to school. From 9 pm to 6 am, he works at an electronics company. He lives at the company’s dormitory, which allows him to save the money for room rents.

The job is not too hard for Tuan, but he has to stand for nine hours long a day. On average, he spends 20 evenings on the job every month, while spending all of his free time to sleep.

Tuan can earn about $1,000 a month which he spends on meals ($150 a month) and tuitions ($2,000 a semester).

You can’t have it both ways

Despite the warned tough lives, Vietnamese students still nurture the dream of studying at foreign schools, which they believe can provide good training to help them find good jobs when they return to Vietnam.

Lua said she has to exchange many things for the studying in Japan. However, she does not regret her decision.

Chi Mai