VietNamNet Bridge – Universities, junior colleges and vocational schools all complain that they cannot enroll enough students. Where have the high school graduates gone?

The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) on July 30 released a report showing that the number of students admitted to vocational schools has been decreasing dramatically in the last four years.

About 485,000 students were enrolled in vocational schools in the 2013-2014 academic year, a decrease of 130,000 students from 2012-2013. Thirty-eight schools reportedly could not find students, though they were granted “quotas” by MOET.

Vocational schools are proving to not be the favorite choice for high school graduates. It is estimated that only 10 percent of students plan to continue studying at vocational schools after they finish high school, and the figure is on the decrease.

Prior to 2011, the vocational schools in HCM City could enroll 40,000 students per annum in the years prior. The figure fell to 36,000 in 2012 and 26,800 in 2013.

In Hanoi, local vocational schools found only 22,000 students in 2013, fulfilling 64.9 percent of the enrolment plan. This represented a sharp decrease of 5,000 students from the year before.

Hoang Van Binh, deputy director of the Vinh Phuc provincial Education and Training Department, believes that students are not going to vocational schools because they have more opportunities to enter universities.

“The top priority for students and their parents is university education. Junior college is the second choice. Meanwhile, very few students want to go to vocational school,” he noted. “There are few students left for vocational schools to enroll”.

However, Deputy Minister of Education and Training Bui Van Ga does not think that universities have drained all students, thus leaving no candidate for vocational schools.

“It is not true that students all go to universities after they finish high school,” Ga said.

“Only top universities can easily enroll students, while others say they find it very hard to find enough students,” he maintained.

According to MOET, about 300,000 students enter domestic universities every year, while 900,000 students finish high schools.

Meanwhile, the numbers of students going abroad after high school graduation to study at foreign universities and work are inconsiderable.

“Where do high school students go then? Why don’t they continue studying?” Ga asked. “Is it because they don’t want to continue studying because they find it useless?”

“They (vocational schools) will be able to enroll students if they can answer the questions, while they should not blame universities for the lack of students,” Ga said.

Where have students gone if they do not go to vocational schools? The question was raised at a conference discussing the implementation of tasks in the 2014-2015 period held some days ago by MOET. However, there was no answer.

Binh from Vinh Phuc education department said in order to “save” vocational schools, it is necessary to restructure the whole national educational system, from pre-school to university education.

“The education levels need to be designed in harmonization and they must have close relations with each other,” he said.

Ngan Anh