VietNamNet Bridge – Despite the criticism about the low quality of in-service training, the training model is still expanding. Universities are opening more in-service training courses, because they are the main bread earners for them and for university lecturers.

T, a lecturer of a big university in Hanoi, said that he has to have 260 teaching periods per year at the university, and because the school lacks lecturers he has compulsory additional teaching hours. Besides, he can register to teach at in-service training classes. T said he cannot say exactly how much he can earn from in-service training classes, but said that this is the main source of his income.

In general, every in-service training lecturer can earn about 20-25 million dong a month. (In Vietnam, those people with a monthly income of 10 million dong or higher are considered high income earners).

There are different in-service training classes for lecturers to choose. T has registered to teach evening classes, from 6-8 pm, because these are not peak hours and he can avoid traffic jams on the way to school. T gets 45,000 dong per period and 135,000 dong for every evening.

T goes to evening classes three times a week. “If I want I can register for more teaching hours because the university creates favorable conditions for lecturers to earn extra money. However, I still have to take extra jobs, therefore, I cannot spend much time on teaching,” T said.

T went on to say that his friends, who are lecturers at other big universities in Hanoi, have also been teaching at many in-service training classes to earn money. With in-service training classes, lecturers can flexibly arrange their time, while they do not have to take responsibility for the quality of training.

On the faculty of a big university in Hanoi, there are two main groups of lecturers. The first is in charge of teaching regular training students, while the other group is in charge of in-service training classes. In general, lecturers of in-service training classes always have to go to the classes organized in other provinces. After every year, the two groups of lecturers exchange their working schedule: those, who taught regular training students last year, will take in-service training classes this year.

A lecturer admitted that he prefers in-service training classes, because the teaching not only can bring more money, but also can bring many other benefits.

He said that most of the students in in-service training classes have jobs already and they significant experience in their fields. “My current class has two big real estate traders who can show me the best way to invest in land. They know a lot of good information,” he said.

“If you work hard, your income will be not bad,” said D, a lecturer. The “not bad” income, according to D, is about 20-25 million dong a month.

Of course, when in-service training lecturers get high income from teaching, the universities which organize in-service training also pocket lots of money. Analysts say that universities nearly do not have any investments in in-service training, yet they still can make large sums of money. The schools only have to spend small sums of money on lecturers, and they do not have to spend money on curriculums and material facilities because they can use the curriculums and material facilities of the regular training classes for in-service training.

The Hanoi University of Foreign Trade has 2400 in-service training students, while every student has to pay 3.6 million dong a year. As such, the school can earn 8.6 billion dong a year from in-service training alone.

Meanwhile, the Hanoi Economics University has 23,000 students. With the tuition of 2.5-3.5 million dong per annum, the total sum of money the school can earn is a huge sum.

Kieu Oanh