VietNamNet Bridge – Numerous schools have been opened, more and more training courses have been provided, while there has been no reliable forecast about the labor force demand. The heavy criticism has been cast on the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) for the high unemployment rate of new graduates.

According to Nguyen Thi Bich Hat, a former student of the Dong Thap University, there were 53 students in her class, who came from the provinces of An Giang, Kien Giang, Long An and Ben Tre. Only 7 students from Long An could find the jobs that fit their training majors. The others have been living on the support from families, or have left for HCM City, where they are working as freelancers, or blue collar workers.

Too many university students, what’s it for?

According to the Dong Thap provincial education and training department, 1,740 students finishing pedagogical schools had not found jobs by the end of 2012. The actual number of unemployed graduates was much higher, because the graduates from the universities in other provinces were not counted on.

Especially, schools said they did not need the teachers in history, agriculture and industry techniques. However, hundreds of teachers in these subjects are still produced every year.

By February 20, 2013, Thanh Hoa province had found 24,956 unemployed bachelors. Most of them finished pedagogical schools (3,762), the others from the “hot training majors” such as information technology, economics and business administration.

While it’s still unclear where the 25,000 new graduates would go to, another 44,000 workers would join the labor market in June 2013, when they graduate universities.

Le Quang Tich, Deputy Director of the Thanh Hoa provincial Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, has blamed the problem on the “oversupply of bachelors”. He said universities still enroll students in big quantities for training, though they know it’s very difficult to find jobs in the context of the economic recession.

The number of unemployed university graduates who are considered “intellectuals” and don’t accept to work as blue collar workers in industrial zones, seems to be higher than high school workers who are willing to take simple and unskilled jobs.

The Da Nang City Department of Labors, War Invalids and Social Affairs, has confirmed that the city is lacking unskillful workers, but it has bachelors in excess.

In general, at the job sessions, the demand for unskillful workers accounts for nearly 70 percent, while the demand for university graduates is low at 5-10 percent.

Meanwhile, Da Nang City alone has 8 universities which produce tens of thousands of bachelors each year.

The oversupply of university graduates has forced many of them to take unskillful jobs. Le Duy Luong, the Human Resource Director of a Japanese electronics company in the Hoa Cam Industrial Zone, said hundreds of blue collar workers at the company have university degrees.

Minister of Education and Training -- Pham Vu Luan claimed the responsibility for the low training quality.

“The Ministry of Education has a responsibility for the low university training quality which provides the graduates who still cannot meet the requirements of the employers, especially in the English and informatics knowledge,” Luan said.

He went on to say that the training scale and structure at universities and junior colleges do not match the demand in the labor market. The schools just train students in the majors they have advantages, while cannot train the majors necessary for the society.

NLD