VietNamNet Bridge – What causes headache to many big universities is that they cannot enroll enough students for some majors, but they still have to continue offering the subjects

This has happened with the HCM City University of Technology under the HCM City National University. While the entry requirements are high, and the number of students passing the exams was high, the faculties still cannot enroll enough students.

The biotechnology and food technology major, for example, does not have enough students, because only 72.2 percent of students, who passed the exams, have turned up to register for the study.

Similarly, 354 students passed the exams to be admitted to the information technology faculty, but only 248 students have registered (95 percent).

Dr Nguyen Thanh Nam, Head of the Training Division of the school, said it is quite a surprise that the majors, which require highest exam marks, are the ones that fail to enroll students. Nam thinks that students take many entry exams and in the choose more popular subjects at other schools.

Some faculties of the HCM City University of Natural Sciences belonging to the HCM City National University have also reported that the proportion of students who have registered is low. Only 30 percent of students, who passed the university entrance exams for bio-technology major, have registered in the end. The proportion is 40 percent for the geology and environment technology faculties.

Dr Nguyen Kim Quang, Head of the Training Division of the school also gave the same explanation as Nam’s.

The number of students registering study at the International University under the HCM City National University is surprisingly low this year. Students only need to get 14,5-15 points from the university entrance exams to be able to study at the faculty of aquatic resources management and development. However, even with such low requirements, the faculty still does not have enough candidates.

The computing science major has also fallen into a lamentable situation as only eight students have entered school, though the faculty plans to enroll 80 students. Only 54 students have registered to study information technology, while the target quota is 80, and 23 students have registered to study food technology, while the target number is 50.

This situation reflects the changing trends in the students’ choice of university subjects. Polytechnique and technology -related majors, which were once very “hot” have become less popular. Dr Ho Thanh Phong, President of the HCM City International University, said that learners nowadays rush to study service-related majors, while they do not want to follow manufacturing-related studies any more. He said that many excellent students now say “no” to polytechnique majors, because they think the majors are very difficult, while not offering many job opportunities after graduation.

According to Dr Nguyen Van Thu, Deputy President of the HCM City Transport University, it seems that learners nowadays have wrong understanding of job prospects. Students do not have to study about how to construct machines or mechanization. And in fact, graduates can easily find jobs in these fields. Thu said that many companies have come to the university looking for students from these majors, offering attractive salaries of 5-6 million dong a month. However, there are very few students to offer.

Source: Tien phong