VietNamNet Bridge – Universities nationwide should amend their social sciences and humanities curricula to make them more job-orientated, experts said at a workshop yesterday, March 30.

Students at a stall promoting university courses in social sciences and humanities at a higher education and vocational guidance fair. (Photo: VNS)

Universities with social sciences and humanities faculties should amend their current curricula to make them more attractive and practical, providing knowledge and skills that could be used in their future jobs, he said.

For example, in the Literature and Linguistics faculty, students are taught to work as reporters and other official workers besides becoming linguistic researchers. They were also provided with updated knowledge in the field, Phuoc said about his university.

Universities should co-operate between faculties to enhance the utility of their courses, he said.

For example, in his university, the geography and tourism faculties co-operated with each other, and this helped increase applicants for relevant courses, he said.

"It is very important that universities know and meet students' demand."

Do Van Binh, head of the Van Hien University's Sociology Faculty, suggested that the Viet Nam Academy of Social Sciences co-operates with the Ministry of Science and Technology to develop social sciences and humanities faculties for the next 10 years.

The project would focus on improving the capacity of lecturers, amending the curricula and deploy more effective means of communication to stress the important role these faculties play, Binh said.

In recent years, these faculties have become unpopular among youth. Most of them thought that it was difficult to find a job after graduating from these faculties, Binh said.

A report by the Ministry of Education and Training showed that the number of applicants for social sciences and humanities faculties decreased from 6.41 per cent in the 2006-07 school year to 2 per cent in the 2008-09 school year.

Binh said, the curricula used by these faculties were outdated and propagandistic in nature. "They are not practical," he added.

Nguyen Thi Thanh, former student of the Van Hien University, said that she and her classmates did not have enough information on social sciences and humanities faculties like sociology, physical education, and psychology when they were in high school.

Nguyen Duc Hiep, former teacher at the Tran Dai Nghia High School for the Gifted, said that universities with these faculties should take the initiative of approaching students at high school and provide enough information on them.

Tran Mai Uoc, a lecturer of Banking University, suggested the application of the conceive-design-implement-operate (CDIO) model, usually applied in engineering courses, be used in social sciences and humanities faculties to standardise and amend the curricula as well as teaching methods and the learning environment.

This would lead to the creation of a skilled human resource base and help universities attract more applicants to these faculties, Uoc said.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News