Only a few students at the Hanoi University of Science and Technology (HUST) have not received their bachelor’s degree because they had yet to meet outcome standards.  In addition to professional knowledge, the school pays attention to training students in foreign languages, helping them to easily join the demanding international labor market.

Bui Hoai Thang from HUST said to encourage students to study English, the school sets different thresholds for every learning level and year. Students must meet English outcome standards before being assigned graduation theses. This allows students to graduate from the school when completing the thesis.

“The school organizes English training courses and gives students the learning tools for free, and provides intensive English lessons to bring more learning opportunities,” Thang said.

He said the school’s foreign language centers provide activities and run English clubs to help students. If students face difficulties in learning foreign languages, they can seek support from the school, friends, the students’ association, and the youth union.

At the National Economics University (NEU), Le Anh Duc, deputy head of the training division, said the school disseminates information about English outcome standards and the rules students must observe during the consultancy and enrollment process.

As for students who don’t have international certificates in English, after entering the school, they will have to attend a test which classifies students based on their English skills to help students find suitable English classes.

“We build intensive English teaching curricula with international standards for students who still have not met outcome standards. We also give advice to every student, so they can choose a reasonable training roadmap,” he said. 

NEU organizes English tests periodically to assess English skills and give early warnings about their abilities.

“We work with international organizations of English to organize exams for IELTS certificates to create the most favorable conditions for students,” he said.

HUST’s training division head Nguyen Thanh Hung said the school is applying different methods to help students meet outcome standards in foreign language skills.

“We not only give warnings to students when training courses are about to finish, but we test students regularly during the study period at school to help them find suitable English courses and urge them to improve before it is too late,” he said.

“Students won’t be allowed to register to study for too many modules until they can meet the standards set for every phase of study,” he said. “At the same time, we ask them to spend more time learning English.”

“We set English standards for different periods. If students only begin learning English in the last one or two semesters, they won’t be able to meet the outcome standards,” he said.

All information about students (semester period, credits obtained, English levels, etc) can be found in the school’s information system, which allows the training division to send messages to students warning them of their English skill level.

Restricting the number of units of study students can register for is a good solution, because students must meet a certain level of English to be able to continue registering for other modules.

In addition, HUST tries to create an English environment for students.

“We have attracted more and more international students to the school and invited foreign lecturers to the school. The Youth Union and students’ association organize clubs of English. The school itself runs a foreign language center to support students who are weak at English or those who have demand for improving their English,” he explained.

The University of Trade's solution is regularly urging students to learn English to meet the standards for every period. The school has a center which provides professional training, in association with an English center, to help students improve English skills in the evening. Since the centers are affiliates of the school, they set preferential tuition rates for students.

Le Huyen - Thanh Hung