Pham Van Minh, dean of Electrical Engineering of the Hanoi University of Industry, said that his school for many years has always paid high attention to creating favorable conditions for students to carry out scientific research.

However, the number of students carrying out scientific research is lower than expected.

His faculty, for example, registers to conduct 50-60 research projects every year, which needs the participation of about 150 students (3-4 students for each team), but the total number of students  is three times higher.

“Our expectation is that half of total students, or 200-250 students, participate in scientific research,” he said

Topics for scientific research are not lacking, but students to do the research are needed.

“Students often flinch, but don’t flinch from difficulties and hard work. They think that science is something sublime which is not for them. This creates barriers that prevent them from joining research teams,” he said.

“Besides professional knowledge, they also have problems with time and money for research activities. Therefore, lecturers like us have to persuade students to participate in research,” he explained.

The results of the students who were persuaded to join research teams are in no way worse than the students who voluntarily carried out research.

“This shows that students are capable but not daring. Among the students persuaded to join research teams, there were some students showing excellent talents and likely to gain bigger achievements if they receive further training,” he said.

According to Nguyen Huy Phuong from the Hanoi University of Science and Technology, students are also reluctant to do research because they did not have a necessary platform at  general schools before university.

The problem lies in the unreasonable curricula for general education. Students simply listen to teachers and write down what they hear in their notebooks. They don’t have opportunities to practice and lack conditions for creativity. 

In order to improve students’ self-confidence, Minh has advised students to regularly exchange views with lecturers.

“Students nowadays are still shy. They are shy even when talking with lecturers. They should be more active,” he said.

Minh said that students should practice communication skills to have self-confidence when they are at general school. They also need to become familiar with criticism.

Thanh Hung