VietNamNet Bridge – Education experts believe the best solution to the high percentage of unemployed university graduates with bachelor’s degrees is enhancement of the profession oriented higher education (POHE) program.

Bui Anh Tuan, head of the Higher Education Department under the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), said POHE has been used in Vietnam since 2010.

POHE has been applied at eight schools where 2,200 students have graduated and the another 6,000 students are now studying. More than 500 businesses have joined the program.

Curricula adapted to business needs

Do Thi Ngoc Oanh from the Thai Nguyen Agriculture and Forestry University said that the school has decided to make some changes with the curricula after conducting a survey on society’s demand.

As for the plantation science major, for example, the number of teaching sessions designed, which previously accounted for 34 percent of the total amount of training time, has been cut to 12 percent. And physics is no longer a subject for plantation science majoring students.

Meanwhile, the school has decided to raise the time limit for providing students with professional skills, from 48 percent of the total training time to 57 percent.

The time limit for society and management has increased from 7 percent to 20 percent. New learning subjects have been put into the training curriculum, including public relations, training of farmers and the ordinance on agriculture.

Nguyen Thi Tinh, vice president of the Thai Nguyen University of Education, also said the school re-designed the training curriculum after surveying the labor market and the students’ abilities.

The Hue City Agriculture and Forestry University said it has created another training curricula which is completely different from the traditional one.

Believing that students need more time for practice, the school asks students to attend internship periods right when they are in the first year at school.

Tinh noted that the biggest difference between traditional and POHE programs is the involvement of businesses into the training process and curriculum development.

Barriers

Tuan noted that there are still many barriers that prevent schools from approaching the modern training model.

“The barriers are inertia of relevant ministries in setting up new policies and the indifference of businesses,” he noted.

Explaining the “indifference” of businesses, Pham Van Cuong from the Vietnam Agriculture Academy, said schools have to ask for help from lecturers and former students to connect businesses and persuade businessmen to join the training process.

However, Cuong said the relationship between schools and businesses would not be sustainable if it is not for “mutual benefit”. Meanwhile, businesses cannot get benefits, and cooperating with schools is not their task.

Ngan Anh