The lack of soft skills is making Vietnamese workers less competitive in the international integration process, heard a recent conference on the impact of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) on local students and young laborers.

Only 45% of schools include soft skills in their curricula but they make up a mere 3% of all the courses.   

The AEC that marks its first birthday on December 31 allows free movements of dentists, nurses, engineers, construction workers, accountants, architects, surveyors and tourism employees within the region. 

More professions are expected to be added in the coming time, thus piling more pressure on local students and young laborer.

According to the World Bank (WB), Vietnam ranks 11 among 12 Asian nations in terms of manpower quality with 3.79 points out of 10 points. Meanwhile, Thailand gets 4.94 points and Malaysia 5.59 points.

The conference held by the HCM City Communist Youth Union in HCM City last weekend attracted 133 young scientists and 31 organizations. Seventy-nine reports on human resources, jobs and competitiveness were presented at the conference.

A HCM City Industry and Trade College report on Vietnamese students’ soft skills says that local students are inactive although the country’s international integration is accelerating. 

Their foreign languages proficiency and communication skills are poorer than their regional peers. 

The report says soft skills account for just 3% of all the courses.  

Meanwhile, Malaysia’s Ministry of Higher Education in 2006 set a framework for teaching soft skills at university. 

It includes 34 skills with 16 of them compulsory, such as communications, critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, lifelong learning, information management, business, professional ethics and leadership.

SGT