VietNamNet Bridge - Many vocational schools have closed some training majors, and analysts say they may have to shut down entirely as they cannot find students.

The Da Nang Vocational Junior College (3-year training) is one of the nation’s key vocational schools, capable of training 3,000 students. 

However, the training scale of the school has reduced: it enrolled 2,438 students in 2012 and only 1,325 students in 2015. Just within five years, the number of students was cut by a half.

The school announced it reserved 1,000 seats for local students, i.e the students from Da Nang City. However, in fact, it could only find 40 percent of the planned number.

In 2015, the Nguyen Van Troi Vocational Junior College could only find 550 students, while it can train 3,000 students, or six times higher. According to Nguyen Thanh Son, deputy headmaster of the school, the number of students enrolled has been on the decrease since 2012.

Being a prestigious training establishment, the Vocational Junior College No 5 belonging to the Ministry of National Defence can only enroll 1,700 students a year, or 85 percent of the school’s training capability.

Many vocational schools have closed some training majors, and analysts say they may have to shut down entirely as they cannot find students.

The school’s board of management, to attract more students, promises to help 100 percent of graduates find jobs. However, 15 percent of the school’s students dropped out when the training course’s nearly finished.

The Da Nang Junior College has closed four of its training majors – clerk & administration, data management, industrial electronics and civil electronics (2-year training).

Meanwhile, Nguyen Van Troi has closed three training majors – tour guide, business administration, finance & banking, and is planning to close the fourth – accountancy.

In an effort to lure students, vocational schools have had to offer a lot of preferential conditions. In previous years, the Da Nang School offered tuition exemption for some subjects, while it is considering giving stipend this year.

Nguyen Be, the headmaster of Da Nang, said the school spent VND350 million last year on the enrolment works, and the figure is expected to be double this year.

The vocational  schools are not popular because of curriculum design. 

Under the curriculum designed by MOLISA, students have to spend 2.5-3 years at vocational school. On average, they have 7-8 periods a day, which means they have to attend classes all day long. 

“Since students have to spend all their time at school, they have no time for self-teaching and reviewing the lessons,” said Colonel Nguyen Huu Hoang.

“Theoretical knowledge is too old. Students don’t have time and conditions for practice because of the poor facilities at schools. Companies refuse to receive the students,” he said.

Tien Phong