Universities can’t keep in touch with graduates

Students of the Đà Lạt Vocational Training College during a practical period.-VNA/VNS Photo Anh Tuấn

The Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) asked universities and colleges to compile the statistics and post them online, but many schools expressed concerns.

Universities and colleges must report the number of former students employed, unemployed and in post-graduate training. The report should define their students’ work place, such as state, private or foreign joint-stock enterprises. The schools must also assess students’ employment and adjust their curriculum and teaching methods to improve training quality.

Deputy education minister Bùi Văn Ga said that universities and colleges would collect information about students who graduated from 2015. The reports should be sent to the MoET before January 1 annually.

But as yet, the MoET has not received any reports.

Nguyễn Phong Điền, head of the Training Division under the Hà Nội University of Science and Technology, said the school struggled to contact its students.

“So far contact between universities and graduates has been weak, so it will be difficult to implement the MoET’s requirement,” he said.

Schools could find out students’ workplace, but would struggle to assess students’ work conditions, said Điền.

Agreeing with Điền, Phạm Ngọc Thạch, deputy principal of the Hà Nội University, said that the school would strive to make contact related to the workplaces of graduates and would spend a lot of efforts evaluating the relationship between training results and students’ employment.

For instance, he said, some students did not find jobs suitable with their professional knowledge.

Students graduating from English or South Korean faculties often worked in their speciality so it would be easier to survey them, said Thạch.

Different universities said that the National Economics University and the Hà Nội Foreign Trade University were well connected with their students after graduation.

Lê Thị Thu Thủy, deputy principal of the Hà Nội Foreign Trade University, said that to connect with students after graduation, the university introduced its students with famous enterprises via clubs and job fairs.

Nguyễn Thị Kim Phụng, director of the University Education Department under the MoET, said that making the statistics was mentioned in several documents.

It was one of measures to reduce students’ unemployment, and help schools adjust and supplement their curriculum to meet the demand of the labour market, she said.

The ministry would also support the schools in conducting the surveys, said Phụng.