On the afternoon of October 14th On October 1st, the Central Propaganda Department and the Cultural Education Committee of Congress met in Ho Chi Minh City. In coordination with the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Welfare and the Dai Viet Saigon College, a scientific conference was held on the topic “Training of highly qualified workers for the requirements of industrialization and modernization up to 2030 with a view to the year 2045”.
According to university leaders, for many reasons the input from vocational schools is low in both quantity and quality, making it difficult to train highly qualified workers.
38 million untrained workers
According to Mr Le Huy Nam, director of the Ministry of Education and Propaganda Department, the proportion of educated workers with degrees and certificates will reach 27% by 2023. By the end of 2023, there will still be 38 million unskilled workers in the country.
“Labor productivity is lower than in many countries in the region. The educational level of the trained workforce in Vietnam is still low, with 67% predominantly in secondary schools. The level of primary school education, which lasts less than three months, still accounts for a high proportion of 3%. “These statistics show that there are no small challenges in improving the technical expertise and skills of workers,” emphasized Mr. Le Huy Nam.
Dr. Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa, deputy head of the National Assembly’s Culture and Education Committee, spoke at the conference
Mr Nam believes there are many reasons for this, including policies and laws that have not kept pace with practical needs and state administrative capacity, especially in local communities, which are still weak and the quality of training is uneven between training institutions.
In addition, the content of the training program still contains many elements that are not updated; The relationship between training institutions and companies is not close, especially in creating conditions for students to practice and attend, and rarely in engaging in innovative training content and programs.
“Most educational institutions have difficulties in recruiting students, problems in implementing cultural teaching; The support measures for the development of vocational training are not strong enough and have not attracted many people to participate in high-tech professions…” affirmed Mr. Nam.
Therefore, according to Mr. Nam, if there is no appropriate and drastic solution, this practice will have a very negative impact on human resources, especially high-quality human resources, and will result in career goals not being achieved until 2030, vision by 2045.
It is difficult for candidates to fail in university to pursue a college course
Dr. Le Lam, principal of Dai Viet Saigon College, agreed that difficulties in enrollment and low input lead to difficulties in training high-skilled workers.
“The entire country has about a million candidates every year, of which only 200,000 candidates do not go to university. Assuming that this number refers to vocational schools with more than 2,000 vocational training institutions, each school cannot have 100 candidates. The race with the university is no longer an “unbalanced” race, but a “loser’s race.” Meanwhile, ten years ago, my school was recruiting thousands of students every year,” shared Dr. Le Lam with.
Mr. Lam said that there are cases where candidates register for Dai Viet Saigon College with the 54th wish after registering 53 wishes at the university because the university’s admission regulations allow it.
“To get this candidate, we have to pass 53 ‘gates’. This chance is almost non-existent as it is difficult for candidates not to meet the 53 university requirements for university entrance. Many vocational schools have to “pick young figs” by recruiting high school graduates and have to wait until they are “screened into the market,” and when they get there, sometimes there is nothing left to get them through. Although the awareness of parents and students about vocational training has changed significantly, enrolling in a vocational school is still associated with great difficulties. “The sources of vocational training are almost exhausted,” Mr. Lam exclaimed.
Dr. Dong Van Ngoc, principal of Hà Nội Electromechanical College, said that one of the difficulties in training high-skilled workers is that enrollment is becoming increasingly difficult due to being tied to the Ministry of Education and Training’s admission regulations. “A university has 5-6 admission methods and candidates have “n” desire to study at the university. “Human resources seem to be concentrated mainly at the university level, which creates an imbalance and results in input to vocational training being very low, both in quantity and quality,” admitted Dr. Ngoc one.
Solve the problem of financing the training of highly qualified workers
In addition to enrollment difficulties, heads of vocational schools said that training a highly qualified workforce costs very high costs, up to billion VND per student per three years of study. However, in response to the requirements of Secretariat Directive 3 (37) for the training of highly qualified workers, many universities are introducing models of collaboration with companies to train these workers.
Although the awareness of parents and students about vocational training has changed significantly, enrolling in a vocational school is still associated with great difficulties.
Dr. Nguyen Khanh Cuong, principal of Lilama 2 International College of Technology, said: “With an education budget of billion VND/student/3 years of study, vocational schools can hardly meet the requirements without investment from the state.” Although there is no investment, the school runs Lilama 2 in coordination with companies, a training model to solve difficulties. Accordingly, companies participate in the development of training programs and processes to a degree dependent on the needs and location of the company.
Dr. Cuong said that in Germany there is a fund provided by companies to participate in staff training, which shows the responsibility of employers. “If the state has mechanisms and policies that allow companies to participate in vocational training, this model will increasingly develop and bring high efficiency. “At the same time, it is necessary to unify a training model to coordinate with companies throughout the system to avoid having a different style in each place,” suggested Dr. Cuong before.
Meanwhile, Dr. Dong Van Ngoc, principal of the Hanoi College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, shared his experience: “As soon as the students enroll, the school will survey whether the students want to work at home or abroad and what their expectations are for career development opportunities.” and network so with domestic and foreign companies. Companies come to the school to manage careers together, train together and solve the training levels.”
According to Dr. According to Ngoc, the schools’ ambition and desire to train quality staff is great, but has not been realized due to a lack of resources. “The state should invest in a synchronized, concentrated and concentrated manner and avoid spread. There is a need to compare and refer to the ASEAN and international qualifications frameworks in order to evaluate and recognize them.”
In addition, Dr. Ngoc that the state has a flexible mechanism for vocational training institutions so that schools have autonomy in terms of personnel and equipment as well as task autonomy according to the principle of self-responsibility before the law, follow-up control and supervision. Inspection, testing…, making it easier to train highly qualified workers.
There will be concentrated investment across a range of industries and areas
Dr. Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa, deputy head of the National Assembly’s Culture and Education Committee, noted that representatives of vocational schools have contributed informed opinions from many different perspectives on the training of highly qualified workers.
“The National Assembly will strengthen supervision, put policy mechanisms into practice, provide in-depth advice to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, and assess the current implementation situation to determine where the problems lie and which authority is responsible.” From there, there are recommendations and Suggested solutions.”
Mr Le Tan Dung, Deputy Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, also said that the ministry will review the system and set up a mechanism to invest and support vocational training institutions. Some industries and sectors will focus on investing in training. At the same time, promote career orientation and rationalization.
“From today’s discussions, recommendations and suggestions, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Welfare will consult with the Party Committee, Government and the Secretariat on training highly qualified workers in the coming period,” Mr Dung shared.
