Training through government-sponsored programs: Low quality, difficult to find graduates.

(Baonghean)The scholarship program, implemented under Government Decree 134/2006/ND-CP, aims to create opportunities for ethnic minority students and students from particularly disadvantaged areas to attend universities and colleges, thereby creating a pool of qualified personnel for mountainous communes and districts. In our province, thanks to this policy, hundreds of students have been admitted to universities and colleges in recent years. However, the implementation process still faces some shortcomings and difficulties…

Students of the Provincial Ethnic Boarding High School on the first day of school.

Shortcomings in the student recruitment process.

According to Decree 134 on the policy of selecting and admitting students, students from ethnic minorities and areas with special difficulties will be considered for university admission. The selection process is based on annual quotas and the actual needs of the locality. The admissions committees will also consider the characteristics of each region and ethnic group to recommend suitable students.

However, this method currently has many shortcomings, as the quality of students applying for the scholarship program is uneven, and many students with average academic performance and low university entrance exam scores are still admitted. Looking at the list of students sent by the districts in recent years clearly shows this. For example, in Ky Son district, out of 13 students who applied for the scholarship program in the 2013 school year, only 2 met the minimum score. Furthermore, there are cases like Gia Y Sanh (My Ly) and Hoa Ba Than (Muong Ai), who studied in the humanities/social sciences (Block C) but were sent by the district to study Medicine in Thai Binh and Hanoi University of Agriculture, thus failing to meet the admission requirements. Hoa Ba Than (Muong Ai) took the Block C exam but applied to Hanoi University of Agriculture. For example, in Quy Hop district, the district sent Ha Thi Oanh (Chau Thai commune) to study Construction Engineering at Vinh University, but she only scored 4 points on the university entrance exam and was in the humanities/social sciences group. In Tan Ky, there is also the case of Nguyen Van Hang, who was in the humanities/social sciences group but was sent by the district to study at the University of Transport and Communications… In the list of students recommended for study under the government scholarship program in Que Phong district, the average exam scores were only between 10 and 14.5 points, significantly lower than the regulations of the universities…

According to Mr. Tho Ba Re, Deputy Head of the Internal Affairs Department of Ky Son District People's Committee, although the scholarship policy aims to create opportunities for children from disadvantaged areas and ethnic minorities to attend university and college to improve their qualifications and create a source of qualified personnel for the locality, Ky Son is a particularly disadvantaged district with many limitations in the quality of education, making it very difficult to find a student who truly meets the criteria. In addition, the selection process must also consider the balance between regions and ethnic groups, which further complicates matters. Specifically, most of the eligible students are concentrated in the town and surrounding areas, but selecting only students from these areas would be unfair. Similarly, only one member from a family can be selected, prioritizing those from other regions. However, students in particularly disadvantaged areas mostly score low on exams, and if the system is implemented haphazardly, they will only be eligible for 1-2 years, which is unfair to the students and the communes, and it will be a long time before these areas meet the standards for qualified officials.

For the 2013-2014 academic year, Nghe An province was allocated 60 places in universities and colleges. However, according to Mr. Nguyen Hai, a specialist in the Professional Education Department, only 37 applications were reviewed throughout the province. The remaining applications submitted by the districts were rejected by the review board due to insufficient qualifications, low scores, or being the wrong target group. This is regrettable but necessary because if the initial screening process is not thorough, even if the students make it to universities, they will find it difficult to keep up.

In fact, in recent years, nearly 10 students from the province, studying under the government scholarship program at universities, have been forced to drop out or discontinue their studies because they could not keep up with the curriculum, such as the cases in 2012 of Lu Thi Nham, Vi Thi Thom, Pit Van Dong… at Thai Nguyen Medical University, Thai Binh Medical University, and Hanoi Medical University. Ms. Moong Thi Tham, Deputy Director of Ky Son District General Hospital, is concerned because currently, there are quite a large number of students studying medicine under the government scholarship program, and according to the plan, this number will fill all hospitals and commune health stations in the next few years. However, medicine is a specialized field, requiring skills and qualifications; if the entry requirements are not met, it will be difficult to achieve good training results. This significantly affects their work, the quality of examination and treatment, and even the lives of patients.

The head is out…

The employment prospects for students selected through the government scholarship program are a cause for concern. Although state regulations and annual directives from the province and relevant departments clearly state that districts must carefully calculate enrollment targets based on local needs, especially in areas where there is a shortage, and that the employment locations of these scholarship recipients after four years are clearly defined, in reality, many graduates remain unemployed. In Ky Son district, approximately six graduates from teacher training programs, many years ago, are still without jobs.

In Tuong Duong district, Mr. Vi Tan Hoi, Vice Chairman of the District People's Committee, said: "The biggest benefit of the scholarship program is raising the skill level of ethnic minorities and people in particularly difficult areas. However, arranging jobs for them after graduation is a difficult problem. Firstly, the district is not allowed to increase its staffing, and the district and communes cannot arrange jobs based on local budgets because the province currently has no policy of signing contracts with districts and communes." Mr. Hoi also said: "Although the district always has a policy of prioritizing scholarship students, at least for the next year, most departments in the district have basically filled all positions, so recruitment has to wait in line." Throughout the province, from 2005 to the present, the number of scholarship students who have not found jobs after graduation has reached dozens, especially in the fields of Education, Agriculture and Forestry, and Chinese Language.

Regarding the reasons, some localities, when sending students for government-sponsored training, did not carefully consider and review their local workforce needs, determining which sectors required manpower, and the surplus or shortage. Instead, they simply sent students to fulfill quotas or based on budget allocations. The allocation of training quotas, planning, and the need for government-sponsored training in the districts still face many difficulties, lacking long-term plans and strategies for registering quotas and suitable fields of study. Objectively, in recent years, students in mountainous areas have mainly excelled in social sciences, while the demand for training in technical and economic fields has been high, making it difficult to select suitable candidates. The number of university and college graduates in the province in general, and in mountainous districts in particular, has continuously increased in recent years, with higher quality graduates than those selected through government-sponsored training. Meanwhile, the demand for staffing in the districts remains stable, making it difficult to place government-sponsored students in jobs according to their aspirations; if an entrance exam were held, government-sponsored students would struggle to compete. Furthermore, during the admissions process, favoritism and personal connections often lead to the selection of students with limited abilities. Similarly, many parents prioritize securing a university place for their children even if they don't pass the entrance exams, neglecting to ensure their children pursue education that matches their true potential, resulting in numerous difficulties after graduation.

Faced with long-standing problems in the student recruitment policy, especially regarding the quality and employment prospects of graduates, the province has implemented several changes starting from the 2013-2014 academic year. Accordingly, for those applying to medical programs, they must meet at least the minimum score requirement, with priority given only to children of war invalids, martyrs, and demobilized soldiers. The chosen professions must closely match local needs, and districts must clearly identify the employment locations of graduates – said Mr. Nguyen Manh Ha, Head of the Professional Education Department, Department of Education and Training.

Furthermore, similar to university admissions counseling, the preliminary selection process should also include guidance and advice from professionals, and the training institution should be involved in the selection of majors for students. In addition, localities sending students abroad for education should carefully review their human resources; focusing on fields and professions specific to the locality, and carefully considering the possibility of registering for majors that are too difficult or currently saturated.

My Ha - Minh Quan