"Out of sync" in career education

(Baonghean)Studying at university to become an engineer, a doctor or a bachelor is the dream of most students and the desire of their parents. By all means, at all costs, they must send their children to university, because of the notion that having a university degree will help them find a stable job to build a life. However, the reality is completely opposite. Many students graduate with a university degree but struggle to find a job, many people are "powerless" and have to do jobs that are not related to their degree.

Real stories

Mr. Dau Van Cuong's family (Xuan Canh hamlet, Nghi Xuan, Nghi Loc) has 5 children, 4 of whom are in university. For this Catholic family, life depends on fishing, so it is very precarious. With the thought of "sacrificing the father's life to strengthen the children's life", the couple worked hard to raise their children to study. Life was difficult, during the years of raising 3 children in university and 2 in high school, Mr. Cuong sometimes thought he could not overcome it. But in 2004, his first son graduated from school, he sent dozens of documents everywhere but waited forever but still did not receive a call to work. "I sent the documents and waited anxiously. After waiting for 2 years, I gave up hope and then went to work abroad", Mr. Cuong said. The situation of the second younger brother is similar to his older brother. After graduating from the University of Transport, he could not find a job so he "followed" his brother to work abroad in Korea. “Going there to work as a mechanic has nothing to do with a university degree. Now both of their university degrees are still lying in a wooden chest. If only at that time, we had directed them to vocational training, to study majors that suited the needs of society, then things wouldn’t have turned out so badly…”, Mr. Cuong regretted.

With an average academic record, graduating from high school, Nguyen Phuong Nguyen (Thanh Chuong) was encouraged by her parents to take the entrance exam for the Cadastral College with the hope that an uncle working in the profession would take care of the "output". She submitted her application while she had no idea what her major would train, what job she would do after graduation, and whether that job was suitable for her abilities and health or not? "After studying for a while, I gradually realized that the major I was studying (Surveying, Geodesy and Cartography) was not suitable for my abilities and circumstances.

Frustrated and disappointed, but at that time, I didn't have the courage to give up. And so, "as scheduled", after 2 years I graduated from school...". Unfortunately, my uncle changed his major so he couldn't help me, holding his degree in hand, he knocked on one door after another and was rejected. For 3 years, Phuong did all kinds of jobs from waiting tables to delivery staff to earn money to stay in the city and wait for opportunities. Currently, he is working as a manager of a garment factory, with a monthly salary of 5 million VND and considered stable. "The paradox is that the job I did had nothing to do with the professional knowledge I had learned. After all that time without using the knowledge I had learned, now there is nothing left in my head... If only I had known my limits and gone to vocational school, I probably wouldn't have had to work and study at the same time like this", Nguyen shared.

Cases like Ngoc, Nga, Nguyen are not rare. I have met many "bachelors" who are struggling to survive in the city with complaints that at first seem absurd, "if only I didn't go to university, it would be better". My friend graduated from the University of Law in 2006, but since then has remained loyal to the job of "shoe saleswoman". Or my friend who studied at the University of Culture with me, graduated five years ago, but until now he is still just an advertising employee...

Need a synchronous solution

Every year, after the university entrance exam, hundreds of thousands of new students enter school and after 4 or 5 years, the same number of students graduate, but very few of them find jobs in their field of study, half are in the wrong field, the rest are unemployed. Meanwhile, in the province, industrial parks are in need of a large number of skilled workers in mechanics, automotive technology, refrigeration, industrial electricity...; farms and ranches need people with expertise in aquaculture, veterinary medicine, agriculture and forestry but it is very difficult to recruit. From that, it can be seen that there is a phase difference between "supply" and "demand". High school graduates rush to take the university and college entrance exam, choosing majors that are considered "luxurious" and "money-making" such as: economics, finance and banking, management, administration, ignoring socially needed majors such as agriculture - forestry - fisheries, mechanics, technology. In particular, in recent years, vocational secondary schools have had difficulty recruiting students, and few schools have been able to meet their assigned quotas. According to preliminary statistics, in 2011, Yen Thanh Industrial and Agricultural Technical Vocational Secondary School only recruited 60% of its quota; Vinh Industrial and Technical Vocational Secondary School only recruited 40% of its quota...



Practical hours at the workshop of students of Vinh Vocational College of Industrial Economics and Technology.

So what causes this situation? First of all, it is due to the mentality of valuing degrees of parents, students and society. And the deepest cause is due to the limitation in awareness of careers. Vocational guidance classes in high schools only stop at introducing training schools according to each major; block of study, students' learning capacity without specific orientation, introduction of careers, jobs after students graduate from the majors and professions they have studied. Students are very unclear about job opportunities, about the professions they study.

On the other hand, vocational schools today have not yet established their own brand and strength. Apart from a few prestigious schools such as Vietnam-Korea Vocational College, Vietnam-Germany Vocational College, universities, colleges, and vocational colleges participating in vocational training, most of the remaining vocational schools have not made adequate investments in facilities and teaching staff, so the quality of training is not high. That is also a reason why students are reluctant to choose vocational schools.

In addition, the current situation of universities, colleges and vocational schools is that they are training indiscriminately, not paying attention to output quality, not paying attention to socially needed occupations, not creating a loose connection between schools and recruiting agencies, between training and employment after training, leading to a mismatch between supply and demand, so many students are unemployed after graduation.

Distorted perception and lack of career orientation are alarming realities among young people today. To synchronously and effectively implement the work of solving employment for young people, first of all, all levels and sectors need to do a good job of propaganda and mobilization, orienting students from secondary school, helping them evaluate and choose the right career that suits their abilities and suitable jobs, eliminating prejudices of looking down on vocational training among young people. At the same time, there should be preferential policies on land allocation, tax exemptions for companies and businesses that have committed to and registered to recruit many local workers. On the part of schools, it is necessary to train in line with social needs, train at the addresses of agencies and businesses, and create stable jobs for students after graduation.

Thanh Phuc