Many changes in choosing a career

(Baonghean) -Up to this point, the work of collecting application files for the 2013 university and college entrance exams has been completed, the Department of Education and Training has transferred the application files to the schools. Through the application files, it is possible to see a change in the career choices of candidates: the economic sector has decreased, the medical sector has increased, and the basic science sector has a slight increase. In particular, the application files for colleges have decreased sharply compared to previous years.

According to statistics from the Department of Vocational Education, Department of Education and Training, in the 2013 university and college entrance exams, the whole province had 73,292 registration files (a decrease of over 10,000 registration files compared to 2012). Accordingly, the rate of registration files by region is as follows: North 39%, South 16% and Central 45%, which shows that students tend to choose regional universities and local universities. Of which, there are 33,160 registration files for block A, 3,183 registration files for block A1; 21,068 registration files for block B, 6,944 registration files for block D1, 4,189 registration files for block C, the remaining 7 blocks (D2, D3, H, N, M, T, V) have 3,409 files. This shows that the percentage of candidates registering for majors in block A is dominant at 45.24%, while block C only accounts for 5.7%.

One thing is clear, this year the number of applications for the economic, technical and management majors is less than in other years. That also reflects the results of admissions counseling at the facility in particular, and career orientation of the education sector in general. The cooling of the economic majors is clearly shown in the number of applications for the entrance exams to schools compared to 2012. Specifically: Academy of Finance decreased by 480 applications; National Economics decreased by 196 applications; University of Commerce decreased by 406 applications; University of Construction decreased by 577 applications; University of Transport decreased by 352 applications; Vinh University of Technical Education decreased by 566 applications; Hanoi University of Industry decreased by 440 applications; Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry decreased by 870 applications. Nguyen Khanh Linh (12th grade student C, Thanh Chuong I High School) said: “I study block A, initially I planned to take the accounting exam. But because currently from many sources of information, the economic block has a surplus of human resources, output is limited, so I registered to take the exam for the Faculty of Agronomy. Currently, when the whole country is having a movement to build new rural areas, applying science, technology and agricultural production, it will be easier for those in the agricultural sector to find jobs...”.

Medicine and Pharmacy are still the top choices of candidates.
(A practical session of students at Vinh Medical University).

However, for students with good and excellent academic performance, Medicine and Pharmacy are still the top choices. Particularly at Nguyen Xuan On High School (Dien Chau), the number of students in the classes choosing to enroll in Medical and Pharmaceutical Universities accounts for 50% and the number of students in security and military majors accounts for 25-30%. Ms. Phan Thi Thu Huong, Principal of Nguyen Xuan On High School, said: "Through the number of applications sent to the school, most students with good and excellent academic performance choose Medicine and Pharmacy: Hanoi Medical University, Thai Binh Medical University, Hue Medical University and Vinh Medical University. Following are the majors in the security and defense sector. Because students believe that "First Medicine, Second Pharmacy", and studying military majors does not require worrying about output. The information that thousands of university and college graduates in the province are unemployed has significantly affected the trend of choosing schools and careers of students..."

Although it was the first year of organizing a separate entrance exam, the number of applications for Vinh Medical University reached 10,166 (an increase of more than 2,000 applications compared to 2012). Meanwhile, the school's enrollment target for university majors is only 450 in two majors: General Medicine and Nursing; College is 800 in four majors: Nursing, Midwifery, Medical Technology and Medical Testing. Mr. Nguyen Trong Tai, Principal of the school, said: “Last year, the NV1 benchmark score for General Medicine was 20.5 points, NV2 was 22.5 points; Nursing was 17.5 points; college majors ranged from 11.5 points to 13 points. This year, the number of applications to the school increased sharply, while the enrollment quota is limited. This is the first time the school organizes an independent exam, but we will fully and carefully prepare all conditions for the exam to take place safely, seriously, and with quality...”. The number of applications to schools such as Thai Binh University of Medicine increased by 105 sets; Hue University of Medicine increased by 417 sets.

The most encouraging sign is that this year, the number of applications for the pedagogical major increased slightly: Nghe An College of Education increased by 76 applications; the total number of applications for the 14 pedagogical majors of Vinh University is 4,220 sets: of which the most are Preschool Education: 1,204 sets; Primary Education: 1,886 sets and Mathematics Education 367 sets (doubled compared to 2012). Some colleges in the province, the number of applications decreased dramatically: Nghe An College of Economics and Technology: 1,073 applications (in 2012: 5,914 applications; 2011: 8,500 applications); Nghe An College of Culture and Arts only has 285 registration files... Explaining this problem, Mr. Nguyen Manh Ha - Head of Vocational Education Department, Department of Education and Training said that due to the society's mentality of adoring diplomas, college graduates find it difficult to find jobs, so their choices have decreased; partly due to the new regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training tightening the issue of articulation, students no longer take the "detour" of finishing college to go to university to "standardize" their diplomas.

Mr. Ha added: “The number of applications for admission to universities and colleges this year has decreased by more than 10,000 applications compared to last year. This shows that career guidance in high schools has had positive changes, students know their abilities to choose suitable majors and careers. Another reason why the number of applications is less than last year is because the new point in this year's university and college entrance exams is that after the results are out, students will be given 2 score reports to submit for their second choice, so students no longer rush to submit 7-8 sets of documents like in previous years. This is a good sign, it will significantly reduce the number of fake applications, reduce costs on facilities and human resources in organizing university and college entrance exams.

Through classification, it is shown that the number of candidates registering for entrance exams to top universities remains high; besides the fields of Medicine, Pharmacy, and Military, the fields of Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries, and Basic Sciences tend to increase; the fields of Economics and Engineering decrease. This shows that the impact of the output issue greatly affects the trend of choosing majors and careers of students...”.

Article and photos: THANH PHUC