News and Events

Universities continue enrolling students for vocational training, ignoring the request by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) to stop providing career training.

MOET has told universities to gradually scale down the vocational training before they completely stop this kind of training in 2017. However, a lot of schools do not intend to reduce the number of students enrolled for vocational training, which is called the “bread earner” of the schools.

Especially, a lot of schools have even enrolled more students in 2012, ignoring the decision by the watchdog agency, thus pushing vocational schools, which have been sitting idle due to the lack of students, against the wall.

The movement of universities enrolling students for vocational training was triggered some years ago. It was simply because schools tried to enroll more students to obtain higher income.

However, universities have been violently criticized by the educators and vocational schools, who believe that universities should focus on providing university education, while vocational training should be the job of vocational schools.

Pham Nhu Nghe, a senior official of MOET, has also affirmed that a vocational school must not exist in a university, while one must not use the name of the university to enroll students for the schools belonging to the universities.

The current Education Law also stipulates that universities are the schools that provide university (4-year) and junior college (3-year) training, not vocational training.

There is one more reason that makes vocational angry: Universities, with their advantages, can easily enroll students for vocational training, thus leaving no more students for vocational schools to enroll.

Students have been told that if they follow vocational training at universities, they would be able to pass credits and follow the university education at the same universities. Therefore, applying for studying at vocational schools is not the choice of the majority of students, who fail the university entrance exams.

MOET, who sides with vocational schools, in December 2011 released the circular No. 57, stipulating that universities cannot enroll students for vocational training.

The legal document then brought a high hope to vocational schools that they would have many students to enroll. However, MOET, in unexpected move, in June 2012 amended the circular dated in December 2011, saying that universities would not have to stop vocational training immediately. The schools can step by step reduce the number of vocational training students before they completely stop the training by 2017.

The decision by MOET has raised the strong opposition from people, who believe that the decision comes contrary to the 2005 Education Law and the University Education Law which has just been enacted. An educator has said that the inconsistency of MOET has put big difficulties for vocational schools.

Meanwhile, universities do not intend to scale down the vocational training. Three months after the Circular No. 57 was released, the Ton Duc Thang University upgraded its vocational training division into the vocational school belonging to Ton Duc Thang University. Especially, the vocational school has been enrolling students under the name of Ton Duc Thang University.

To date, the vocational school has called on 1,465 students and it would only finish the enrolment season until the end of October 15. Meanwhile, it only got the quota of enrolling 1,200 students for vocational training this year.

On the signboard of the Gia Dinh Economics and Technology School, there is the logo of the Nguyen Tat Thanh University, which shows that the school is a subsidiary of the university. The school announced that it would enroll 4,000 students this year.