Need to change social attitude towards education

On the sidelines of the 2012 university entrance exam, Associate Professor, Dr. Vu Duc Nghieu - Vice Principal, Head of the 2012 University Admissions Department of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities - answered an interview with a reporter from Voice of Vietnam about the university entrance exam and some hot issues in education today. The website's editorial board would like to summarize the content of the above interview. - This year is the 11th year we have implemented the university entrance exam using the 3 common method. When the Law on Higher Education comes into effect, the autonomy of schools will be enhanced. According to Associate Professor, how will the 3 common exam affect the autonomy of schools?I think it does not affect anything. Because when the Ministry of Education and Training grants autonomy to each school, any school that has the capacity and needs can organize its own university entrance exam under the general management of the Ministry. If any school does not have the conditions or does not want to organize its own exam, it can still continue to take the 3 common exams.- Is the 3 common solutions still effective in the current context, Professor?I think it still has some effects. Because there are schools that have the conditions to organize the exam independently at all stages, but there are also schools that do not find it easy to do it themselves. The 3 common exams have the effect of supporting each other between units under a unified direction. Of course, every decision has two sides, gaining one side will lose the other. For example, organizing a common exam nationwide is a bit cumbersome, but if the exam is organized completely independently between schools, there will be schools that encounter difficulties.- So what is the best solution now, Professor?This is a difficult question. This issue depends on the conditions of each school, based on its capacity, potential and experience to decide whether to organize its own exams or not. The Ministry of Education and Training also encourages schools to have their own exams but does not require anything. Each school will have to choose to decide which method is most beneficial for their unit at the present time. I think the current direction of the Ministry is reasonable, whoever wants to join the 3 commons, the Ministry will take care of it, and whoever wants to be completely independent must take care of it themselves and the Ministry will only manage it on the State side.- This year's recruitment direction is more flexible, has more time and no limit on the number of recruitment rounds. How do you evaluate this, Associate Professor?Organizing the admission exam for a longer period of time, without being bound by a deadline, will create more favorable conditions for candidates and for the schools themselves. However, for schools that have to organize the call for candidates in many rounds like this, it will lead to new difficulties in terms of time and organization. Because the same first-year students enter the school but enter in many different rounds, the schools have to take care of many things, if it were only one or two rounds, it would be more neat. Anyway, it must be said that being more flexible in the admission exam like this will create more favorable conditions for candidates in choosing to apply for admission to schools.- There are concerns that we have a fairly strict university entrance exam, with high reliability in candidates' abilities, but the current output is loose, the quality does not meet the requirements of society. How does Associate Professor view this issue?That is also a reality because our educational philosophy and educational organization still have some problems. Currently, universities are trying to find ways to improve the quality of training in many ways: changing training programs, improving staff capacity, changing assessment methods... However, it must be said that improving the quality of training of a sector or a country cannot be done in just a few years or just by pouring money in. This is an extremely difficult task, requiring responsibility first and foremost from each school. But besides that, it also requires the efforts of the whole society. We must change the mentality and attitude of the whole society and of each individual towards education, change the philosophy of education, the way of teaching and learning, change the training program... Only when there are comprehensive changes like this can we hope to change the quality of training.- So, among all the factors that the Associate Professor mentioned above, what is the biggest difficulty and challenge that schools are facing?There are many difficulties. However, in my opinion, changing the mindset of learners is very important, that is, learners must determine what they are learning and for what purpose. That is very important. This story sounds theoretical but actually has very important practical significance for each individual. Of course, on the part of training institutions, there are many issues that need to be adjusted: the capacity of teachers, training programs and methods, etc. This is a story of change in the thinking and actions of each person and requires the efforts of all those people in society combined to hope for a fundamental change, but if only changes are made in each department or individual, the problem will not be solved.- There are things that the education sector can do right away, such as building an honest education system, learning for real, taking real exams to get real jobs. Currently, the screening in universities is not high, almost as many "get in" as "get out", which contains dishonest elements. How does the Associate Professor view this issue?It must also be seen that the common mentality of a part of the current students is to go to school to get a degree, to sit in an office, to find a job to avoid “getting their hands dirty”. The common mentality is to want to be leisurely, to study to pass exams, to have a title, not to study to have a decent career in hand to contribute to life and find a foothold for their lives. Such a mentality leads to many things as you just mentioned above. Society has such problems, so it leads to schools - a part of society - also having problems that are not good. There are even some individuals who do bad things. The problem is to gradually eliminate them. If a society has a healthy mindset and philosophy towards education, there will be a tendency to want all those weaknesses to be quickly eliminated. So each school must be like a “fortress” in the field of training, under a common philosophy of State management, must recognize its own weaknesses and overcome them, try to find ways to change the quality of training within the scope of its autonomy. Each school must strive to improve the quality of both research and training.- To build an honest education, what is required from teachers and students, Professor?To have an honest education, it requires both teachers and students. Neither teachers nor students can do it alone. But in a university environment, teachers must go one step ahead and be serious because "a tree that is not straight will not have a straight shadow". If teachers are serious with themselves, they will teach students seriously and honestly. Remember to be serious and honest, not harsh. The story of honesty or dishonesty is first and foremost the story of each individual, along with the support of loopholes or inadequacies in regulations and laws that each individual, if not serious with themselves, can easily take advantage of to do unserious things.