Too many people who can't do the job, not enough people with the ability.

Prof. Dr. Pham Quang Minh

Many good students can't find jobs.

- Recently, the U21 education system rankings by the Institute for Applied Economic and Social Research at the University of Melbourne since 2012, ranked the top 50 countries in the world, Vietnam was not present in any field. Many people question the quality of Vietnam's higher education. What do you think about this?

We need to look at it from both sides, not just from the university side but also from our society and economic institutions.

An incomplete market economy in the process of formation, a society that still does not rely on evaluating people by their abilities, the fault does not lie only with the university.

In fact, many of our good students still cannot find jobs after graduating.

- What will be the consequences of that situation, sir?

It will affect other students. They will ask why they have to study hard and well while other students can get a job without having to study hard and well?

The current situation in Vietnam is that there is a great shortage and a great surplus. There is a lack of skilled people to meet the job requirements. There is a surplus of people who cannot do the job.

This has been said a lot, some people even say that up to 3/4 of the people in the public system do not meet the requirements. Because the recruitment criteria are very low or because of certain factors a, b, c.

But it is impossible to remove them from the system. Because they are already civil servants.

- University autonomy is the trend we are aiming for, a necessary condition to implement advanced university governance methods to improve and enhance training quality. So is this a barrier?

I think that is the biggest obstacle. To be autonomous, we have to remove those who are not qualified for the job. However, we cannot do this because it violates labor laws. Meanwhile, we cannot bring in new people because the apparatus will become very bloated.

Me too, I have 500 employees, many of whom do not meet the requirements. But I cannot fire anyone. That is something that I think autonomy is still a much talked about story, but has not been solved at the root.

University lecturers must be real PhDs.

- The figure of only 27% of our university lecturers having a doctorate degree, compared to other countries in the region (average of about 70%), is also worth considering. Will this also affect the quality of university education?

This is a big problem. To be a university lecturer, in my opinion, you must have a doctorate degree. If you only have a bachelor's degree, a university graduate teaching at a university is not allowed. A master's degree teaching at a university is also not in accordance with regulations.

But they must be real PhDs. If these 27% of PhDs are trained seriously, systematically, and with good quality, the education system is not so bad. The most feared among them are still fake PhDs.

- The story of “paper PhDs” has been talked about too much. In your opinion, what is the cause of this?

Countries around the world do not have entrance exams for doctoral programs like ours, but they are selected by the professors and directors of the research programs themselves.

For example, when a professor has a research program, they will post recruitment everywhere to select graduate students who meet the requirements. The level of competition is very high, both domestically and internationally.

We have exams and essays, but we cannot evaluate the level of a PhD student. The council also evaluates generally according to regulations, but does not really consider whether this person has the ability to do research or not.

In addition, schools also need more graduate students to fulfill their quotas and increase their revenue. Therefore, schools often only conduct preliminary interviews, review applications, and accept applicants who meet the physical criteria.

- Does that lead to the difference in the quality of PhDs between us and the "West", sir?

Abroad, from the beginning of the project, professors will have to carry out the research program on one hand and train graduate students in the process of implementing the research program on the other hand through experimental activities, field trips, going abroad, and participating in seminars.

The students will grow up gradually. They do not have to pay tuition, but still have funds to research and complete the professor's requirements. Each completed thesis is a truly meaningful scientific work, solving a real scientific problem...

In our country, graduate students have to worry about food and accommodation, and have little time for research... They do not study thoroughly, and after 3 years, they present a thesis that is often of low quality, with very little new information.

Every thesis is stated as a valuable reference source for researchers, managers and those interested, but its real value is unknown, and it contributes little to academia and life.

Bringing joy and benefit to society does not require a degree.

- Fake degrees, by all means to get degrees, after all, is also related to our "degree culture"?

This has been influenced by Confucian traditions and imperial examinations for thousands of years. Accordingly, those who want to become officials must study and pass the imperial examinations of feudal dynasties.

The government now also recruits people with degrees. So many officials use fake degrees, at all costs to get a degree. Of course, if the degree is real, it is better because it is better to be educated. But many people have abused that.

- And it also relates to the story of having to get into university at all costs, sir?

Yes. Germany does not have famous universities, but they are proud to have the most skilled workers in the world, making the best machines and cars in the world.

The German education system is called a dual education system. From the sixth grade, students are divided into two groups: those who are capable of going to university. And those who go to vocational schools.

No one is sad to have to go to vocational school, practical school and not go to university. And only 1/3 of students go to university, the remaining 2/3 go to vocational school and practical school.

This is true because human abilities are diverse. Some people have research abilities, some have artistic abilities, some have sports abilities, some do manual or intellectual work... That is normal.

But in our country, even if you are not a good student, you still have to try to get into university at all costs, because having a university degree makes it easier to get a job.

- Social media has spread the story of the valedictorian of the Foreign Trade University selling mixed rice paper. And after graduating, he still returned to the rice paper profession. What do you think about this story?

I think maybe he just wanted to prove that he could go to a top university, and that the degree wasn’t necessary. Because he still had fun making rice paper. He wanted to prove that rice paper makers could also go to university, but he had no other passion besides making rice paper.

Society always sees rice paper making as a lowly profession. But I think if you bring joy and benefits to society, any profession is noble and doesn't need a degree.

Thank you very much!

According to khoahocdoisong.vn