Can Tho (VNA)
– The best way to improve the quality of university education in Vietnam is to
provide students with practical experience through collaboration with
employers, an education ministry official told university representatives
in the southern city of Can Tho on September 28.
Ha Huu Phuc, director of
the representative office of the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) in Ho
Chi Minh City, mentioned a training model entitled “Enterprise in School”
allowing students to participate in work sessions at enterprises during their
degree studies.
The programme will provide
students with opportunities to turn theories into practice and become
employeable right after graduation, instead of having to undertake internships,
he said.
“Although identified by
MoET a long time ago, such a direction for education reform has only been
implemented at a limited number of universities,” he added.
“Not only will it help
boost universities’ credibility in terms of training quality, the model will
also provide graduates with more job opportunities and reduce staff training
costs for employers,” he said.
The model yielded positive
results after being implemented at Nam Can Tho University in the 2016-17 school
year, said university head Professor Vo Tang Xuan. “Our students got to
undertake apprenticeships in professional environments during their freshman
year,” he said.
“It helped sharpen their
soft skills and provided them with hours of practical training that requires
high accuracy, especially for medical, law and technology students.”
For public technology
universities that are unable to equip themselves with state-of-the-art
facilities, the model is a primary solution to help students keep up with the
Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0), said Dr Duong Thai Cong, principal
of the Can Tho University of Technology.
“Since our students will go
to work for them after graduation, the employers we collaborate with will take
as much responsibility as we do in providing them with modern equipment and an
effective practice environment,” he said. “It takes the pressure off the school
and allows us to open more training programmes.”
Higher education
accreditation was also discussed at the meeting. It is an effective tool that
has helped several countries, including Vietnam, to maintain their education
quality standards and constantly improve their teaching and learning quality,
said director Ha Huu Phuc.
Of five universities in the
city, the Can Tho University has made its way into a number of regional and
international rankings. The remaining ones have registered to be evaluated in
the 2017-18 school year.-VNA