Three-year university programme doesn’t fit most students: experts

Some universities have expressed concern about the new 3-5 year training model for university education, saying that only the best students would be able to finish the curricula within three years.

Deputy Minister of Education Bui Van Ga said the 3-year training model would help fix the existing problems in Vietnam’s education.

The current national education frame was set up based on the 2005 and 2009 Education Law. Meanwhile, a lot of big changes in the world’s education have been made in the last years. Therefore, Vietnam’s education needs to renovate to be compatible to it and helps Vietnamese school graduates have more job opportunities.

He said the new national education framework was designed on the basis of international education integration. While MOET is optimistic about the new education framework, many educators have doubts about its feasibility.

In fact, the 3-year training model has been applied at many schools in Vietnam and brought big benefits. These include the Vietnam-France, Vietnam-Germany and RMIT Vietnam. British University Vietnam also has 3-year training program.

Vu Van Hoa, vice rector of the Hanoi Business & Technology University, commented that MOET’s scheme is unsuitable to Vietnamese conditions.

“MOET should have organized many workshops to discuss the strong and weak points of Vietnam’s education before making a decision,” Hoa said.

Pham Tat Dong, deputy chair of the Vietnam Study Encourage Society, commented that if the 3-year training mechanism is applied, the curriculum must be very selective with more practical knowledge which can satisfy the requirements of the labor market, and the training method must change.

This is not an easy task to implement, as curricula applied by Vietnam’s schools are outdated in comparison with advanced education systems.

Le Viet Khuyen, former deputy director of MOET’s university education department, believes the 3-year training program won’t ensure quality. Students can finish school after three years if they focus on professional knowledge and ignore subjects like politics and education on national defence.

Also according to Khuyen, under the design, one year is the time for fulfilling 30 credits. This means that to fulfill 120 credits, students need four years.

In order to fulfill 120 credits within three years, students will have to take 40 credits a year, which is believed to be an impossible mission for average students.

Meanwhile, the training time needs to be longer for some specific training majors, such as medical schools.

According to Dr Nguyen Huu Tu, to work as an independent physician, one needs to study for three to four years after spending six years at university.

by Phap Luat