Vocational schools struggle to recruit college students

Not enough quota

In recent years, Hai Duong College of Tourism and Industry (Cam Giang) has not been able to meet its enrollment target, only reaching about 60-70%. This school year, the school's enrollment results have only reached about 65% of the plan.

Mr. Do The Thanh, Head of Admissions Department of Hai Duong College of Tourism and Industry, said that the school has implemented many solutions to improve the quality of admissions, from going directly to high schools to provide consultation, distributing leaflets, inviting businesses to come along to order collaborators at high schools; collecting information and data to call students or parents directly... but the results are still not as expected.

To improve the quality of training and attract students, in addition to investing in facilities, equipment, and improving the quality of staff, the school also cooperates with many businesses so that students can both study and work at the business. Students can practice their profession for free and receive a salary. In fact, many students of the school are studying and working at Brother Vietnam Industrial Co., Ltd.

Students in need will be picked up at school by the company car. If students study in the afternoon, they will work in the morning. If students study in the morning, they will work in the afternoon and will be provided with lunch. In addition to wages, students who work 22 sessions/month will also receive a bonus from the company for diligence.

The school organizes teaching of Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese, German... and links, creates opportunities and prestigious addresses for students who want to study abroad.

Similarly, for many years now, the enrollment results of Hai Duong Vocational College have only reached about 50-60% of the set plan. Meanwhile, the enrollment of intermediate level 9+ (both vocational and cultural studies) of the school in recent years has met and exceeded the target.

Since March every year, the school has assigned admissions officers in charge of high schools to provide direct consultation. At the same time, they have promoted propaganda on social networks such as Zalo, Facebook...; promoted propaganda on the radio system of communes and villages; directly consulted parents' homes; arranged vehicles to pick up and drop off students from far away to study... but the results of college admissions are still not positive.

The above situation is also the general situation of all 8 colleges in Hai Duong. With a total target of 3,100 college students, in 2023, vocational training institutions in Hai Duong only recruited 1,098 students, reaching 35.4%. Most of the institutions did not recruit enough students according to the granted scale.

Many reasons

According to some long-time admissions officers at vocational colleges in Hai Duong, one of the main reasons why schools cannot meet enrollment targets is the tendency of students and parents to prioritize choosing universities. The development of international training joint programs, short-term courses, or specialized vocational certificates also creates fierce competition for colleges.

Mr. Thanh added that many students determined from the beginning that if they did not go to university, they would study at colleges in Hanoi. There, students have a more vibrant environment and more diverse part-time work conditions. The majority of students studying at the Center for Vocational Education - Continuing Education have already studied a trade, which is also a barrier for colleges to recruit students. Collecting data from high schools is very difficult, and the work of streaming after high school is not really strong.

“While the school has more than 20 majors, students only register for 5-6 majors. Notably, many students drop out or put their results on hold…”, Mr. Thanh said.

Sharing the same view, Mr. Pham Van An, Head of Training Department, Hai Duong Vocational College said that vocational schools not only have to compete with colleges but also with local universities, especially when universities increase their quotas based on academic records, high school graduates can easily enter university.

“Many students who fail to get into university will study a foreign language and study abroad or work abroad. Many will do military service or enter the labor market early,” said Mr. An.

Some vocational education experts also said that vocational education institutions are not included in the general enrollment support system of the Ministry of Education and Training, making enrollment difficult.

According to the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, enrollment has not reached the scale granted to vocational training institutions, in addition to many reasons. In addition to the reasons mentioned above, the training quality of vocational training institutions in the province has not met the production and business requirements of enterprises, which is also one of the reasons. Many vocational training institutions only train according to the available "supply" source, not meeting the training needs of the labor market, so they have not created attraction for learners.

Currently, vocational training facilities are lacking. Many units use old, outdated facilities and equipment that have not kept up with the development of technology and new machinery of enterprises, so graduates after entering the workforce do not meet the requirements of enterprises.

Meanwhile, businesses with high labor demand are mainly in the textile, garment, footwear, and electronics industries. These businesses mostly recruit unskilled workers for short-term training and then sign labor contracts. Businesses tend to train their workers themselves rather than cooperate with vocational training institutions.

Another reason is that there are currently not many policies to encourage and attract students to study vocational training, and businesses to employ trained workers; there has not been a mechanism to closely coordinate "four parties" in vocational education between the State, schools, businesses and learners.