Junior colleges in Vietnam to change hands as part of education overhaul

According to the decision of the Prime Minister who is also Chair of the National Committee on Education Renovation issued in September, Vietnam’s vocational training system would be established with three levels of training, including primary, secondary and junior college; all of these three levels of vocational training will be put under the management of the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA). This decision would make junior college a less attractive option for students, which concerns investors of junior colleges.

Currently, junior colleges are put under the management of the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET)  while primary and secondary vocational training are under MOLISA. This model complies with the existing education law which allows universities to provide both junior college (vocational) and higher education leading to a bachelor’s degree. However, educators see it unreasonable to maintain two separate vocational training systems under two management bodies i.e. MOET and MOLISA, and thus advocate the decision to concentrate all vocational training institutions to MOLISA.

So far, most Vietnamese students choose vocational routes only when they fail to get a place at higher education institutions. However, those students still aim to pursue a bachelor degree with a top-up year after finishing three-year junior college education, believing that a bachelor degree will bring about a better job and salary.

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Vietnam is still a developing country with a high demand for the labour force  which has been in shortage. On the other hand, the number of university graduates and postgraduate is far higher than the job supply.  This year sees more than 72,000 graduates unemployed. So far the overlap between higher and further education has led to inadequacy in recruitment and training. Vietnam therefore has enhanced the renovation of its higher and vocational training system. However, the educational sector is still struggling to come up with a feasible and comprehensive plan on human resources development for the country at present and also for the years to come.