The
decision by the Da Nang authorities to reject in-service graduates for
employment by state agencies has stirred up the public. While people still argue
about the legitimacy of the decision, they agree that it is necessary to
reconsider the quality of in-service training.

Experts say Da Nang’s
authorities violate the law

Deputy Director of the
University Education Department under the Ministry of Education and Training
Phan Manh Tien said that no one can discriminate to the degree stipulated in the
national education system, including the distance training. Recruitment is the
job of the Da Nang’s authorities, but the authorities must not distinguish the
degrees of popular and in-service training. University degrees recognized by
law legally have the same value. If Da Nang authorities want to heighten
qualifications of the workforce they can organize competitions to choose the
best candidates for state agencies, but they must not rely on the
degrees.

The Deputy Chair of the
National Assembly’s Committee on Culture, Education, the Youth and Children
Professor Nguyen Minh Thuyet that under the current law, there are three
subjects who are not be allowed to apply to become state employees, and the
three subject do not include those who have in-service training
degrees.

Therefore, Thuyet believes
that the decision by the Da Nang City’s authorities violates the current
law.

Da Nang authorities say
“we don’t violate the laws”

Tuoi tre newspaper has
quoted Dang Cong Ngu, Director of the Da Nang City’s Department for Home Affairs
as saying that the city is trying to improve the qualifications of the staff at
state agencies in order to meet the increasingly high requirements of the local
government.

Ngu said that the city is
expected to receive a large volume of students who will graduate special
training courses designed for talented students funded by the city’s budget. The
students will be recruited to state agencies. Therefore, there will be no more
room for in-service training graduates, who are believed to have inferior
qualifications compared to the graduates of popular training courses.

He emphasized that the
decision to not accept in-service graduates is a reasonable decision that fits
the current circumstances of the city’s personnel and does not violate the
current laws.

Deputy Chief Secretariat of
the Da Nang People’s Committee Dao Tan Bang said that the decision has been
approved by the city’s Communist Party’s Committee, and that the existing
employees at state agencies who have in-service training degrees will still be
able to continue working.

Is it the right time to
reconsider in-service training?

In Vietnam, in-service
training has been facing contempt from society. Many people believe that
in-service training is set up at universities just in order to help universities
collect money from students, while in-service training courses do not provide
high quality training. Some university lecturers even call in-service training
their “bread earner”.

On one hand, Thuyet, said
that the Da Nang’s authorities are violating the laws, on the other hand, said
that it is necessary to admit that the quality of in-service training is too
bad.

“The decision by Da Nang’s
authorities shows that the quality of in-service training is not reliable,”
Thuyet said.

Meanwhile, Le Tan Duy,
Director of Da Nang University, has affirmed that the quality of in-service
training is in no way inferior to popular training. He said that in some
training courses, the percentage of graduates just accounts for 30-50 percent.
Employers need to find out if graduates can meet the requirements of the jobs
and not try to look at the degrees.

Nguyen
Hien