Though society
maintains a dubious view on the quality of in-service training courses,
state-owned universities have still been trying to expand their in-service training
programs simply because in-service training is the main bread earner of the
schools.

In-service training classes
expanding

The story
of Da Nang
authorities deciding not to recruit graduates of in-service training courses
has one again raised doubts about the quality of in-service training. However,
analysts have commented that it will not be easy to shut down this mode of
training because the supply and demand remain very large. Universities want to
expand their in-service training programs, because training brings them big
bucks, and people want to go to
in-service training courses because they want more degrees which can help them
get promotions in their jobs.

Deputy
President of the Hanoi University of Foreign Trade Nguyen Van Hong said to
date, the school has provided 28 in-service training courses with 2400 students
per course.

Hong
frankly said that in-service training is a big source of income for the school
which can helps offset the losses the school incurs from providing regular
training. On average, an in-service training student pays 3.6 million dong a
year, therefore, it is understandable that 2400 students will bring a
considerably large source of income to the school every year.

According
to Hong, the income from regular training courses cannot cover expenses.
Therefore, the school has to use money it collects from in-service training
students to offset the expenses of regular training. It is clear that schools
can seek profit from in-service training because they do not have to offer
scholarships to in-service training students, and they do not have to offer
preferences to students from remote areas and students from families with
difficult conditions.

In general,
every university lecturer has to have 260 teaching hours, both at regular and
in-service training classes. Lecturers get higher pay if they teach in-service
training classes than if they teach regular training classes. Associate
professor can get 46,000 dong per teaching period, while professors and
high-grade lecturers 54,000 dong. A lecturer in good health can have 14 periods
per day.

The Hanoi National
Economics University
provides 271 in-service training classes. Especially, the university recently
has begun providing in-service training classes in localities. To date, the
in-service faculty of the school has enrolled 23,000 students for 21 majors.

Deputy
Director of the Post & Telecommunications Institute of Technology Le Huu
Lap said that the institute enrolls 400-500 students for in-service training
every year. Every student has to pay 2.8 million dong a year. The number of
in-service training students the institute is allowed to enroll is lower than
other schools, such as the Hanoi University of Technology, National Economics
University, or University of Foreign Trade.
However, in-service students still can bring 1.4 billion dong to the
institute’s budget.

What do in-service training students
expect?

The quality
of in-service training has been questionable for many years. According to
educators, most in-service training students are people who have jobs already.
Most of the in-service training students are married and aged 30 or higher.
Meanwhile, schools always set lower requirements on in-service training
students, because difficult lessons may keep students away, and schools do not
want to lose students.

Therefore,
due to other responsibilities people cannot spend much time on learning.

The dean of
the in-service training quality under the Hanoi University of Foreign Trade
Pham Duy Lien said that at his school, the curriculum is the same for both
regular and in-service training students, while the teachers of regular
training classes are also teaching at in-service training classes. However, the
quality of regular training and in-service training students is not equal.

Hong from
the University of
Foreign Trade said that
in other countries, people go to classes in order to find good jobs. Meanwhile,
in Vietnam,
people go to classes in order to get more and more degrees which can help them
get promotions in their jobs. The problem now is that even state agencies “count” the degrees of candidates to recruit
employees.

Kieu Oanh – Huong
Giang