Too many students forced out under new credits plan

VietNamNet Bridge – Under the Ministry of Education and Training plan, by 2010, all universities and colleges in Vietnam must apply a credit-based training system. However, to date, only 10 percent of schools have applied the plan and they have reported a lot of difficulties in implementation.

Students register study timetable at Ton Duc Thang University

Educators have rung the alarm bell that, at schools applying the credit-based training scheme, a lot of students have been forced to quit in the first year.

At Da Nang University of Technology, for example, in the 2008-2009 school year, more than 1000 students were forced to stop studying because they did not have the required grades. MaritimeUniversity, after its first year of the new plan, has also reported that many students cannot meet requirements.

Most recently, newspapers have reported that 856 students of Hanoi University of Mining and Geology were forced to leave after their first year.

These are not really bad students, if assessed by the old training plan. Therefore, most schools have been trying to “save” these students.

Da Nang University, for example, has lost only its 161 worst students, while the others have been given one more chance. They will be able to keep studying for one more year, during which time they can improve their scores.

The University of Mining and Geology has transferred students who are not eligible for continued study to the junior college training level. Maritime University in Hai Phong City has done the same. However, more and more students have been forced to quit, as this solution is far from effective.

Explaining this, schools say that students have not got used to the new system. The credit-based training plan requires students to teach themselves and to research on their own much more than under the old system. One unit of credit is equal to 15 hours in class and 30 hours of independent study.

Associate Professor, Dr. Le Trong Thang, Head of the Training Division of the Hanoi University of Mining and Geology, remarked that Decision No. 43 on credit-based training sets overly high requirements.

“The students who register to study at the University of Mining and Geology only have moderate learning ability. Therefore, when following the credit-based training plan, a lot of students cannot meet the requirements,” he noted.

“As for the school year-based scheme, the required average mark is 5, while under the credit-based plan, the required average mark is 5.5,” Thang explained.

Nguyen Thi Thanh Phuc, MA, Lecturer at the University of Foreign Languages under HanoiNational University, commented that it is really difficult for freshmen to learn and research independently. “First year students just finished high school, where the read-and-write (teacher reads and students write down teachers’ words in notebooks) teaching method is applied. They cannot adapt to the new teaching style immediately,” she asserted.

Meanwhile, students say schools still have not created favourable conditions for them to study. At many schools, libraries only open when students attend classes, so they have nowhere to study later. It is also very difficult to find study materials, because they cannot always find needed documents at libraries.

At a recent conference discussing renovation of teaching methods at universities, Professor Dr. Lam Quang Thiep, former Director of the University Education Department under the Ministry of Education and Training, said that the volume of knowledge set for credit-based training at Vietnamese universities is higher than that in regional countries. While regional countries stipulate that the minimum number of credits students must have during four years of studying is about 120-150 units, the number is 180-200 units in Vietnam.

Source: Tien phong