Businesses participate in training to help students have practical skills

Businesses need skilled workers

Mr. Nguyen Van Tung (37 years old, from Nam Dinh), used to be a student at the University of Transport. After graduating and going to work, Mr. Tung said that the biggest barrier he encountered was foreign language proficiency and professional skills because the requirements of businesses far exceeded the knowledge he learned in university lecture halls.

Businesses almost have to retrain new graduates because what is learned is just theory. The reality of work is very different. Businesses incur training costs, so of course, the salary in the first few years is not enough for me to cover my life" - Mr. Tung said.

Sharing the same situation, Ms. Nguyen Phuong Thao (31 years old, Xuan Phuong ward, Hanoi) - even though holding a bachelor's degree from the Academy of Finance, struggled to find a job. In the early stages, Thao faced many difficulties due to a lack of practical experience, communication skills, teamwork, problem solving and adaptability to the working environment. To adapt, Thao proactively arranged time and participated in short-term professional training courses.

The story of Ms. Thao or Mr. Tung is not isolated. In many years of recruitment, Ms. Trinh Thi Lan Huong - Administration - Human Resources Department of Indochina Travel Expert Service and Tourism Co., Ltd. - said that what new graduates lack most is soft skills, especially communication skills and the ability to proactively handle problems.

Mr. Tran Dai Nghia - Chairman of the Board of Directors, General Director of Minh Duc Group - also shared the opinion that there is a gap between training and practice that engineering students are facing.

Most students when they first graduate lack practical experience, leading to confusion and difficulties when undertaking supervision or construction design tasks" - Mr. Nghia said.

From the perspective of a higher education institution, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Hieu Hoc - Head of the Faculty of Educational Science and Technology, Hanoi University of Science and Technology - shared that in fact, businesses are currently facing many "hidden costs" in recruitment such as recruitment promotion, organization of tests, retraining of personnel, time to adapt to the working environment or the risk of personnel resigning due to inappropriate job requirements.

Meanwhile, although the school has training capacity, it lacks practical problems for students to practice. Students learn a lot, but the opportunity to "do it for real" is still limited, mainly simulation exercises in class.

Effectiveness of the business-school cooperation model

Mr. Nguyen Van Minh - Deputy General Director of BAF Vietnam Agriculture Joint Stock Company - said that the school can cooperate with businesses in three key areas: First, recruitment, training, and development of high-quality human resources for businesses; Second, research cooperation; Third, transferring research topics, research projects, and scientific and technological products from schools to businesses.

Businesses can accompany schools for research, can provide financial sponsorship, invest in infrastructure, production facilities as well as laboratories to jointly research topics directly applied to production" - Mr. Minh said.

According to Mr. Tran Dai Nghia, currently the unit is cooperating with the University of Transport, Hanoi University of Civil Engineering and Hanoi Architectural University - institutions with training majors suitable for the business's operations. The business will organize training sessions, workshops, simulate construction processes by video or practice directly at the construction site. Students are guided in detail on each stage, learn how to handle difficult situations, and have the opportunity to directly participate in supervision and design at actual projects.

In the recent 3-month internship program of nearly 30 students, Mr. Nghia said that about 1/3 of students can work immediately, equivalent to engineers with 2-3 years of experience.

The personnel training time is also shortened from 8 - 12 months to about 3 months.

The knowledge the school imparts is relatively close to reality. When placed in the business environment, many students can participate in designing, supervising projects and understand the work they need to do. They mainly lack practical skills and experiences" - Mr. Nghia commented.

In addition to participating in the training process, businesses also offer preferential treatment mechanisms to attract and retain talents such as: Supporting accommodation and salary payment by stage for interns; granting the right to propose salaries suitable to personal capacity; clear career advancement roadmap...