Universities grapple with course ban

Ho Chi Minh City's University of the Food Industry has complained that it has no clue how to deal with the specialised tools and personnel of its vocational courses after the Ministry of Education and Training prohibited universities from running occupational courses alongside traditional academic programmes from the next academic year, reports Tuoi Tre News.

A university official said that it has many teachers who specialise in teaching vocational courses, so finding work for them after the ban will be a challenge. They can, technically speaking, teach at the junior college level, but it is going to take them a long time to get used to the new teaching methods, the official said. He added that laboratories and other tools the institution bought to teach its cooking programmes are likely to be left unused in the future.

Nguyen Xuan Hoan, vice-president of the Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry, said his institution has suffered from the same problem. "We are struggling to find other jobs for over 400 vocational teachers, since it is impossible for us to lay them off," Hoa said.
Full report on the Tuoi Tre News site