How to adapt to the needs of diverse industries

Dual majors

Mr. Hieu said that more than 65% of students at US universities study dual majors or a major or a minor. CEO of GAP Academy also used to divide 50-50 time studying economics and math at the University of California, Los Angeles – USA (UCLA).

“This interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary trend is becoming more and more popular, suitable for the current context. All problems in life are very complicated and single-disciplinary knowledge cannot be solved. We need to coordinate many branches. different specialties”, he shared at episode 8 UniPrep chain.

Previously, the speaker worked as an admissions director of an international university in Vietnam. When he started recruiting nursing – nurses, he found that the program required students to learn programming, reading and data analysis, almost no different from the first year program of the computer science department.

During the discussion, the program director explained to him that in the near future, a good nurse must also be able to read medical records. However, the current medical record is not just a piece of paper, but more and more data is available to advise and diagnose better for patients. Even, if necessary, they also have to quickly create a graph to model the existing data, thereby accurately predicting the patient’s disease.

“Many studies also show that for most of the industries we are in, the mono-disciplinary is very low, it requires an understanding, looking at many problems at once to solve,” he added.

On the other hand, the accrediting rankings of major universities in the world always have two figures, namely the number of students who graduate in 4 years and 6 years because the number of people studying multi-disciplinary is very large and they cannot graduate. within 4 years.

Therefore, Mr. Le Dinh Hieu advises young people, if they have good abilities, to consider studying for a dual degree, especially in the context of today’s demanding multitasking.

Take additional courses

In fact, he also assessed that dual-disciplinary learning in Vietnam is more difficult than in some other countries because there are not many large university systems including many member schools such as Vietnam National University, Hanoi or Vietnam National University. in Ho Chi Minh City. Meanwhile, each university focuses on training a specialized group.

Another speaker of the seminar, Ms. Thanh Nguyen – Managing Director & Inspiring Happiness, Anphabe Company also added, studying dual majors in Vietnam is very hard. Sometimes, it is more beneficial to study well in a single subject than to study in parallel but only achieve average results.

Accordingly, if the capacity and learning conditions do not allow, young people can participate in small courses, grant certificates (micro-credentials), even without a degree, this form also gives learners gain more knowledge and experience.

CEO of GAP Academy shared that he used to work as a consultant for a young person majoring in business administration and considered it a general major. After studying until the third year, doing an internship for the first time, this student realized that he was passionate about digital marketing. At that time, he advised you to join online learning programs.

Thus, if in the middle of discovering another passion, young people can completely continue their studies, and at the same time, study more degrees and other small certificates to supplement their knowledge. For example, if you want to dive into finance, you can study for a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) degree and start analyzing like a major. In addition, young people can apply to do an internship at a company or field outside the industry.

“This is an opportunity for you to explore and experience. With the current context, students are very convenient in improvising flexibly,” said Mr. Hieu.

Proposed changes for universities

Along with the flexible adaptation of learners, the two speakers said, university training institutions also need changes to create a solid “stepping stone” for students.

Examples of two economic majors that always attract students, include: Business Administration and International Business, Ms. Thanh said, instead of extensive training from human resource management to production and marketing, the school could offer Learners know the entire business operation process in the first 1-2 years. Each nature of work requires different thinking, capacity or personality. Therefore, in the last two years of study, students should gradually narrow down to the array that is suitable for them.

Many students study Business Administration with the concept that they can be CEOs as soon as they graduate. In fact, every employee needs to come up from a low position and become a leader when he has accumulated enough knowledge and skills.

“Therefore, in the career guidance section, we need to have the mindset of a working person so that students have better expectations about the job, thereby, being able to learn, advance and contribute better.” , Anphabe CEO added.

Mr. Le Dinh Hieu added, currently, most major universities in the US, UK, Japan… have business administration majors for bachelor’s degrees. Thus, the demand for labor in the industry is still very large. However, in order to increase competitiveness and properly meet market requirements, Vietnamese universities should let students encounter reality from the second year by sending them to businesses, institutions, organizations…” The theory of corporate governance is very vague and broad. At the age of 20, if students just sit and read in books, they will never understand it,” he emphasized.

Assoc. Dr. Tran Ha Minh Quan – Director of ISB, University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City, said that universities in Vietnam are gradually changing and becoming more dynamic in allowing students to study interdisciplinary, do internships… At the University In Ho Chi Minh City’s economy, students can design their own two-degree program in 4 years and have coordination between industries to supplement their capacity to the best extent, increasing market access.

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