Is there 'disillusionment'?

In the current context in Vietnam, is investing in a master's degree effective?

TUITION CAN BE MORE THAN 100 MILLION VND/YEAR

Tuition fees (TUF) for master's programs are specifically regulated in Decree No. 97/2023 of the Government on the mechanism for collecting and managing tuition fees for educational institutions in the national education system and policies on tuition exemption, reduction, support for study costs, and service prices in the field of education and training. Accordingly, the tuition fee ceiling for master's training at public universities is determined by multiplying the university training tuition fee ceiling by a coefficient of 1.5 corresponding to each training sector of each academic year according to the level of autonomy. With the above regulations, the tuition fee for a master's program is one and a half times more expensive than that of a university level.

Currently, master's tuition fees are one and a half times more expensive than university tuition fees.

Specifically, the minimum tuition fee for a master's program at a public university that does not cover regular expenses in the 2023-2024 academic year is VND18 million/year and the maximum is over VND36 million/year. For public universities that cover regular expenses, the fee ranges from VND36 to VND73.5 million/year. In particular, for public universities that cover regular expenses and investment expenses (complete autonomy), master's students must pay from VND45 to nearly VND92 million/year depending on the field of training.

The master's program tuition fee will continue to increase in the 2024-2025 school year. In particular, the highest tuition fee in the group of public schools with autonomy in both regular and investment expenses can be over 100 million VND/year.

Even within each school, the graduate tuition fee varies depending on the program. For example, the University of Technology (Ho Chi Minh City National University) currently charges a full-time graduate tuition fee of VND33 million/year for the 2023-2024 school year, and is expected to charge VND36 million/year for the 2024-2025 school year and will continue to increase to VND37.5 million/year in the 2026-2027 school year. The English language master's program from the 2021 course to present is charged at VND80 million/year (2 semesters). At some other schools, special master's programs have a full-time tuition fee of nearly VND200 million. For example, Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics announced the applied master's program fee for the 2024 enrollment period at VND180 million (including study materials and graduation thesis). Ho Chi Minh City Banking University also enrolls students for a joint master's program in business administration with the UK, with a full-time tuition fee of 179 million VND... Notably, RMIT University Vietnam announced that the highest tuition fee for the 2024 master's program for all majors is nearly 870 million VND/program.

Thus, just counting HP alone, master's students in Vietnam currently have to spend tens to hundreds of millions of VND for each 2-year course on average.

RECRUITMENT WITHOUT DISCRIMINATION OF UNIVERSITY DEGREE AND AFTER COLLEGE

In actual recruitment, there are units that do not differentiate between university and postgraduate graduates.

Mr. Quach Hong Ha, Head of Corporate Customer Department of Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank - Ky Dong branch), said that this unit mainly recruits people with university degrees and does not differentiate between candidates with university degrees and those with higher degrees. In particular, graduation certificates are only a small factor in the input filter consisting of many criteria. For new graduates, the unit also conducts recruitment steps through exams to direct interviews.

"A candidate with a university degree is just a highlight in the application, not a decisive factor in recruitment. Vietcombank, like other banks, has standardized job descriptions with specific income levels for each position. Therefore, income is not based on qualifications but depends on the performance of each specific job," Mr. Ha emphasized.

For employees who are working, Mr. Quach Hong Ha said that the unit encourages and has a policy to support learning and personal development. However, adding a higher diploma does not help employees increase their income in the same job position but depends on the nature of each specific job.

RECRUITMENT OF LECTURERS: MASTER'S DEGREE STANDARD BUT PHD'S DEGREE IS PREFERRED

Education and training is a specific field of work that requires candidates to have high qualifications to meet job requirements. According to the law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Higher Education (2018), the minimum qualification for university lecturers is a master's degree. However, this law also stipulates that higher education institutions give priority to recruiting people with doctoral degrees as lecturers.

Many universities now give priority to recruiting PhD graduates as lecturers.

Many universities currently only recruit PhD graduates as lecturers. Masters graduates are only recruited for specialist positions or lecturer positions in some fields that are in shortage.

Associate Professor, Dr. Bui Quang Hung, Vice Director of Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics, said that most of the university's majors currently only recruit lecturers with a doctorate degree or higher. Candidates with a master's degree are only recruited in some majors that require practical experience and application related to the training program (such as design, communication, etc.). These are new majors that need key human resources for training or some excellent candidates with a master's degree to build a long-term team. However, the university prioritizes recruiting masters who have previously studied at Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics. According to the reference income level published on the website, this university is paying from 20 to 35 million VND/month for lecturers with a master's degree depending on the number of years of work (about 5 million VND lower than those with a doctorate degree, as doctors are paid the lowest 25 million VND/month and the highest 40 million VND/month depending on the number of years of work). With the same master's degree, the specialist's income is lower, from 15 to 24 million VND/month.

Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Xuan Hoan, Principal of Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade, also said that the school is currently only recruiting masters for some new majors, majors that do not have doctoral training in Vietnam such as: financial technology, logistics and supply chain management...

"The school encourages workers without a master's degree to study to improve their qualifications. When they have a master's degree, the salary and allowance coefficient is about 1/4 times higher than that of university graduates. In addition to income, master's graduates receive an allowance based on their job position and degree of 2 million VND/month, while university graduates receive only 1 million VND/month," Mr. Hoan added.

Van Lang University is currently only recruiting lecturers with master's degrees for fields that are in short supply, such as communications, public relations, etc. However, Dr. Vo Van Tuan, Vice Principal of the school, said: "Masters must have teaching experience, preferably graduated from abroad, have good expertise, and be able to teach in English. A good scientific background is reflected in the field of study, place of graduation, type of training, etc. The income of master's students at the school is currently over 20 million VND/month."

With the above recruitment reality and income level, is studying for a master's degree "profitable" in the current period? Answering this question, Dr. Vo Van Tuan still affirmed: "Investing in studying for a master's degree is definitely profitable. The learning process will help learners have better professional knowledge in the field they are studying than before".

In 2025, the recruitment demand in Ho Chi Minh City for university degrees or higher will account for 19%.

The Center for Human Resource Demand Forecasting and Labor Market Information of Ho Chi Minh City (Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs of Ho Chi Minh City) has forecasted that the average annual human resource demand in Ho Chi Minh City will need about 310,000 - 330,000 jobs (including 135,000 - 140,000 new jobs) from 2021 - 2025 to 2030. Of which, by 2025, the demand for trained labor will account for 87%, but the demand for university degree or higher will only account for 19%.

Data from the first quarter 2024 report of this unit also raised concerns that Ho Chi Minh City is lacking unskilled workers and has a surplus of highly qualified workers, from university degrees and above. Specifically, a survey of human resource needs of 14,300 businesses with 82,600 jobs showed that the demand for recruiting people with university degrees and above accounts for 21.3%.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/dau-tu-hoc-thac-si-lieu-co-vo-mong-185240701193036572.htm