Flexible 9+ college model

Parents and students of Nguyen Cong Tru Secondary School (Ba Dinh District, Hanoi) learn about high schools and colleges in the area. Photo: NTCC.

Focus on career guidance

According to the Hanoi Department of Education and Training, in the 2022-2023 school year, out of over 129,000 junior high school graduates, only nearly 80,000 students were admitted to public grade 10 schools (accounting for more than 60%). It is predicted that the pressure to take the entrance exam for public grade 10 schools in the 2024-2025 school year will be greater.

At this time, students are facing different choices about their path after graduating from junior high school. There are many desires, but the ability and conditions to suit each direction are things that families and students need to carefully consider. In order to help students understand themselves and their careers, many schools have coordinated to organize career guidance programs for students, especially grade 9 students.

At Thanh Cong Secondary School, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi, the annual career orientation program for grade 9 students with the theme: Understand yourself - Understand your career - Reach your dreams has been held since the end of March, attracting a lot of attention from parents and students. Teacher Tran Thi Quynh Huong - Vice Principal of Thanh Cong Secondary School, with her experience as a teacher with many years of experience in the profession, shared to help students understand their future goals. In which, understand yourself to clearly know your own abilities, from there, set appropriate aspirations and goals. Understand your career to know more about career orientation after graduating from secondary school. Information about the professions that society needs, which profession is suitable for your abilities...

Accordingly, each student should set goals that are appropriate to their abilities to strive for. For example, for students who are studying well and have high results, the goal of specialized schools and top schools in the city is a reasonable choice. Meanwhile, students who are good at studying can choose schools that are more within their ability to register. In particular, for some students who are undecided and do not know which path to choose after graduating from junior high school: private school, continuing education center or vocational school..., Ms. Huong gave very specific and close examples of career orientation of some students who have been mentored by her. Those examples make students feel more confident and realize that public schools are not the only doors for high school years.

Similarly, the Career Guidance Day organized by Mac Dinh Chi Secondary School, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi was an opportunity for parents and 9th grade students to listen to the sharing and advice from high schools, intermediate schools, colleges, and continuing education schools in Ba Dinh District and Hanoi City on "Opportunities for high school and vocational training for students after graduating from secondary school". Students were provided with information about careers, new professions in society and had their questions answered. From there, students had an overall view of career orientation after graduating from secondary school.

Open the door to dual degree learning

After much anticipation, Hanoi has also finalized the number of subjects for the 10th grade entrance exam for public high schools in 2024 to 3 subjects instead of 4 subjects as previously worried by many parents and students. However, the level of competition for this exam has not decreased compared to previous years because only about 60% of students passed public high schools. After researching and being consulted, many families have proactively registered their children to study at vocational schools, in which the 9+ college model is one of the options that many parents are interested in due to the low basic cost and students being able to study "dual degrees".

Specifically, according to the provisions of the Law on Vocational Education, students who have graduated from junior high school are allowed to study at the intermediate level. During the intermediate level, students will study in parallel the high school cultural knowledge including 4 basic cultural subjects or the high school continuing education program organized by the school in coordination with the continuing education center in the area. If students choose to study 8 cultural subjects as prescribed, they will be eligible to participate in the national high school graduation exam organized by the Ministry of Education and Training. Thus, when they graduate, they will have both a vocational degree and a high school diploma.

Sharing about the 9+ model, Dr. Le Danh Quang - Vice Principal of Hanoi College of High Technology said that in the 5 years of implementing this training model, many 9+ college students at the school have had outstanding results in vocational and cultural studies. In addition, many students won high prizes in the Hanoi City-level Excellent Student Competition, won Gold Medals in Vocational Skills Competitions at all levels. Notably, some students were paid nearly 19 million VND/month by businesses when doing internships. From these real stories, it shows that the selection and classification after secondary school needs to be carefully considered by each family and student with goals suitable to their abilities, interests and family conditions to develop in the right direction in the future.

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