Assessment of capability, knowledge and skills of vocational school graduates a basis for enhanced industry academy cooperation

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Thai University On Nguyen completion of this study, the author has received Luzon significant support and Southern State University Socialist Republic of Vietnam collaboration from many organizations and individuals Republic of Philippines First and foremost, I would like to thank the leader team and the staff of ten universities and colleges of MOIT, including Hanoi University of Industry, Ho Chi Minh City University of Food Industry, Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry, Hue Industrial College, Nam Dinh Industrial College, Vietnam-Germany Industrial College, Industrial Economic – Technology College, College of Industrial Techniques, Constructional and HA XUAN QUANG Industrial College, Vocational College of Commerce as well as Vocational College of Agricultural Mechanics (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) and Vietnam-Korea Vocational College of Engineering (Nghe An province) for sharing information and cooperating in the survey I have to acknowledge the contributions of my colleagues and students at Hanoi University of Industry in the process of distributing and collecting questionnaires from over 230 enterprises Without this support, I could not have gathered such huge database for research and analysis I would like to express my appreciation to the support from the leaders of Hanoi University of Industry The university has created necessary conditions including time, budget and other priorities for me to complete the DBA course and the final thesis on time Thanks for the support and encouragement from the fellows and teachers at Hanoi University of Industry, especially comments on expertise from colleagues in Faculty of Business Administration A special thanks goes to Thai Nguyen University and Southern Luzon State University (BRIEF) for their cooperation in this training program which provides me with an opportunity to participate in and conduct the project that I have long cherished I take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude and deep regards to my guide Principal : Dr A State Walberto Macaraan Dr A Walberto MacaraanSupervisor from Southern Luzon University for his exemplary guidance, monitoring and constant the course of this thesis Fromencouragement Southern throughout Luzon State University Last but not least, many thanks go to my family They are always beside me and encourage me through the duration of my studies I am also indebted this achievement to my beloved wife and two daughters for their great help and support Assessment of capability, knowledge and skill of vocational school graduates: A basis for enhanced industry-academe cooperation DOCTORAL DISSERTATION Sincerely thank you Thai Nguyen, May 2013 August, 2013 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Abbreviation GDVT GIZ Meaning General Department of Vocational Training German Society for International Cooperation, Ltd HaUI Hanoi University of Industry HCM Ho Chi Minh IVT JICA MOARD Institute for Vocational Training Japan International Cooperation Agency Ministry Of Agriculture and Rual Development MOET Ministry Of Education and Training MOIT Ministry Of Industry and Trade MOLISA NVQs QCA Ministry Of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs National Vocational Qualifications Qualifications and Curriculum Authority SLSU Southern Luzon State University SMEs Small and Medium Enterprises TNU VCCI Thai Nguyen University Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background “The current quality of training institutions has not really met the need of the labor market There are many factors affecting training quality of schools A major cause is the relationship between schools and businesses in the area of education has not been concerned in a highly effective way The participation of enterprises in the training process is very limited” (MOIT, 2011) In this context, I have selected the topic: “Assessment of capability, knowledge and skill of vocational school graduates: A basis for enhanced industry-academe cooperation” as thesis topic for DBA course The research results will provide a basis for solutions for the improvements of vocational training quality in Vietnam 1.2 Problem Statement The current quality of graduates from vocational schools has not really met the needs of the labor market One of the major factors affecting the quality of graduates lies in an uneffective cooperation between schools and businesses and a limited participation of enterprises in the training process The overall objective of this research is to improve industry-academe cooperation in enhancing skills and knowledge of vocational school graduates 1.3 Reseach Objectives This research is conducted with four objectives: (1) to advance understanding of the cooperation between enterprises and vocational training schools and confirm the fact that the cooperation is very important for vocational schools; (2) to assess capability, knowledge and skills of graduates from vocational schools and the impact of school-enterprise cooperation on knowledge and skills of graduates; (3) to indentify the major factors for developing program collaboration between enterprises and vocational training schools in order to improve vocational training quality; and (4) to propose some solutions for improving collaboration between enterprises and vocational training schools in the future 1.4 Research Questions With the above objectives, the following questions are addressed to meet the objectives of this dissertation: Q1 What are the problems encountered by the enterprises about the skills and knowledge of vocational school graduates in terms of (1) Desired skills for their position, (2) Knowledge required for their position, (3) Work attitude ? Q2 What are the problems encountered by the schools about the skills and knowledge of vocational school graduates as needed by the industry in terms of (1) Curriculum Program, (2) Qualification of Faculty, (3) Machineries ? Q3 What is the existing collaboration program that exists between the school and industry in terms of (1) Internship, (2) Scholarship to students, (3) Donation/Grants for training, (4) Information exchange ? Q4 Which content of program collaboration affects the quality of graduates ? Q5 Is there any significant difference between the perception of different groups of respondent ? Q6 What program collaboration can be developed to improve the cooperation between school and industry ? Q7 How to improve the industry- academe cooperation? (solutions) 1.5 Hypotheses The following hypotheses are outlined and tested by using statistical methods to answer the research questions and to orientate the survey and data collection H1 Enterprises are not satisfied with the working capability, knowledge and skills of the graduates; H2 There are differences in the assessment of capability, knowledge and skills of graduates between different types of businesses (by ownership, by industries); H3 Enterprises are willing to cooperate with schools in vocational training activities; H4 Vocational schools are not satisfied with the conditions to ensure the quality of vocational training; H5 There is no differences between enterprises/ schools in the assessment of the benefits of school-enterprise cooperation; H6 There is a link between the assessment of conditions to ensure training quality and school-enterprise cooperating activities 1.6 Scope and Limitation of the Study Subjects of the study include vocational training schools of MOIT The enterprises in partnership with MOIT’s schools have been surveyed to assess capability, knowledge and skill of graduates from vocational schools and to receive their opinions about the schoolenterprise cooperation To obtain specific evaluation results from the enterprises, the author chooses to survey the knowledge and skills of graduates in Mechanics and Electrics/Electronics These are 02 majors trained in all of 12 surveyed schools as well as most other vocational schools in Vietnam (GDVT, 2012) The actual survey data (primary) are conducted during the period from 9/2012 to 3/2013 The secondary data are based on national statistics and reports made by the MOIT, MOET, MOLISA, GDVT between 2010-2012 The research instruments are mainly interviews and survey with questionnaires 1.7 Reseach Definitions - Quality of graduates - Industry – Academe Cooperation 1.8 Significance of the Study The significance of the research results will be addressed as followings: (1) To advance understanding of the cooperation between enterprises and vocational training schools in order to help the colleges under MOIT to improve the quality of graduates; (2) Provide scientific basis for the leaders and teachers at vocational schools to implement solutions in the improvement of vocational training in general and of industryacademy cooperating program in particular (3) Provide basis for managerial agencies in the establishment and completion of rules/mechanism to promote the participation of businesses in vocational training progress and in the development of industry-academy cooperation (4) Provide references for teaching and learning about business or vocational school administration, for researchers and for those who interested in vocational training and industry-academy cooperation 1.9 Structure of the Study The dissertation consists of five chapters Chapter I : Introduction Chapter II : Review related literature and studies Chapter III: Methodology Chapter IV: Presentation, analysis and interpretat of data Chapter V : Summary of findings, concusions and recommendations 1.10 Conclusion The purpose of this study is to indentify the major factors for developing program collaboration between enterprises and vocational training schools in order to improve knowledge and skills of graduates from vocational schools This study has great practical significance for the development of human resources training Its findings will be useful for not only schools under MOIT but other schools as well Besides, this study provides scientific basis for management agencies in developing policies to encourage the development of relations between schools and businesses CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES 2.1 International related research 2.2 National related research 2.3 Theoretical and conceptual framework 2.3.1 The quality of training 2.3.2 The criteria for assessing the quality of vocational training 2.3.3 Factors affecting the quality of vocational training a External factors b The internal factors Quality of vocational training is the result of positive impacts of all elements in training system and training process in a certain environment These factors can be generalized in Figure 2.3 Environment for vocational training - Training Objective; - Syllabus and Training Materials; - Teachers and Students; - Workshops, Equipments and Finance Training process Quality of graduates Feedback Figure 2.3 The factors influencing quality of graduates (Phan Chinh Thuc, 2003) 2.3.4 Cooperation between schools and enterprises in vocational training 2.3.4.1 The contents of cooperation - Cooperation in setting up traing plan - Cooperation in providing facilities and finance - Cooperation in providing teachers - Cooperation in designing training curricula - Cooperation in information exchange 2.3.4.2 The level of cooperation - Comprehensive cooperation - Partial cooperation (limited) 2.3.4.3 Influence of cooperation on the knowledge and skill of graduates Cooperation between schools and businesses will basically and comprehensively affect all factors Thus, it will impact the quality of vocational training and the knowledge and skill of graduates Environment - Policy Cooperation Industy - Academe Teachers Equipment, Facilities Knowledge and Skills of Graduates Environment - Policy Environment - Policy Curricula e Students Figure 2.4 The impact of school-business cooperation in vocational training quality (The author has synthesized from the above analyses) 2.4 Analysing framework From analysis above, the author has proposed the following model to examine the collaboration between enterprises and vocational training schools (Figure 2.5) For example, a framework for analysing collaboration in curriculum development is presented in Figure 2.6 Vocational training in school: Curriculum, Faculty qualification, Facilities Industry needs in knowlegde and skills of graduates Benefits of cooperation School - Enterpise Cooperation Hindrance of the cooperation Figure 2.5 A framework for analysing collaboration between enterprises and vocational training schools (The author has built up from practical and theoretical analyses) Curriculum Assessment of existing situation Requirement of the industry Cooperation school – industry Quality graduates Figure 2.6 A framework for analysing collaboration in curriculum development (The author has built up from practical and theoretical analyses) CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY This chapter presents the methods used in this research The methods in use show a combination between quantitative and qualitative research Data include secondary data from statistical reports and primary data from in-depth interviews, typical case studies and survey by questionnaires The content of this chapter includes (1) Research design, (2) Determination of Sample, (3) Research instrument, (4) Data gathering procedure, (5) Data processing method, (6) Assessment of the reliability of the scale, (7) Statistical treatment 3.1 Research design Design of the research is shown in the following Figure 3.1 Literature review, theory Research issue Design of tools to collect data Collection, treatment and analysis of data from vocational schools Collection, treatment and analysis of data from enterprises Analysis and comparison Findings, conclusion and proposal Figure 3.1 Research Design 10 3.2 Determination of sample 3.2.1 Subject, vocational schools sample According to recent statistical report, MOIT has 32 schools The author chose to study 10 schools for the survey They are large schools (in terms of the number of students) and have many collaborative activities with enterprises according to the author’s observation In comparison, the author also surveyed 02 vocational schools out of MOIT with large number of students apprentices, 01 of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, 01 of Nghe An province HaUI’s collaboration with enterprises is in deep research 3.2.2 Subjects and sample of enterprises The businesses selected for the survey are currently in partnership with vocational schools of MOIT, and 02 schools outside MOIT Without an accurate population of enterprises cooperating with these schools, the author recommends an introduction of a list of 250 companies to survey The businesses are all surveyed by questionnaires Respondents consist of leaders (directors, deputy directors) or managers (head/deputy head of the production department, of training department and of human resources department) 01 enterprise is chosen for direct and in-depth interview 3.3 Research instrument Questionnaires and interview reports are used in the primary data collection 3.3.1 Interview outline The author conducts non-structured interview report with only the outline but not the entire set of questions Questions used in the interviews are mostly open-ended ones The scales used in the questionnaire are mainly qualitative scales The interview report is used for subjects including vocational school leaders, business leaders and managers in training 3.3.2 Questionnaire Two kinds of questionnaire are in use for the study: Questionnaire for vocational schools and questionnaire for enterprises 3.4 Data gathering procedure To conduct the actual survey, works are implemented as belows: (1) Send e-mails and telephone for acceptance and schedule (2) Guideline for direct survey (3) Scenario and survey schedule 11 3.5 Data processing method After collecting the data using survey instruments, data are imported and cleaned Import and store data: Data are entered and stored on computer Excel spreadsheet software and SPSS statistical software are used for importing and processing Each questionnaire is assigned an ID Each question (variable) is named in accordance with the provision of the SPSS variable declaration 3.6 Evaluation the reliability of scales Cronbach Alpha calculation method is used to evaluate the reliability of the scale with many indicators using many variables to study a problem 3.7 Statistical treatment 3.7.1 Descriptive Statistics Descriptive statistics analysis helps to observe each variable thoroughly and understand the nature of the data, from which we can understand the subject/ research issue via these variables Upon understanding the nature of the statistical data, we can realize the relationship between variables and orientate the analysis applying further analysing techniques such as comparison, correlation, regression (Tran Tien Khai, 2007) The author uses SPSS to calculate the quantities such as Max, Min, Mean, Median, Mode, Std.Deviation, Variance for quantitative variables and set up table of frequencies for qualitative variables 3.7.2 Accreditation of the relationship T-test accreditation is used to check the relationship between the ordinal variables, interval and calculate correlation coefficient r and Chi-square (X2) is used to check the relationship between nominal variables 3.7.3 Data presentation Data presenting tools in the thesis include tables and graphs Tables are built by the SPSS software while graphs are drawn by EXCEL 12 CHAPTER IV: PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA This chapter presents and analyses the data collected to elucidate the research issue and to answer the research questions indicated in Chapter Research findings are based on data analysis and accreditation by statistics tools to ensure statistical reliability 4.1 Characteristics of the survey sample 4.1.1.Vocational schools There is a total number of 10 MOIT’s vocational schools and schools of other sectors in the survey (Table 4.1) These schools are located in either the North or the South of Vietnam, including universities, colleges and vocational colleges (Table 4.2) Table 4.1 Number of schools sorted by the managerial agency Supervisor Frequency Of MOIT Out of MOIT Total Percent 10 12 83.3 16.7 100.0 Table 4.2 Number of schools sorted by the highest level of training Level of training University College Vocational College Total Frequency Percent 12 25.0 50.0 25.0 100.0 4.1.2 Enterprises The survey sample of enterprises includes 233 enterprises currently in cooperation with vocational schools with various types of ownership, industries, scale (Table 4.5, Table 4.6, Table 4.8) Table 4.5 Number of enterprises sorted by type of ownership Form of ownership Frequency Percent State-owned 28 12.0 100% FDI 12 5.2 Joint venture 12 5.2 Private/ Joint stock 181 77.7 Total 233 100.0 13 Table 4.6 Number of enterprises sorted by industry Industry Frequency Percent Mechanics 78 33.5 Electrics/Electronics 60 25.8 Other industries 95 40.8 233 100.0 Total 4.2 Enterprises’ assessment of the knowledge, skills and capabilities to work of graduates from vocational schools 4.2.1 Assessment of attitude and capability to work against job requirements Figure 4.1a Enterprises’ assessment of attitude and capability to work of graduates 4.2.2 Assessment of general knowledge Figure 4.2a Assessment by enterprises of general knowledge of graduates 14 4.2.3 Assessment of foundational knowledge and skills Figure 4.3a Assessment by enterprises of foundational knowledge and skills of graduates 4.2.4 Assessment of mechanical knowledge and skills Figure 4.4 Assessment by enterprises of mechanical knowledge and skills of graduates 4.2.5 Assessment of electric/electronic knowledge and skills Figure 4.5 Assessment by enterprises of electric/electronic knowledge and skills of graduates 15 4.3 Assessment of conditions ensuring the quality of vocational training in vocational schools Vocational training program Figure 4.6 Assessment of the vocational training program Vocational training teachers Figure 4.7 Assessment of vocational training teachers Facilities and equipment for vocational training Figure 4.8 Assessment of facilities and equipment for vocational training 16 4.4 Forms of cooperating activities currently organized at vocational schools 4.5 Benefits of cooperation according to the assessment of enterprises and vocational schools Figure 4.10 Assessment of benefits of cooperation by schools and enterprises 4.6 The influence of cooperating programs on the knowledge and skills of vocational school students The cooperation between enterprises and vocational schools have influence on knowledge and skills of graduates at different levels In which, it is internship program at companies that represents the highest rate of influence Learning support from enterprises also affect the improvement of knowledge and skills of graduates from vocational schools 4.7 Cooperating programs that enterprises expect/desire to participate Figure 4.12 Desire/willingness to cooperate of enterprises 17 4.8 Factors hindering cooperation The factors that hinder cooperation including (1) lack of state regulations to encourage/force the schools and enterprises to cooperate, (2) lack of information about partners, (3) benefits of two sides may not be guaranteed 4.9 Accreditation of the relationship between the variables/factors - The relationship between the type of ownership (SOHUU) and opinions on the development of cooperation (C6) - The relationship between the types of industry (C1.4) and opinions about the development of cooperation (C6) - The relationship between SOHUU and C2, C3, C4, C5, C7, C8 - The relationship between the variables C1.4 and C2, C3, C4, C5, C7, C8 4.10 Construction of regressional function to analyse the relationship between factors Using SPSS to perform calculations and accreditation, we have the model that satisfies the accreditation: B2=0.558+0.184*B1.2+0.304*B1.3+0.278*B3; R2=0.445 This model can be used to predict the value of B2 if the value of B1.2, B1.3 and B3 are known (with certain tolerance and reliability) 18 CHAPTER V: SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 Findings of study The results show that enterprises assess the working capability, the general knowledge and the vocational knowledge/skills rather low in comparison with production requirements (less than 4.0 on a 5.0 point scale) There is no differences in the assessment of knowledge and skills of graduates between enterprises of different ownership However, there is difference in the assessment between enterprises of different industries The weakest points are: the ability to organize production process, problem solving, teamworking, English skills, NC, CNC, PLC, PIC programming and operating modern equipment skills This is the problem that enterprises have to face with in the process of production development: How to build up a high quality workforce to meet the requirements of business? Cooperation with vocational training schools is one of the feasible solutions for this issue, which has been applied successfully by some enterprises Vocational schools have to face with the fact that elements to ensure the quality of vocational training are limited The weakest points are: vocational programs not updated with business feedback, training equipment using obsolete technology, vocational teachers have little access to actual production This reinforces the poor assessment of enterprises about the knowledge, skills and working capability of graduates from vocational schools The vocational schools have to find solutions for this issue in the condition of lacking resources from the government Cooperation with the enterprises for further resources is an appropriate solution that has been successfully applied by some vocational schools Many cooperating programs have been done However, the most popular program is providing students with internship opportunity at enterprises Other programs of cooperation have not been done regularly and lacked in numbers However, some schools have an effective cooperating model Businesses are willing to cooperate with vocational schools All survey collaboration programs are accepted (with the lowest of over 35% and the highest of 90% of enterprises agree to cooperate) Almost all enterprises are aware of the significant benefits of school-enterprise cooperation This cooperation provides enterprises with skilled human resources This is an essential basis for vocational schools to operate cooperating programs with enterprises in accordance with their conditions 19 Factors that hinder cooperation and business schools are consistently agreed by both sides (schools and enterprises) Lacking of state regulations to encourage both parties to cooperate, lacking of information on partnership and not ensuring the mutual benefits are main obstacles in the development of cooperating programs Removing these barriers will improve the development of cooperation This requires the participation of schools, enterprises and the government The activeness of each party (schools, enterprises) in the cooperation is an indispensable and key factor The cooperation have to ensure a win-win benefit to both parties Enterprises and schools have similar assessment of the benefits of cooperation Therein, the evaluation of benefits by enterprises is higher than that of schools There is no differences in the evaluation of the benefits of cooperation between enterprises of different industries or different types of ownership Opinions of teachers from schools of different groups (region/ level of training/ scale of training) represent no difference in the assessement of benefits of cooperation This is an important basis to build up and operate collaboration programs All programs need to show benefits to both parties All cooperating programs show influence on the knowledge and skills of students in vocational schools It is internship at enterprises that has the most significant influence Supporting programs of enterprises for students (scholarships), providing information on recruitment, receiving interns all have impact on the improvement of the knowledge and skills of graduates The development of cooperation leads to improvement of the quality of training Generally, there is no different opinions about the development of the school- enterprise cooperating program between the enterprises of different industries and different types of ownership However, enterprises of different industries show differences in two cooperating programs which are exchange of information and advice on training plan There are three groups of cooperating programs between schools and enterprises can be developed to improve cooperation : (1) Collaboration in information exchange, (2) Collaboration in providing and exchanging resources and (3) Collaboration in setting training targets and plans of vocational school 5.2 Accreditation of the hypotheses According to the results of analyses in chapter IV, the hypotheses have been tested and shown in Table 5.1 20