Trend of choosing university majors among high students in Ha Noi

This is a research conducted by a student team of International Bachelor Degree program at NEU. Its show the trend of choosing college majors in three high schools include two high schools in urban area and one high school in rural area.

Hanoi, September, 2016

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 2

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 3

1 Back ground 3

2 Rationale 3

4 Research methods 4

CHAPTER TWO: THEORY 5

CHAPTER THREE: MAJOR FINDINGS 7

1 What are the factors affecting students’ decisions of choosing university majors? 7

a Female 7

b Male 8

2 What are the most favorite majors? 11

3 What are the differences between pupils in urban and rural areas? 13

4 Where students can find information about their majors at universities? 15

5 Why students stop studying and run their own business? 17

CHAPTER FOUR: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR STUDENTS’ CHOICE UNIVERSITY MAJORS 19

CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION 20

CHAPTER SIX: REFERENCE AND APPENDIX 21

1 Appendix 21

2 References 24

Secondly, we want to send the special thankfulness to all 12 grade pupils who are studying at VietDuc, Tran Phu and Phu Xuyen A high school They spent their time to fill in our questionnairewhich is the most important part in our research

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1 Back ground

In Vietnam, since many years ago, education has been always the most important aspect inour life Vietnamese pupils have to pass many exams and competitions during their studying.The most significant exam is the national exam after pupils graduate from their high schools.They must pass this exam with marks as high as they can because it ensures for them toreach the universities where they are taught very well and they totally can get a good jobafter graduating from these universities Another thing is that studying at universities is also

a dream of parents because they believe that their children can have bright future if they havedegree from these universities However, in recent years, many pupils have stopped theirstudying after graduating high schools

2 Rationale

We choose this topic because three main reasons The first reason is that we want to knowthe ways that students select after graduating from their high schools The second reason isthat we want to find out which major is popular and attractive to students now Finally,because of the different lifestyle between students live in urban area and rural area, itabsolutely can affect students’ choosing their next part when they leave high schools

When we do this research, we expect that pupils can more understanding about themselvessuch as what they want to do in the future We also provide some majors for students who donot know exactly what they can learn at universities and have a good decision for their futurejob At the end of this research, as students who is studying at university, we will have someadvices and recommendations for high school pupils to help them make the best selection fortheir future

3 Research questions

Question 1: What are the factors affecting students’ decisions of choosing university majors? Question 2: What are the most favorite majors?

4 Research methods

Our group decided to use questionnaires interview to collect data for the report

We choose this method because the advantages that the method offers Survey method helps

us have some information, big data and access to deeper problems In addition, this methodalso suit, for short period of studying and cost of our group

d Data collection, data processing by Excel

e Drawing out the characteristics, factors tend to choose university majors among highschool students

f Report writing and presenting research

CHAPTER TWO: THEORY

Career is a significant part of live and it is the important factor that decides your future,therefore choosing major to study in university is considered the most, in the time,Universities receive a great number of questions about potential majors and how to choosemajor to study…

About prospect majors, Website Princeton review has published a Chart of Top ten CollegeMajors which consists of Computer science, Communications, Government or PoliticalScience, Business, Economics, Language, Psychology, Nursing, Chemical Engineering andBiology These majors are regarded as best one based on Job prospects, average salaries andpopularity but that does not mean, the majors above guarantee you a job or a huge paycheck,the website says as well However, they provide you valuable skill to deal with challengesand help you prepare for a professional position

So, How to recognize a potential majors? Or which one is suitable for you, The Moneycasher has a detailed analysis which includes 33 factor of a good major The analysis isdivided into three main fields which are Academic life, Student life and financial factors

In Academic life, the very factors are Admission rate, Graduation rate and Retention rate …this metric is based on the social demand “Depending on how you performed in high schooland on the SAT, you may want to apply to schools with higher or lower admission rates Ifyou aced everything in your academic history, you have a better chance for acceptance at theschools with lower admission rates”

On the other hand, Student life gives a prospective view about your life in college oruniversity, gives you chance to think about future obstacles which affect directly on dailylife As important as academics are when choosing a college, student life can be just asimportant for some young adults since there are other reasons why you should go to college

For the most part, student life begins and ends in dorm rooms If you want an active studentlife, you need to live with other students Look for the schools that have a high percentage ofon-campus living if you want an active student life.

The last field, financial factors is about Cost and fees you have to pay for your education.Application fees can add up, especially if you plan to apply to a lot of schools If money is afactor in the application process, you may want to pass on applying to a school with a highapplication fee, especially if the chances that you will get accepted and attend the school aresmall

That article is worth to read carefully and it can help you a lot with solving your problems

The living location is a reason of students’ decisions as well; there are many differencesbetween student from rural areas and urban ones “Where a student goes to college and ifsomeone pursues a higher education at all may be determined by where someone grew up”,

higher education in an article of Daily toreador The rural communities are believed to have alow education rate and they do not focus much on studies mostly Students from larger cityare 20 percent more likely to attend a university than the rural ones, if someone from a smalltown does want to attend college or university; he is supposed to choose the less selective

choose Technology because of its large agricultural and wind energy programs, whichgenerally appeal to students whose hometowns focus on these industries”, People from farmwant to study what they can use on the farm directly Whereas, the People from cities havedifferent perspective and choose majors after consider majors’ prospects and their ownhobbies

CHAPTER THREE: MAJOR FINDINGS

After 151 questionnaires were given to students in the city center (Viet Duc High school andTran Phu high school) and the countryside (Phu Xuyen A High school), we collected 144 correctanswer sheets

1 What are the factors affecting students’ decisions of choosing university majors?

a Female

Chart 1 The number of choosing majors at universities of female students

Research shows that most female students tend to choose teaching majors Among 87 femalestudents had surveyed, 22 students chose this major to study at university This is the most selectedmajor The girls tend to choose the security sector, stability and fewer collisions, so the educationindustry is always the first choice of them Teaching will help female have a good job, stable income

to cover life Also, they have more time to spend with their family, look after and teach theirchildren This figure represents 25% of students surveyed This result also confirms the position of a

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teacher is still standing in the city and rural areas, while many people believe that this is the income sector and less dynamic.

low-This majors which little choice by female students are diplomatic and nails Because manypeople think that these industries require a bit of relationships, unstable and low salary, therefore,the number of students choosing three majors is very little This is the trend in today's society

b Male

Chart 2 The number of choosing majors at universities of male students

Through a survey, most of male students chose the information technology to study atuniversity In 64 male students, 20 students choose IT major to study at college/ university Themales tend to better technology than female, so the number of choosing IT majors is much morethan female Because the industry needed to develop the knowledge society as well as promoting themarket economy and a good source of income, these guys will easily promote their capabilities ITindustry also helps students advance in their job

The handicraft, design and diplomatic are three major that no students choose Like asfemale students, three majors have little chance of employment, low-salary and do not suitable formale

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In General, the majority’s after graduating decision is “Continue studying” in both areaswhereas the number of students who chose to stop studying after graduate from High School ismuch smaller.

83.67%

16.33%

Continue Studying Stop studying

Chart 3 The percentage of choices of students at rural area after graduating high schools

84% students choose “Continue Studying” and 16% choose “Stop studying” Being askedabout why they choose to stop studying, Students who have no intention to continue studyinganswer with some main reasons: “Inability to study”; “Parents’ Orientation” and “Hobby”

Continue Studying; 94.74%

Stop Studying; 5.26%

Chart 4 The percentage of choices of students at urban area after graduating high schools

In Urban Area, “Continue studying” is 95% and “Stop studying” is only 5% Students choose

to stop studying because of personal desire or parents’ desires Some people do not want to study,the other follow their parents’ orientation

2 What are the most favorite majors?

In recent years, many students tent to study about IT (Information technology) They thinkthat they can get good jobs with IT degrees As a result, the highest number of students who chosethe major they want to study at universities is Information technology

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Chart 5 The number of choices university majors of students

According to the data, which we have analyze, shows that 34 students live in both urbanarea and rural area chose they will study economics when they go to study at universities

Most of them believe that studying IT may help them get a future job with steady salary

Furthermore, technology is always updated Needs of people about technology such asmobile phones, laptops is increasing every day They want these products more and more modernand have more useful applications Studying IT may help students find many suitable jobs with theirability and knowledge In addition, people who work for technological companies or createtechnological products can get high salary They are also always worked at the most modernenvironment

Beside IT is the most favorite major of high school students, the second favorite major isEconomics with 33 choices This choice of students was affected by social trend

The third favorite major is Teaching with 30 choices of pupils Teaching is quite popularwith student from many years ago It is more suitable with female than male because Teaching isquite leisured and not really difficult to get a good degree and a good job with steady salary in manyschools and universities In addition, education is always the most important aspect in people’s life.Therefore, being a teacher, students do not be affair that they will be unemployed.

The next four majors which have been chose are Design Industry with 15 choices, Legalprofession with 11 choices, Electronics Industry and Architect & Construction Industry with 10choices These are also common majors with high school students

On the other hand, the major which has least choice is Nail This does not attack too muchcare of students because this major is not taught at universities or colleges It is just taught atvocational colleges

Job opportunities Low-cost

Chart 6 The percentage of affecting factors students’ choices

Students have many reasons to choose their university majors

Mostly, they chose these majors depend on their hobbies with 30% Students can choosewhich majors they want to study at universities by themselves

The next reasons are studying abilities (20%), job opportunities (17%) and family tradition(15%0 These are also three main factors effect on students’ choices

Low-cost, forced by parents and affected by friends are three choices have the samepercentages (6%) These factors do not really concern with choosing university majors ofstudents

3 What are the differences between pupils in urban and rural areas?

Chart 7 The number of two most chosen majors of students

According to the statistical data that we collected, for students live in the city have learnedprofessions selected quantity allocated in each branch and not focus on one sector, such as students

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25 12

22 Economics IT

live in suburban districts Economics and IT are two more branches of town students chose to study

in the universities auditorium with numbers 25 and 22 respectively, and the remaining students ofthe other choices are evenly distributed on industries the remaining practitioners For instance,architecture, medical, and pharmaceutical industry, legal profession, electronic or design industrieshave an average number of students selected 9

Besides the suburban students also have the same choice with 12 students choose to studyInformation Technology, 10 students selected learn Medical industry and 8 students choose to studyEconomics, while others only occupations 1 or you do not even have the choice

This shows that when they choose a career, they choose the profession topped only to study,maybe they do not understand to be measured in the future occupations will do when they graduate.Even when we interviewed the students in the suburbs of the reasons that why they chose to learnthe Economics profession? And the answer that it was a fundamentalist choice because there are somany students chose this profession But when we interviewed a student in the city, she haveanswered that you would to be a student with a major Australian Information Technology becauseAustralia manpower shortage of 100,000 IT human resources for 2020 and information technology

is one of the high-wage industries leading in Australia With great opportunities to work so soonafter graduation, the students can get jobs with desirable salary The stark difference in thinkingabout their careers of students showed career orientations in two places are different altogether