A report on the choice of undergraduate major and plans after graduation among students of ISVNU

This report was to study on the reasons behind students’ choice of their current academic major and their career goals. The investigation was done by using questionaire and data analysis with reference from online journal articals and a deep interview. The main findings were that among the four majors which were surveyed, International Bussiness (53%) and Accounting, Analyzing and Auditing (34%) were the two that hold the majority. Together with many factors that affected students’ choice of academic major, description on their career goals was brought along to have better understanding in the students’ decision. It was concluded that the job opportunities had a great influence on the students’ decision in academic major and the highest selection of after graduation plans were to apply for a job that relevance to what students were trained and to continue study higher education. The recommendations are that faculty and academic advisors should organize more and more vocational guidance workshops so as for the students to have better understanding in the school’s courses. Along with that, parents should listen to their children’s aspiration and then give advices to support them on their career path.

INS1015 A report on the choice of undergraduate major and plans after graduation among students of IS-VNU Prepared by: Nguyễn Quỳnh Nga A student from: IB2017A Prepared for: Assignment – English for Academic Purposes April 2, 2018 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INS1015 SUMMARY INTRODUCTION FINDINGS .6 I Data Collection II Data Analysis CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 14 APPENDICES 15 BIBLIOGRAPHY 24 Page INS1015 SUMMARY This report was to study on the reasons behind students’ choice of their current academic major and their career goals The investigation was done by using questionaire and data analysis with reference from online journal articals and a deep interview The main findings were that among the four majors which were surveyed, International Bussiness (53%) and Accounting, Analyzing and Auditing (34%) were the two that hold the majority Together with many factors that affected students’ choice of academic major, description on their career goals was brought along to have better understanding in the students’ decision It was concluded that the job opportunities had a great influence on the students’ decision in academic major and the highest selection of after graduation plans were to apply for a job that relevance to what students were trained and to continue study higher education The recommendations are that faculty and academic advisors should organize more and more vocational guidance workshops so as for the students to have better understanding in the school’s courses Along with that, parents should listen to their children’s aspiration and then give advices to support them on their career path Page INS1015 INTRODUCTION Purpose The purpose of this report is to investigate the reasons behind the sudent’s choice of undergraduate major and their plans after graduation This report will also give recommendation on what should be done by the faculty and students’ family to ensure an optimal academic major choice that influence the students’ future career Background For years, understanding the reasons for students’ decision in their education and career goals has always been a subject that faculty and academic advisors concern A recent study shows that major choice is overseen by parents’ guidance and the degree to which students’ are free to follow those influences (Ian Madfes, Ph.D., 2017) A similar study in Vietnam shows that the most influencing factors on students’ choice of major is the opportunity to study aboard, to study in an English-speaking environment, to study with foreign lecturer and to have high job opportunity (Phan Thi Thanh Thuy, Nguyen Thi Minh Hoa, 2017) The report was an assignment written for subject English for Academic Purpose by Nguyen Quynh Nga on April 2, 2018 Scope The report examines 100 random freshman students (K16) of International School of Vietnam National University Besides respondents’ profiles, this report looks into the reasons behind students’ major choice and future plans It does not examine students in the Sophomore, Junior or Senior years due to the lack of time and the extension of the number of students in such case Methodology The information for this report was gathered from the following sources:  Questionaire  Online journal articles Page INS1015  Interview  Personnal knowledge and experiences Page INS1015 FINDINGS I Data collection Questionnaires Regarding instrument, offline questionaires were used to find out the students’ evaluation on the reasons behind their college major’s choice and future plans Instead of using online questionaires, offline questionaires helped the author on specifying the participants and avoiding faulty result that might have been made from unwanted students outside ISVNU The questionaire had main parts: Personal Information – which divided the students into specific gender and major, and Questionaire – which surveyed the students’ major choice and after graduation plans 200 questionaires were printed but only 102 of them were delivered to the participants on March 14th, 2018 It took the participants about 10 minutes to finish their surveys Right after that, 102 questionnaires were collected by the researcher of them were faulty which left 100 adequate ones to be analyzed Microsoft Exel 2016 was used to analyze the data Interviews One randomly picked students from K16 of IS-VNU were entered in a deep interview on March 15th, 2018 A few questions were asked to learn more about the students’ thoughts in his satisfaction of the choice that he had made and his goals up to then Page INS1015 II Data Analysis Questionnaires 1.1 Student’s choice of major Among 100 students taking part in the survey, the majority was female (71%) where only 21% of them was male Where there were students from majors was surveyed, the following pie chart showed the division of these participants in their college major in International School – Vienam National University Major IB AC MIS ICE 1.00% 12.00% 53.00% 34.00% Regarding the students’ profiles of all 100 participants come from majors, International Bussiness (IB) seemed to have most students (53%), followed by Accounting, Analyzing and Auditing (AC) (34%), Management Information Systems (MIS) (12%) and Science of Managing (ICE) (1%) This result can be easy to explain Vietnam is a developing country which have been on its way to international intergration by joining in many economic partnerships in the Page INS1015 region and over the world such as ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations), APEC (Asia - Pacific Economic Cooperation), WTO (World Trade Organization), etc With market opening policy, Vietnam have been receiving a lot of investments from foreign countries at the same time having many investors that have the courage to invest in foreign countries This led to the need of the college’s international bussiness skills Therefore, IB is such major which brings students plenty of job oppotunites along with its variaty in professional field (“Why should we choose International Bussiness?”, 2017) Along with IB, AC stood the second in the major field It cannot be denied that accounting is an indispensable in every single company or organization A recent study of Navigos Group shows that finacial accounting ranked third among the five functional departments with the highest recruitment needs (“Accouting major in the future – It is not easy to select which school to study”, n.d.) Hence, the demand for human resources in accounting is extremely high This explain why IB and AC seize the mainstream of the student’s choice of major On the other hand, Management Information Systems (MIS) and Science of Managing (ICE) have not been the choice of many students On the author’s point of view and knowledge, MIS and ICE are those that demands lots of skills considering computing, programming, logical and critical thinking The interest in this area is necessery for students who have the will to follow these operose majors As the result, MIS and ICE hold the minority students of the majors Page INS1015 1.2 The time students decide on choosing their major T he time st udent s decide on choosing t heir majors Before upper secondary school Grade 11 Grade 10 Grade 12 4.08% 9.18% 9.18% 77.55% It can be seen from the chart that most student made their choice when they were at grade 12 In the author’s opinion, grade 12 may be the time when some students are mature enough to make up their mind on how they would want their life to be Ana Contreras’s study (cited in Milson, 2015) found that “Previous research suggests that college major selection may relate to career path, based on skills and interests” Along with that, the moment when the university entrance exam is close, a lot of factors inluence the student selection The next part will bring a closer look at the consideration of the students along with some matters of what affected the students’ choice of major Page INS1015 1.3 Students’ agreement on factors affecting their choice of major Factors affecting students on their choice of major 1 Future job opportunities 10 41 2 Suitability with student's abilities 29 48 21 Suitability with student's hobbies 31 26 16 Following family's advices 35 37 36 10 Getting interest in the school after the Admissions Consultation Day 34 45 6 Back-up choice in applying for university 13 29 14 Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree 10 20 48 30 38 40 50 60 Strongly Disagree According to the clustered bar chart, it can easily be seen that future job oppotuninies and student’s own abilities along with hobbies seize to be the highest factors of all (The Agree and Strongly Agree bars are incredibly long) In the intergration period, the fact that the majors, especially IB and AC, have great job opportunities and chances for graduate students to grasp is undeniable Another important factor is the satisfaction of student in their undergraduate major A student’s abilities and hobbies come a lot from his (or her) personality Although there are multiple factors which influence the decision, personality is disctinct due to the “pervasiveness” of it and the stablity through the changes of external factors (Piedmond, 1998) Page 10 INS1015 Following those threes factors, back-up choice in university seems to be the one that many students studying in IS-VNU concern about The issue is easy to explain IS-VNU is a school which have English training program for student from freshman by professinal Vietnamese and foreign lecturers along with planty of activities and speeches from many famous lecturers, etc As a result, the tuition is very high Comparing with the similar training sector from other University, VNU-IS is still a young institution which make other University’s International Faculty seems to be a better choice due to their history of teaching Since that is the case, many students chose VNU-IS as their back up choice Among all of the above, the Admissions Consultation Day had a big influence on the students’ interest The school was very succesful at gaining trust, curiosity and attention from undergraduate students by providing many information about the school’s great training courses and many kinds of scholarship Hence, VNU-IS is effectively bringing its name futher and futher One inevitable factor that affected the students’ choice of major for years is the pressure that comes from parent’s concerns about employability and earnings (Discover Financial Services, 2012; Schneider, 2012), which made the students choose majors in which they had little interest in at first (ACT, 2013) As the result, many adults later regreted their initial choice of undergraduate major due to the lack of realistic information concerning the career paths related to those major so as to make the best decision (Andrew Pritchard, Julie Fudge, Elizabeth Crisp Crawford & Jeremy Jackson, 2018) Yet things have changed recently In the era of information and technology, students can easily access to many sources online to earn themselves knowledge with tons of information in every kind of aspects on Earth Hence, students these days have the chance to find out their own interest and abilities which would help them to make optimal decision in their choice of major Though the factor that students’ selection of major is to follow their family’s advices had declined (37% of which chose neutral where 23% of them had disagreement on the case), Page 11 INS1015 the number of students following their parents to choose their major is still high Where these figures are only a rough estimate from 100 freshman student of VNU-IS, the influence of family suggestion is still at a pretty high level (40% agreement which 4% of them strongly agree with it) 1.4 Student’s after graduation plans Plans after graduation Apply for a job which is relevance to your training 39 Apply for a job like your skill and your will 39 Apply for any kinds of job just to avoid unemployment Continue your study to Master degree 34 Still being uncertain with your career goals Other Student 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 In terms of students plans after graduation, most student reported that they want to apply for a job which is relevance to their training that at the same time related to their skill and will This is reasonable because the wish to have a job which applied many of the skills one learned when he (or she) studied in University is rational Where many of the respondants chose to apply for a job right after their graduation, many chose to continue their study to higher education – Master’s degree Some of them chose to find a job and continue their study at the same time Futher more, of the 100 participants shared their wish to continue their Master’s degree abroad This result shows that many of VNU-IS students have the desire to have better opportunities in finding a good job to have a bright Page 12 INS1015 future On the other hand, there was a minority of the students who were still being uncertain about their career goals There are even of the participants shared that they only needed to find a job just to avoid being unemployed The lack of confident in planning career ability among these students might have result from their major choice at the beginning Beside all of that, in a study of Students’ Attitudes, Beliefs and Plans Regarding Career Planning and Post College Life, it was shown that “students who had their after graduation plan ealier usually have higher levels of self-efficacyand more positive attitudes regarding the post-college career search.” (Dana Goetsch, Catey Jordan, Clara Jung, Liz Lampman, Sara Nobbs, Corbin Ruiz, 2010) Interviews Following the questionaire that had been done, Nguyen Quang Huy – a freshman student studying in VNU-IS was interview by the author When being asked about the satisfaction of the major he had chosen (which is International Bussiness), he freely shared that this was not what he expected to be “While my dream is to become an English teacher, I failed to have the high enough grade to enter ULIS (University of Languages and International Studies) Therefore, this is my back-up choice I chose to study IB in VNUIS because I’d learnt that the course in this school is in English from the beginning Yet, studying economics is not my interest The truth is I have thought about doing the university entrance exam again to be able to get in to the University in my dream But for my parents’ prevention, I am not allowed For all of the above I’ve just shared, I must admit that I’m still being quite uncertain about my career goals.” CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS If any conclusions may be drawn from this report, they are, perhaps, as follows: The main reasons why students chose their major are, in fact, the job opportunities that such majors bring Page 13 INS1015 and the personality that had affected on the students’ hobbies and abilities After graduation, most students wished to apply for a job that revelance to their training and their will, while many others decided to study higher education From these conclusions, it is therefore recommended that: In order to recruit more student, the faculty and academic should organize more and more vocational guidance workshop so as for the students to better understanding the school’s courses Such deed would reduce less hard thinking on planning for career goals among undergraduation students Together with the faculty and academic, family also plays an important role in students’ choice of major that affect their future Instead of putting the students under pressure, parents should listen to their children’s aspiration and then give advices to support them on their career path TOTAL WORD COUNT: 2118 APPENDICES APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONAIRE Page 14 INS1015 CHOICE OF UNDERGRADUATE MAJOR SURVEY QUESTIONAIRE Hello! My name is Nguyen Quynh Nga and I am a freshman of International School – Viet Nam National University I am working on a project looking at the student’s evaluation on their choice of undergraduate major for a course called “English for acadamic purpose 2” The information you give in this questionaire will help me a lot in doing my report on this topic and is guaranteed to serve scholastic purpose only I am looking forward to receiving your cooperation Thank you! Check (√) the box in which corresponds to your answer A Personal information  Gender: Male Female  Major: International Bussiness (IB) Accounting, Analyzing and Auditing (AC) Management Information Systems (MIS) (ICE) Other: _ B Questionaire Question 1: When did you plan to choose your major? Before upper-secondary school Grade 10 Grade 11 Grade 12 Question 2: Page 15 INS1015 Do you agree that the following factors have an influence on you in choosing your major? Strongly Agree Neutral agree Disagre Strongly e disagre e Future job opportunities Suitability with your abilities Suitability with your hobbies Following family’s advices Getting interest in the school after the Admissions Consultation Day Back-up choice in applying for university Question 3: What is your plan after graduation? Apply for a job which is relevance to your training Apply for a job like your skill and your will Apply for any kinds of job just to avoid unemployment Continue your study to Master degree Still being uncertain with your career goals Other: ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Page 16 INS1015 …… Thank you for your cooporation! APPENDIX 2: CODING INFORMATION FOR ANALYZING a Gender: Male Female b Major IB AC MIS ICE OTHER c Ques1: Before upper-secondary school Grade 10 Grade 11 Grade 12 d Ques2: Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly agree Page 17 INS1015 e Ques 3: 1: check 2: emty APPENDIX 3: ANALYZING INFORMATION TABLE Q Q2 Q3 stt G M 1 6 1 1 0 1 2 2 3 0 0 1 2 2 0 0 4 2 3 0 0 1 2 4 0 1 2 2 2 0 0 2 3 0 1 0 2 1 0 1 3 1 0 0 10 1 3 0 0 11 4 1 0 12 3 4 0 0 13 3 4 1 0 0 14 3 4 1 0 0 15 1 1 0 0 16 2 4 0 0 17 2 2 0 0 18 3 3 1 0 0 19 2 3 1 0 20 2 3 0 0 21 1 3 1 22 2 3 2 1 0 Page 18 INS1015 23 3 0 0 24 0 0 25 3 4 0 0 26 1 3 3 3 0 0 27 2 4 0 0 28 1 2 0 0 29 1 1 5 0 0 30 2 2 3 0 0 31 2 2 2 3 0 0 32 2 2 3 0 0 33 2 2 0 0 34 3 3 0 0 35 2 2 3 0 0 36 3 0 0 37 3 2 0 0 38 2 3 0 0 39 2 3 0 0 40 3 3 3 0 0 41 2 2 0 0 42 3 3 0 0 43 1 1 0 1 44 3 2 1 0 0 45 2 2 1 0 46 2 3 3 0 0 47 2 3 0 0 48 2 3 2 0 0 49 1 2 2 0 0 50 2 2 3 0 0 51 2 0 0 52 1 2 1 0 0 Page 19 INS1015 53 1 2 1 0 0 54 2 0 0 55 1 2 0 0 56 4 1 1 0 0 57 1 2 1 0 58 3 0 0 59 2 2 0 0 60 2 3 3 0 0 61 2 2 3 0 0 62 2 0 0 63 1 1 0 0 64 1 2 0 0 65 4 1 2 0 0 66 2 2 2 1 0 0 67 4 1 0 0 68 1 1 5 0 0 69 3 5 0 0 70 2 3 4 0 0 71 2 4 5 0 0 72 2 2 2 0 0 73 2 2 0 0 74 2 0 0 75 2 2 2 0 0 76 2 4 3 0 0 77 2 3 0 0 78 3 2 0 0 79 2 2 0 0 80 1 3 0 0 81 1 3 0 0 82 1 1 1 0 0 Page 20 INS1015 83 1 2 1 84 2 2 0 0 85 3 0 0 86 2 0 0 87 3 2 0 0 88 2 2 2 0 0 89 2 2 0 0 90 2 2 2 1 0 0 91 2 2 1 0 0 92 3 3 3 0 0 93 2 3 0 0 94 2 3 0 0 95 2 2 2 0 0 96 2 2 2 0 0 97 4 0 0 98 2 2 0 0 99 2 0 0 2 3 2 0 1 1,7 2,1 2,2 2,8 2,6 2,5 0,3 0,3 0,0 0,3 0,0 0,19(4 9 6 ) 10 Av APPENDIX 4: PIE CHART Page 21 INS1015 Gender Male Female 29%; 29.00% 71%; 71.00% BIBLIOGRAPHY Accouting major in the future – It is not easy to select which school to study, n.d Retrieved from: http://aum.edu.vn/tin-tuc/nganh-ke-toan-trong-tuong-lai-khong-de-de- chon-truong-theo-hoc.html ACT (2013) College choice report: High school class of 2013 Retrieved from www.act.org/collegechoice/13/ Ana C (2017) Influences on Students Choice of College Major Retrieved from: https://scholar.dominican.edu/scw/scw2017/all-conference/134/ Andrew P., Julie F., Elizabeth C C., and Jeremy J (2018) Undergraduate choice of major and major satisfaction: an expanded role for personality measures Retrieved from: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08841241.2018.1442381? tab=permissions&scroll=top Discover Financial Services (2012, September investorrelations.discoverfinancial.com/phoenix.zhtml? c=204177&p=irolnewsArticle&ID=1734314 Page 22 12) Retrieved from: INS1015 Piedmont, R L (1998) The revised NEO personality inventory: Clinical and research applications New York: Plenum Schneider, C G (2012, October 22) The narrowing of the American mind Chronicle of Higher Education Retrieved from: www.chronicle.com Why should we choose International Bussiness?, (2017) http://khoaquocte.vn/vi-sao-nen-chon-nganh-kinh-doanh-quoc-te-d-2656 Page 23 Retrieved from