Vietnamese professor in Australia advises international students on how to choose a lucrative major.

Speaking to Thanh Nien newspaper at a recent information day organized by the Australian National University (ANU) in Ho Chi Minh City, Professor Dr. Lu Nhat Vinh, Director of the Institute of Economic Research, Faculty of Business and Economics, ANU, noted that an increasing number of Vietnamese students are interested in business, management, and STEM fields when studying in Australia.

According to Professor Vinh, at the undergraduate level, about 60% of ANU students choose to pursue a double degree. And if they want to prepare for a future with abundant job opportunities, Professor Vinh advises students to consider combining business analytics with business administration, finance, computer science , or machine learning. "The demand in the labor market is very high," Professor Vinh stated.

Another field that is receiving a lot of attention is actuarial studies, suitable for Vietnamese international students who have a deep passion for mathematics but are oriented towards business rather than in-depth research. "This is a field that helps students 'make a living' because upon graduation they can take on positions such as investment analyst, risk analyst for insurance companies, investment funds, and financial funds," Mr. Vinh shared.

At the master's level, Professor Vinh suggests that to find job opportunities in Australia, Vietnamese students often prioritize two-year programs that qualify them for a work visa, rather than one-year programs like MBA.

In particular, fields of study that intersect business and technology, such as information systems management, project management, and marketing management, attract a large number of Vietnamese students, and about 30% of students in these fields "are retained by businesses after completing their internships," Mr. Vinh said.

Benefiting from the policy

According to the international education website ICEF Monitor , the most attractive fields of study abroad for Vietnamese students are STEM, business, tourism, and health-related fields. The latest data from the Institute of International Education (IIE) shows that 47.6% and 24.7% of Vietnamese students chose STEM and business/management fields, accounting for nearly three-quarters of all Vietnamese students studying in the US in 2023.

Starting in the 2023-2024 academic year, many American universities are also beginning to offer "interdisciplinary" programs between STEM and business/management, such as applied business analytics, which combines both business administration and STEM, according to Mr. Nguyen Hien, admissions representative at Northern Arizona University. This is because the job market for business and management fields is becoming "saturated." Meanwhile, these "interdisciplinary" programs are still considered part of STEM and benefit from government policies.

"Typically, international students have one year to stay in the US to work under the OPT program (optional practical training). However, if they graduate from STEM fields, this number increases by two, up to three years. Not to mention, the value of STEM fields and career opportunities are growing rapidly in the digital age," shared Ms. Dinh My Phuong, admissions representative of the University of Rochester (USA).

In Canada, Mr. Thai Dung Tam, the Southeast Asia admissions representative for Vancouver Island University, said that international students generally prefer fields such as computer science; business; tourism, leisure, and hospitality management; and digital media studies. In the field of health education, kinesiology is a particularly popular area of ​​study.