This morning (July 12), at Cuu Long University, a conference was held to review the training and management of Lao students in the 2023-2024 school year and the plan for the 2024-2025 school year in Vietnam. The conference had more than 100 representatives from the Lao Ministry of Education and Sports, the Lao Embassy in Vietnam, leaders of the Department of Education and Sports of Lao provinces and cities, leaders of Vinh Long province and representatives of 50 universities nationwide that train Lao students...

In particular, the conference was chaired by Dr. Phankhavong Samlane, Deputy Minister of Education and Sports of Laos and Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Van Phuc, Deputy Minister of Education and Training of Vietnam.

The most difficult thing is still language.

According to information from the Department of Education and Culture, Embassy of the Lao PDR in Vietnam, in the 2023-2024 school year, there will be a total of 10,190 Lao students studying at universities and colleges in 54 provinces and cities of Vietnam. Of which, 8,478 are in the administrative sector, 827 in the security sector, and 885 in the defense sector.

LHS studying at all levels include 170 postgraduates, 1 specialist, 637 masters, 5,433 university, 1,478 college, 27 high school, 1,342 preparatory Vietnamese language and 531 general education.

The representative of this department said that there are certain difficulties for Lao students when studying in Vietnam. Specifically, some students have limited knowledge of natural sciences but register to study medicine, pharmacy, and information technology. When they come to study Vietnamese or when they officially enter school, they find it difficult, leading to some students dropping out or requesting to transfer to other majors.

In addition, the time to study Vietnamese is too short, students do not have enough knowledge to enter the first year of university; or those studying for a master's or doctorate find it difficult to write their thesis or dissertation. Many cases have to request an extension of their study time or are forced to drop out by Vietnamese training institutions.

Present at the conference, Phimma Sone Bounmy, a student who has just completed her first year of pharmacy at Cuu Long University, expressed that the biggest difficulty is still the language. “Vietnamese is difficult to pronounce because it has many accents. Therefore, although I have achieved the Vietnamese proficiency to officially enter university, at first I still had difficulty in absorbing lectures in class as well as when communicating with lecturers. I took notes slowly and had to go back to translate. However, my Vietnamese is better now.”

Thongthilat Minly, a female student who is in the process of learning Vietnamese, also commented that Vietnamese is very difficult so she has to make a lot of effort to reach the required level before officially entering the business administration major.

Should learn Vietnamese before going to Vietnam

Faced with language difficulties when Laotian students study for university, master's and doctoral degrees in Vietnam, a representative of the National Economics University said that upon entering the school, Laotian students are tested for Vietnamese proficiency to be classified. If they pass, they will be officially enrolled. If they do not meet the entry requirements, they must participate in Vietnamese tutoring programs after regular school hours. After finishing the first year, students must retake the Vietnamese test. If they pass, they will continue to study in the second year.

It is known that this school has been training Laotian students since 1986 and currently has 191 students, including 101 university students, 85 master's students and 5 doctors.

Meanwhile, Mr. Nguyen Van Hieu, Vice Principal of Da Nang University of Education, said that in the 2023-2024 school year, the school has 400 international students from 25 countries and territories, of which nearly 50% are Laotian students. "The school organizes the compilation of a separate Vietnamese language curriculum for foreigners to better support them in acquiring knowledge," Mr. Hieu informed.

Master Nguyen Ngoc Trung, Vice Principal of Ho Chi Minh City University of Education, commented that Lao students studying at the school are very hard-working, diligent and disciplined. However, when they start their majors, especially difficult majors in languages ​​and social sciences, they face many barriers to acquiring knowledge.

“The school has enhanced its own curriculum for LHS, and lecturers also give extra lectures, giving priority to Lao LHS students to express their opinions. The training period for Lao LHS students is often longer than the regular training period due to language difficulties. In addition, some students have to change their major. Therefore, career counseling for students before they are sent to study is very important,” said Master Trung.

Discussing this issue in more detail, Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Van Phuc acknowledged that the training of Laotian LHS continues to achieve many positive results and the quality is increasingly improved. The LHS students have made efforts to study and practice diligently, many of them have been awarded, and the number of students graduating is high. However, in reality, they still face difficulties with the Vietnamese language and when studying majors related to health and information technology.

“To study at university, students must achieve Vietnamese level B2 in the 6-level foreign language proficiency framework. Currently, the Ministry of Education and Training has assigned 20 universities to organize exams and issue Vietnamese language certificates to foreigners. The education ministries of the two countries have also stipulated that international students under the agreement must study Vietnamese for 4 months in Laos, then go to Vietnam to study for an additional year to reach B2. Students outside the agreement are also recommended by universities to study from 6 months to 1 year before going to Vietnam. But to be truly convenient, students should study Vietnamese in Laos for as long as possible,” said Mr. Phuc.