Practical career education trumps bachelor’s degrees

 

“There are relatively few vacancies for bachelor’s-degree holders,” Kiatanantha Lounkaew, vice president of Dhurakij Pundit University, said at a recent forum.

Held at the International Convention and Exhibition Centre to commemorate His Majesty’s seventh-cycle birthday, the forum addressed education for career management. 

Relying on information from the Labour Ministry’s hiring database, the research project found that 43 per cent of vacancies for jobs like food pickers, sewers and messengers required |people with an education of just Mathayom 3 or lower. 

About 25 per cent of jobs required a voca-|tional degree, 17 per cent a basic-education |certificate and 8 per cent a bachelor’s degree. About 6 per cent looked for people with a graduate degree and 1 per cent called for a technical |certificate.

The posts of receptionist, cleaner and factory worker, for example, required just a basic educational degree.

High school or technical certificates are required for clerks, accountants, electricians and other jobs.

Vocational graduates can land jobs in the fields of computer programming or accountancy.

The survey found 95 per cent of Chiang Mai’s entrepreneurs agreed with the idea of career-orientated educational programmes, and 73 per cent were willing to contribute via teaching, providing equipment, offering their own factories for field studies, opening their businesses for internships and joining the committee to develop study methods.

The survey also showed that 46.2 per cent of parents in Chiang Mai agreed that their children could join career-education programmes. Just 31 per cent were not sure. 

Some parents still think that career-orientated educational programmes were for poor students and the less academically competent. 

The survey of students’ sentiments about practical educational programmes showed that 54 per cent wanted to join such programmes while 20 per cent were still not sure.

Such programmes can help students to |define what they want to do, provide good |job opportunities and help them to succeed in |life.

The research project was part of the province’s educational reform strategy, and aimed to fill job vacancies by developing an education strategy that responded to real needs.