The adult learner on campus - at CTU
Our early impressions of higher education here was that it is the almost exclusive province of the young learner, what we in the United States might call the “traditional student.” My first impressions were that higher education was a kind of zero-sum game, in which, if you didn’t succeed in entering at the traditional age through entrance exams, etc, you were basically excluded from the game and relegated to other, what is perceived by some here as, lesser forms of education, such as technical or vocational schools or community colleges.
This early impression, however, seems not quite accurate and I am gradually learning more about their “system” of higher and adult education. My recent conversations with Tho, a young part-time teacher of English at CTU who is applying to our HALE masters program, revealed another thread in my evolving picture of postsecondary education here.
Tho teaches a class at night which is, she told me, made up of mostly “inservice” students. These are adult learners who are usually working and attend class at night to pursue a degree or even a second degree. They are also referred to as “irregular” students (I think I prefer nontraditional myself). These are students who are enrolled in a degree program, just like the regular students but who have been admitted as inservice students. They may or may not be required to take the same entrance exam as the regular students, depending on the major area of study.
They receive the same degree but their certificate indicates that they are inservice students, to distinguish them from the regular students. Tho said that many employers regard the inservice certificate as somewhat lower quality that the certificate for regular students. I asked her about this but I am not clear why they regard the quality as lower or if there is any empirical evidence to support this perception.
In the U.S., of course, the term inservice means something completely different. While it does imply adult learning (for example, inservice education or staff development for practicing teachers), it is not related to higher education or the pursuit of a degree.
More later on continuing education in Vietnam and their forms of adult education.
This early impression, however, seems not quite accurate and I am gradually learning more about their “system” of higher and adult education. My recent conversations with Tho, a young part-time teacher of English at CTU who is applying to our HALE masters program, revealed another thread in my evolving picture of postsecondary education here.
Tho teaches a class at night which is, she told me, made up of mostly “inservice” students. These are adult learners who are usually working and attend class at night to pursue a degree or even a second degree. They are also referred to as “irregular” students (I think I prefer nontraditional myself). These are students who are enrolled in a degree program, just like the regular students but who have been admitted as inservice students. They may or may not be required to take the same entrance exam as the regular students, depending on the major area of study.
They receive the same degree but their certificate indicates that they are inservice students, to distinguish them from the regular students. Tho said that many employers regard the inservice certificate as somewhat lower quality that the certificate for regular students. I asked her about this but I am not clear why they regard the quality as lower or if there is any empirical evidence to support this perception.
In the U.S., of course, the term inservice means something completely different. While it does imply adult learning (for example, inservice education or staff development for practicing teachers), it is not related to higher education or the pursuit of a degree.
More later on continuing education in Vietnam and their forms of adult education.
posted by John at 12:09 AM
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