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Employability in Context: Labour
Market Needs, Skills Gaps and

Graduate Employability Development in
Regional Vietnam Ly Thi Tran
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Employability
in Context
Labour Market Needs,
Skills Gaps and Graduate
Employability Development
in Regional Vietnam
Ly Thi Tran · Nga Thi Hang Ngo
Hoa Thi Mai Nguyen · Truc Thi Thanh Le
Employability in Context
“This book is a timely and much needed contribution to the field of graduate
employability. It addresses an overdue disconnect between the three key stake-
holders concerned with graduate employability: universities, graduates and
employers. The analysis of the combined perspectives and experiences of
Vietnamese graduates, universities and employers elucidates Vietnam’s labour
market needs, opportunities and challenges as well as graduates’ navigation to
get a foothold in the labour market. This book also offers unique insights into
graduate employability from the policy views in Vietnam. It discusses practical
implications to enhance graduate employability, influenced by the dynamic,
multi-layered complex relationship of higher education, geographical context
and the labour market demand and supply. A compelling read for scholars, prac-
titioners and policy makers alike.”
—Dr Tien Ho, President, Phu Xuan University, Vietnam
“This latest research by leading scholars indicates how employability issues are
sustained through wide and deep structures across a strong and emerging econ-
omy in Asia. The scholars not only highlight powerful actionable strategies to
help redress these ongoing issues, but also transform a system to release the
incredible potential of younger people in Vietnam.”
—Professor Tony Wall, Professor, Liverpool Business School,
Liverpool John Moores University, UK
Ly Thi Tran • Nga Thi Hang Ngo
Hoa Thi Mai Nguyen
Truc Thi Thanh Le
Employability in
Context
Labour Market Needs, Skills Gaps
and Graduate Employability
Development in Regional Vietnam
Ly Thi Tran Nga Thi Hang Ngo
School of Education & Centre for Research Department of General Education
for Educational Impact Tây Băć University
Deakin University Sơ n La, Vietnam
Burwood, VIC, Australia
Truc Thi Thanh Le
Hoa Thi Mai Nguyen School of Education
School of Education Deakin University
UNSW Sydney Burwood, VIC, Australia
Sydney, NSW, Australia
ISBN 978-3-031-04143-3 ISBN 978-3-031-04144-0 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04144-0
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature
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Acknowledgements
First and foremost, we would like to thank the research participants who
are graduates, employers and university staff for sharing their time and
invaluable insights.
We are indebted to the Australian embassy in Vietnam and
the Australian government’s Aus4Skills program for supporting and
funding the research project, on which this book was based. In particular,
we owe our thanks to Ms. Dang Tuyet Anh, former QUINS Manager,
and Dr. Anne Herbert, Aus4Skills program, for their enormous support
throughout the project.
We thank staff from different Vietnamese universities for their gener-
ous support for our project, including data collection, and Dr. Nghia
Tran, Dr. Lan Anh Tran, Professor Hong Bui and Dr. Linh Nguyen for
their help and comments on the questions for interview, literature review
and data analysis.
We appreciate the continuing support from Becky Wyde and Divya
Suresh from Palgrave Macmillan for assisting us during our journey of
developing this book.
v
vi Acknowledgements
We are grateful to our families, friends and colleagues who have pro-
vided us with constant support and encouragement through the process
of carrying out this research and juggling between motherhood, home-
schooling and writing this book during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Melbourne, 2021 Ly Thi Tran

Nga Thi Hang Ngo
Hoa Thi Mai Nguyen
Truc Thi Thanh Le
Book Abstract
This book represents as the first book in the world that addresses graduate
employability from the perspectives of employers, graduates and univer-
sities in regional and rural Vietnam where about two thirds of the coun-
try’s population of almost 100 million live. It presents both conceptual
frameworks for interpreting graduate employability and practical tools
for enhancing graduate employability development in a dynamic and
fast-growing economy like Vietnam under the changing local and global
demands. The book provides fresh insights into the critical but under-
researched employers’ needs, skills gaps and sets of graduate employabil-
ity required in the Northern mountainous region of Vietnam, including
not only transferrable skills and technical knowledge but also qualities
such as empathy, adaptability, community engagement skills, local lan-
guage skills, local cultural understanding and commitment. It highlights
the need for the development of ‘employability in context’ for graduates
to enable them to adapt to the specific social, cultural and demographic
conditions of the region and tackle new employment challenges. Factors
inhibiting graduate employability development and barriers to embed-
ding career capacity building in the curriculum in regional universities
have been identified. The book suggests key strategies and directions for
vii
viii Book Abstract
enhancing graduate employability in response to the demands of the

regional labour market and for embedding career capacity building in
teaching and learning reforms in Vietnamese higher education.
Contents
1 Higher
Education, Graduate Employability and Labour
Market 1
2 Labour
Market Demands, Graduate Employability and
Employment Outcomes in Vietnam 29
3 Vietnamese Government’s View on Graduate Employability 57
4 Employers’
Expectations on Graduate Employability in
Vietnam 83
5 Employers’ Approaches to Assessing Graduate Employability117
6 Graduates’ Perspectives on Employability in Vietnam145
7 University
Perspectives on Graduate Employability in
Vietnam171
ix
x Contents
8 Graduate
Employability Development from University
Perspectives189
9 Labour
Market Needs, Skills Gaps and Employability
Development: The Way Forward217
I ndex235
List of Figures
Fig. 1.1 An integrated model of graduate employability (based on

Clarke, 2018; Fugate et al., 2004; Tomlinson, 2017) 15
Fig. 4.1 Employability skills expected by employers 88
Fig. 4.2 Key areas of knowledge expected by employers 97
Fig. 4.3 Personal attributes expected by employers 102
xi
List of Tables
Table 2.1 Proportions of approved poor and borderline poor

households by region in Vietnam in 2016 (MOLISA, 2017) 42
Table 2.2 Tertiary education teachers and students in the northern
mountainous region of Vietnam 2010–2016 (General
Statistics Office of Vietnam, 2018b) 44
Table 2.3 The labour force (above 15 years) in the northern
mountainous region of Vietnam 2010–2016 (General
Statistics Office of Vietnam, 2018c) 44
Table 5.1 Methods and stages of recruitment used by Vietnamese
employers131
xiii
1
Higher Education, Graduate
Employability and Labour Market
Introduction
The issue of graduate employability is situated at the nexus of higher
education and the economy. It is subject to not only individual graduates’
qualities and universities’ efforts and investment, but also social and eco-
nomic forces and the state of the local and global economies, which influ-
ence supply and demand in the labour market. Nation states are
increasingly concerned about the role of human capital in both immedi-
ate and long-term economic and social development, especially in the
face of global financial, health and climate crises. These crises have also
laid bare how graduate employability is influenced by factors determin-
ing the demand, supply and operation of the labour market. The
COVID-19 pandemic and its associated economic, social, psychological
and health impacts, in particular, have led to a more tightly constrained
labour market across many parts of the world, with rising unemploy-
ment, heightened job competition, unbalanced demand and supply, and
changing market characteristics and structures. These conditions have
made graduate employability become a topic of major concern.
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 1

L. T. Tran et al., Employability in Context,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04144-0_1
2 L. T. Tran et al.
Enhancing graduate employability has become one of the prominent

missions of higher education (HE) in the twenty-first century. Higher
education institutions (HEIs) are charged with increased responsibility
and pressure to support students in developing graduate employability,
driven by social, economic and political forces. HEIs are expected to
accord more emphasis on employability development in response to the
needs of the society, the demands of local and global economies, and the
shifting labour market. Unsatisfactory graduate employment outcomes
are often due to a number of factors, including but not limited to, the
mismatch between supply and demand in the labour market, the discon-
nect between HE curriculum and the world of work, and employers’
dissatisfaction with graduates’ generic employability skills and experi-
ences, and emergent demands for re-skilling and up-skilling. In particu-
lar, the massification of HE in some countries has led to an oversupply of
graduates, which has in turn resulted in rising graduate un- and under-
employment, de-skilling or a high risk of exploitation in the labour market.
The social responsibility of higher education in many countries has
been explicitly linked to improving graduate employability through nar-
ratives about its role in producing work-ready graduates with the ade-
quate skills, knowledge and attributes to perform and engage in modern
economy. Graduates are regarded as key actors within the political econ-
omy due to their significant roles in the labour market (Tomlinson, 2016)
and in long-term national development.
This book focuses on graduate employability in Vietnam, a country
with dynamic economic development and rising international standing.
It provides a critical discussion of not only the demands of the employ-
ment market but also the practices and challenges in the development of
graduate employability and career capacity building at the national, insti-
tutional and individual levels. It discusses graduate employability in
Vietnam by analysing government and institutional policies and taking
into account the perspectives and experiences of three key stakeholders:
employers, graduates and universities. First, it identifies the labour mar-
ket needs and skills gaps encountered by employers in Vietnam. Second,
it analyses university leaders’ and academics’ perspectives on the current
status of developing graduate employability in Vietnamese higher educa-
tion, as well as the practices, possibilities and challenges in terms of
1 Higher Education, Graduate Employability and Labour Market 3
curriculum design and implementation to support graduates’ career

capability building. Third, the book discusses graduates’ experiences and
perspectives on employability knowledge, skills and attributes and their
strategies to navigate the labour market.
This chapter provides an overview of key issues related to graduate
employability and employment outcomes, the context and demands of
the employment market, the practices and challenges in the development
of graduate employability and career capacity building. Next, it presents
the conceptual framework used to interpret the issues of employability
and graduate attributes raised in the study reported in this book, as well
as the background and design of the research. It concludes by summaris-
ing the key aspects and arguments presented in the chapters that follow.
Graduate Employability
and Employment Outcomes
Universities’ operations have been increasingly linked to “performance
management, audit, evaluation and comparison” (Tomlinson, 2016,
p. 4). Within this changing culture, graduate employability has been
regarded as an indicator of institutional performance (ibid). On top of
socio-economic development reasons, developing graduate employability
for students has recently become central in higher education due to polit-
ical and cultural drivers. The central government and quality assurance
agencies in some countries require higher education institutions to
develop specific sets of graduate employability skills for students, includ-
ing generic ones (Bacchus, 2008; McMahon, 2006; Staff, 2010). In some
countries like Australia, universities are under a growing pressure to boost
graduate employability and employment outcomes, partly because these
are regarded as the most important factor influencing public funding for
individual HEIs under the performance-based funding model proposed
by the government in 2020 (Australian Government, 2019). Through
the Government Grant Scheme, government funding will be determined
based on a formula in which graduate employment outcomes weigh at
40% of funding, while student success, student experience and
4 L. T. Tran et al.
participation of students from disadvantaged or regional backgrounds at

20% each (ibid). In the UK, the 1997 Dearing report has pushed HEIs
to focus their investment and efforts in improving graduates’ work readi-
ness. Accordingly, a closer partnership has been established between the
government and universities in designing and implementing a range of
initiatives to enhance employability and employment outcomes of gradu-
ates (Kearns, 2001).
In other parts of the world, there has been a growing attention to
graduate employability development, accompanied by the introduction
of various programmes and initiatives geared towards boosting work
readiness of students upon graduation. Examples are the Tuning project
in Europe (González & Wagenaar, 2003), the AHELO project in many
OECD countries (Coates & Richardson, 2012) and the Mayer report in
Australia (Kearns, 2001; Mayer, 1992). In Vietnam, HE reform policies
over the last two decades such as The Higher Education Reform Agenda
(HERA) (Prime Minister, 2005), Circular 2196/BGDĐT-GDĐH
(MOET, 2010), Circular 2435/BGDĐT-GDĐH (MOET, 2013) and
the National Strategy for Education Development 2011–2020 (Prime
Minister, 2012) have placed explicit emphasis on enhancing graduate
employability and making the curriculum more responsive to the
demands of the society and the labour market, especially in the age of
Industry 4.0. One of the key dimensions of the Higher Education Reform
Agenda (HERA) manifest in Resolution 14/2005/NQ-CP is to improve
learners’ creativity, professional skills, community-based work capabili-
ties and employability (Prime Minister, 2005). Circular 2916/BGDĐT-
GDĐH (MOET, 2010) mandated the specification of learning outcomes
across university courses, while Circular 2435/BGDĐT-GDĐH (MOET,
2010) required universities to monitor and report their implementation
of graduate learning outcomes. Accordingly, work-integrated learning
has been increasingly used as one of the strategic means to boost graduate
employability outcomes, especially through fieldtrips, community- and
work-based projects, work placements, internships, practicums and
industry engagement (Nguyen & Tran, 2019; Tran et al., 2014).
What constitutes graduate employability is controversial, varies across
different contexts, and depends on multiple relationships, involving
graduates, education institutions, employers, labour market needs and
structures, and the broader socio-economic, cultural and political con-

text. Employability is thus a relational and multidimensional concept
(Nilsson, 2016). In general, graduate employability is often described in
terms of discipline-specific knowledge and skills, generic skills, and attri-
butes. Bennett (2018) refers to employability as individual ability “to
find, create and sustain meaningful work across the career lifespan” (p. 5).
Yorke (2006) defines employability as “a set of achievements – skills,
understandings and personal attributes – that makes graduates more
likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen occupations,
which benefits themselves, the workforce, the community and the econ-
omy” (p. 23). Hillage and Pollard (1998) describe employability as a mix
of technical knowledge, skills and attitudes. Viewed from the lens of psy-
chology and human behaviours, scholars have also argued employability
can be conceived of as encompassing career identity, personal attributes,
social capital and human capital (Clarke, 2018; Fugate et al., 2004;
Tomlinson, 2017).
Scholars in the field highlight the need to distinguish employability
from employment, which means holding a job (Bennett, 2018; Yorke,
2006). Technical employability skills often refer to skills closely related to
a discipline, or specialised skills. Discipline-specific technical employabil-
ity skills can be homogenous between institutions in a country, or even
across countries (Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency,
2013). Generic employability skills can be described as transferable, non-
discipline specific skills that may be achieved through learning and that
can be applied in study, work and life contexts (ibid.). They are also
referred to as core skills, essential skills, transferable skills, key competen-
cies, graduate skills, graduate qualities, graduate capabilities and twenty-
first-
century skills (Bowman, 2010), and include communication,
teamwork, problem-solving and critical thinking skills, self-efficacy, cre-
ativity, and resilience (Hager & Holland, 2006). Generic employability
skills have been accorded increased attention in recent years in response
to industry demands and changes in technology, economics and society
(Bowman, 2010, p. 6). Even though there are a variety of terms used in
the existing literature to refer to generic skills, the common threads
underpinning this notion include:
6 L. T. Tran et al.
• All students need a solid grounding in generic skills, in addition to

discipline-specific skills, which will equip them for their various roles
in the twenty-first century, both in the world of work and in society
generally.
• These skills enable an individual’s potential to be realised in all
aspects of life.
• The skills are required to perform all kinds of tasks.
• The skills are applied and performed in different combinations and at
various levels,depending on the task.
• The skills are transferable from context to context.
• The skills are developed over a lifetime.
• Generic skills development is the collective responsibility of schools,
vocational education and training providers and universities, as well as
businesses and the broader community and governments (Bowman,
2010, p. 6).
However, existing research suggests that in a rapidly changing and

dynamic economy, employability should not be seen as simply a “posses-
sion of the generic skills listed by graduate employers” (Bridgstock, 2009,
p. 31). Therefore, the mission of graduate employability development
should involve opportunities for students to develop self-management
and career building skills, which are conceived as the abilities to proac-
tively navigate and manage both career pathways and portfolio post-
graduation (ibid).
Graduate employability is conceptualised differently across countries,
especially the generic skills component. In Thailand, for example,
Buddhist moral qualities are emphasised (Prayukvong & Rees, 2010;
Thai Government, 2006), while in Vietnam, political education and
Confucian qualities are of importance, in addition to discipline-specific
knowledge and generic skills (Vietnamese National Congress, 2012). In
Denmark, which applies a flexicurity economic model (Andersen, 2012)
and where the population is aging, lifelong learning skills are central in
the Danish qualification framework (Ministry of Higher Education and
Science, 2013). Differences in the conceptualisation of graduate employ-
ability are also recognised at institutional level because higher education
institutions may have different visions and missions (Al-Mahmood &
Gruba, 2007; Barrie et al., 2009a). Such discrepancies lead to differences
in the scope and strategy for implementation, curriculum models, peda-

gogical and assessment practices, and stakeholders’ attitudes to the rele-
vance of the employability skills development agenda in higher education
(Al-Mahmood & Gruba, 2007; Barrie et al., 2009a; de la Harpe &
Radloff, 2008; Radloff et al., 2009).
Labour Market and Employer Expectations

It has been long observed that a higher education degree is no longer suf-
ficient for graduates to gain a foothold in the labour market (Tomlinson,
2016. While labour market fluidity and transformation are the norm in
all modern economies, labour market recession has emerged as a promi-
nent feature across global economies over the past year as a consequence
of COVID-19. The COVID-19 pandemic and economic recession have
had significant impacts on labour demand and supply as well as on the
nature and structure of the labour market. The road ahead for many
labour markets is not yet clear as many countries around the world con-
tinue to grapple with the pandemic, but the dire impacts on employabil-
ity and employment outcomes have already been felt across different
regions of the world, and there are still significant challenges to face.
Labour market dynamics, changes and recent turbulences and insecuri-
ties due to COVID-19 have accelerated a demand for graduates to
develop a whole portfolio of skills, attributes and experiences to comple-
ment their degree (Brunner et al., 2018; McMurray et al., 2016; Tran
et al., 2014; Tran et al., 2021; Tran & Bui, 2021). In particular, re-skill-
ing and up-skilling are a pressing need for both employees and employ-
ers. Many employees need re-skilling or up-skilling to be well-equipped
for new and emerging demands of the workplace and occupation, which
have been re-shaped by the pandemic (White & Rittie, 2022). Others
might be made unemployed under the impact of COVID-19 and need
re-skilling or up-skilling to re-enter the workforce. Re-skilling and up-
skilling are critical to the recovery and sustainability of companies in
response to health and financial crises and the pressing demands for the
digitalisation of business operations.
According to Barnett (2006), “the situations in which learners are likely
to find themselves through the rest of their lives are open-ended” (p. 51).
8 L. T. Tran et al.
A life-time career is no longer the expected norm in a fast-changing econ-

omy (Nghia & Tran, 2020; Tran et al., 2014). As the career paths for
graduates have become more diverse and fluid (Tran & Bui, 2021; Tran
et al., 2014) and the nature and drivers of work are shifting (Bennett,
2018), addressing the demand for flexible and transforming workforce is
a prominent but challenging task for the HE sector. The globalisation of
the economy and culture and changing local industries have created new
professions or transformed traditional ones. Scholars therefore argue that
the transforming labour market and demands of the modern world
require graduates to “be flexible and adaptable, engaged in continuous
learning and always building capacity so as to be able to move between
sectors and embark on new employment challenges” (Tran et al.,
2014, p. 15).
Over the past two decades, there has been a significant body of research
on employer demand for graduate employability. Employers’ diverse
views and expectations in this sense have been examined qualitatively and
quantitatively by surveying employers themselves (e.g. McMurray et al.,
2016), studying multiple perspectives, including students, graduates,
staff, employers and government representatives (Kavanagh & Drennan,
2008; Tran et al., 2018; Verma et al., 2018; Wickramasinghe & Perera,
2010; Yan et al. 2004), and analysing the content of job advertisements
(Brunner et al., 2018). A study with 71 employers in the UK showed that
the following factors were rated most important in graduate recruitment:
personal attitudes, employability skills, relevant work experience and
degree result (McMurray et al., 2016). Trustworthiness, reliability, moti-
vation, communication skills and a willingness to learn were identified as
the most important transferable skills (ibid).
In Thailand, research evidence suggested that employers in the IT sec-
tor accorded the highest importance to graduates’ self-efficacy, an area
where graduates did not meet their expectation (Siddoo et al., 2017).
However, other studies in Hong Kong and Malaysia found that employ-
ers identified interpersonal and communication skills as being the most
important for the workforce (Lee et al., 2001; Quek, 2005). In Vietnam,
communication, teamwork, lifelong learning, critical thinking and
problem-solving skills and foreign language competence appear to be
critical generic employability skills required by employers for a
socialist-oriented market economy (Mai, 2018; Tran et al., 2014). As the

nature of work in many sectors has become more hybridised, diversified
and complex, graduates are increasingly expected to possess knowledge,
skills and attributes beyond traditional norms and to develop a profes-
sional portfolio across different areas of expertise and competence. For
example, a study based on content analysis of 199 entry-level employ-
ment ads in the Public Relations sector in the USA found that many job
ads required hybridity of both technical and managerial competencies,
including a combination of both knowledge of tactics and writing, as well
as measurement, social media strategy and data collection (Brunner
et al., 2018).
Despite sustained efforts from related stakeholders, the mismatch
between employers’ demands and graduates’ work readiness has been well
documented. UNESCO (2012) identifies Asian graduate employability
as a critical issue due to increased graduate unemployment and employer
dissatisfaction with the quality of graduates. A comparative study involv-
ing employers, education providers and governments across three Asia
Pacific economies, Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia, found that employ-
ers in these three countries face challenges in attracting graduates with
the expected professional portfolio, combining qualifications, generic
skills and personal capabilities (Verma et al., 2018). There is often a dis-
crepancy between employer and graduate perceptions of key employabil-
ity attributes (Jones, 2014). In a broader sense, there is a mismatch
between the employability skills graduates possess and what the economy
demands, which has contributed to the paradoxical problem of unem-
ployed university graduates and unfilled positions in the labour market
across different economies, including Vietnam (Tran et al., 2014). This
problem might also be the result of the surplus of graduates in certain
sectors and industries and the lack of skilled workers in some others.
The mismatch between employers’ demands and graduate employabil-
ity attributes has caused dissatisfaction for key stakeholders, including
employers, graduates and universities. Employers might be disappointed
about being unable to recruit graduates with the required attributes,
while graduates might be disappointed about falling short of employer
expectations and being unable to gain a foothold in the labour market.
Encountering challenges in ‘getting a foot in the door’, graduates might
10 L. T. Tran et al.
lose their confidence in the qualifications they have earned at university

and in the knowledge and skills they have accumulated (Tran et al.,
2014). On the other hand, many universities might be wrestling with
enhancing graduate work readiness for their students, as employers and
professional organisations have increasingly influenced and made
demands on universities’ teaching and learning and curriculum to
enhance graduate work readiness and narrow the gap between graduate
competence and employers’ needs (Bunney et al., 2015). Despite the
awareness of these skills gaps faced by the employers, there remains a lack
of systemic understandings of skills needs at the company, sectoral and
regional levels (DFAT Vietnam, 2014).
raduate Employability Development

G
in Higher Education
To fulfil their graduate employability development mission, universities
have explored a range of initiatives and programmes to assist students in
enhancing their work readiness. Increasingly, universities have developed
initiatives aimed at integrating graduate employability development,
development of physical and virtual work integrated learning, organisa-
tion of extra-curricular activities and provision of career support, coun-
selling and employability development into curriculum design and
delivery. Scholars have also argued for the importance of graduate
employability development activities to be embedded into the curricu-
lum in a coherent and holistic manner, and earlier into university courses,
rather than being ad-hoc or fragmented additions (Tran & Bui, 2019).
Improvement of graduate employability is also subject to how generic/
soft skills development can be integrated into course design, develop-
ment, delivery and outcomes (Tran et al., 2018, 2022b). Furthermore,
the development of students’ ability to learn how to learn, to be flexible
and adaptable and to apply knowledge and theories into real life and
work situations has also been given more attention in curriculum design,
delivery and assessment (Tran et al., 2014). Many universities also develop
capstone subjects, providing students with scaffolding to enhance their
targeted professional skills and knowledge and strengthen their connec-

tion with the professional field (Tran & Bui, 2019).
Work-integrated learning (WIL) has been considered as one of the
most prominent mechanism implemented by HEIs to boost graduate
employability. WIL often aims to align theory with work experiences to
bridge the gap between university curriculum and workplace demands,
and connecting the academic domain and the professional world
(Fleming, 2015; Jackson, 2015; Orrell, 2011; Patrick et al., 2008).
Therefore, scholars argue that WIL should be an integral component of
the university curriculum rather than an add-on feature (Patrick et al.,
2008). There are various forms of WIL, ranging from fieldtrips, intern-
ships, work placements, practicum and project-based learning experience
to voluntary work in industry. WIL programmes could be implemented
in physical, online and virtual modes, in on-campus or off-campus set-
tings and as credited or non-credited subjects. However, existing research
has identified a number of barriers to implementing WIL across different
contexts, including students’ and staff’s inadequate preparation, WIL
design in new courses, excessive number of students with limited
resources, student diversity in WIL programmes, compliance with
accreditation, professional membership, risk management, network
building, training of workplace supervisors and student supervision dur-
ing and after the workplace experience (e.g. Armatas & Papadopoulos,
2013; Freudenberg et al., 2010; Simpson & Gates, 2014; Tran &
Soejatminah, 2016, 2017). Recently, COVID-19 has opened up possi-
bilities to diversify WIL modes and boost online or hybrid forms of
internships. But the pandemic has also presented a range of challenges in
designing and implementing WIL with fewer resources and with finan-
cial constraints in an increasingly virtual world.
Even though graduate employability can be developed through both
formal and informal curriculum, extra-curricular activities are often
ignored in dominant discussions about graduate employability develop-
ment in HE. In reality, extra-curricular activities have been increasingly
used in many countries to provide students with exposure to real-life
problems and enhance their work readiness (Lau et al., 2014; Tran,
2017a; Nghia & Tran, 2020). Extra-curricular activities have therefore
proved to be a useful alternative or complementary employability
development initiative (Barrie et al., 2009b; Tran, 2017a). Yet, research

evidence has pointed out that individual students’ choice of extracurricu-
lar activity is less important than the experience and the learning from
that activity and communication of what they have gained from the
activity to employers (Clark et al., 2015). Therefore, it is essential to not
only facilitate extra-curriculum activities and encourage student partici-
pation, but also help them develop the ability to “articulate the meaning
of those activities and translate what they have learnt through these activ-
ities into employability skills” (Tran & Bui, 2019, p. 18). Despite their
benefits to graduate employability development, Tran’s (2017b) study
identified five factors inhibiting Vietnamese students’ engagement in
extra-curricular activities: students’ part-time work, lack of information
about extra-curricular activities, misconceptions about them or failure to
see their benefits, competition with curriculum-based activities and inef-
fective organisation of these activities.
Over the last two decades, graduate employability support at the insti-
tutional level has diversified in terms of programme format, dimension,
duration and reach. University career services have expanded their scope
and orientation to cover both careers and ‘employability’ units (Tomlinson,
2016). Organisation of workshops on preparation of CVs, application
letters and job interviews have become a common career support service
at many universities. Some universities have proactively provided indus-
try link projects and industry workshops. Some have moved beyond the
provision of a one-off career support workshop to creating “a community
of sustainable support involving not only institutional career support ser-
vices but also support from peers, alumni, local communities and rele-
vant professional bodies” (Tran & Bui, 2019, p. 18). Others have
developed mentoring programmes involving professionals and alumni to
support students in enhancing their work readiness, networking and
career planning. There is a critical need for a systematic and inter-
institutional approach to employability development (Bennett, 2018).
Development of graduate employability and provision of career sup-
port have been implemented in various ways across different institutional,
regional and national contexts. Challenges in the space of graduate
employability development and graduate employment outcomes arise
because it engages different groups of stakeholders and structural
conditions such as labour market needs and the broader social, cultural,
political and economic context. Even though graduates may possess
employability skills that are generally considered as desirable, their
employment outcomes depend on many other factors, among which the
supply and demand of the labour market play a key role. In addition,
graduate employment outcomes are subject to employers’ preference:
Many may draw on a ‘best fit’ approach as an excuse for discrimination
in recruitment, as it is not uncommon for employers to recruit and prefer
to work with people from their own background and with similar char-
acteristics (Blackmore & Rahimi, 2019). To enhance the effectiveness of
the graduate employability development agenda in higher education, it is
essential to further explore the process whereby individuals develop a
graduate identity through building skills and attributes and communi-
cate these qualities to employers or recruiters as ‘gatekeepers’ (Holmes,
2013) as well as employers’ needs and the factors that may influence their
decision to hire or reject a job applicant. In addition, it is crucial to have
coordinated and concerted efforts among related stakeholders in the
graduate employability space: students, universities, local businesses, gov-
ernment at different levels, federal, state to local councils, industry and
community organisations and professional organisations providing career
and graduate employability support (Tran & Bui, 2019). It is equally
important to share and learn from good practices in enhancing graduate
employability and building partnerships with employers and stakehold-
ers across different contexts (ibid).
he Framework for Conceptualising

T
Graduate Employability
Overall, employability depends not only on the development of knowl-
edge, skills and attitudes, but also on their deployment and presentation
in the job seeking context (Hillage & Pollard, 1998, p. 2). The context of
employability and employment outcomes includes both individuals’ spe-
cific circumstances and the broader socio-cultural, economic and politi-
cal environment influencing the labour market (ibid). Employability is
subject to the inter-relationship between the supply and the demand

actors involved in the labour market (Clarke, 2018). Therefore, effective
graduate employability development and deployment should be a con-
certed effort of not only individual students, graduates and the HE sec-
tor, but also employers and the broader community influencing the
future of work and the labour market.
The discussion of employability for Vietnamese graduates in this book
draws on Clarke’s (2018) conceptual frame which constructs graduate
employability as comprising four main components: human capital,
social capital, individual behaviours and individual attributes. This
framework echoes the work of both Fugate et al. (2004) and Tomlinson
(2017), who link employability not only to social capital and human
capital but also to career identity and psychological attributes. Drawing
on a combination of Bourdieu’s (1986) theory of capital, psychology per-
spective and labour market research, these authors conceptualise graduate
employability in relation to the development and deployment of different
but inter-related components or forms of capital: human, social, cultural,
identity and psychological (Clarke, 2018; Fugate et al., 2004; Tomlinson,
2017). These are critical elements that assist graduates with realising pro-
fessional opportunities in the labour market and achieving occupational
aspirations. These key components seem to be inter-related and depend
largely on graduates’ habitus, developed and modified by their individual
circumstances, as well as the education and socio-economic conditions
which they have access and are exposed to. It is “the synergistic combina-
tion of [these] dimensions that give rise and value to employability”
(Fugate et al., 2004, p. 18). Importantly, graduate employability consid-
ered within this conceptual frame depends on the contextual factors and
operations of both the labour market and HE, the interaction between
employers, industry, education providers, individual students and gradu-
ates and related communities (Fig. 1.1).
Human capital in relation to graduate employability is described as the
knowledge, skills and competencies acquired by graduates through both
formal and informal experiences (Clarke, 2018; Fugate et al., 2004;
Tomlinson, 2017). Human capital building is therefore integral to higher
education, and also subject to individuals’ accumulation of skills, knowl-
edge and competencies. Clarke (2018) argues that generic graduate skills
Fig. 1.1 An integrated model of graduate employability (based on Clarke, 2018;

Fugate et al., 2004; Tomlinson, 2017)
such as problem-solving, critical thinking or teamwork are core to gradu-

ate professional identity. While human capital greatly drives an individu-
al’s ability to realise opportunities and get a foothold in the marketplace
(Fugate et al., 2004), it will not guarantee employment (Clarke, 2018).
Social capital refers to the social class, university ranking and in par-
ticular social relationships and networks (Clarke, 2018; Fugate et al.,
2004; Tomlinson, 2017). Research evidence suggests social capital factors
such as social class, type of university attended and type of degree attained
can affect graduates’ access to the labour market and their ability to secure
employment (Holmes, 2013, cited in Clarke, 2018). Social relationships
and networks that graduates accumulate ‘mobilise’ their existing human
capital and facilitate their access to the labour market (Tomlinson, 2017).
In other words, social capital construes a social and interpersonal element
to employability (Fugate et al., 2004).
Individual attributes refer to personal variables as well as personal
adaptability and flexibility (Clarke, 2018). Closely related to the dimen-
sion of individual attributes, psychological capital is defined as the psy-
cho-social capacity to adapt to the workplace and to career challenges
(Tomlinson, 2017). Fugate et al. (2004) regard personal adaptability as

being related to five core personal variables: optimism, propensity to
learn, openness, internal locus of control and generalised self-efficacy
(p. 22). Personal adaptability and flexibility are considered to be critical
elements for individual graduates to adapt to the constantly changing
labour market of the twenty-first century. It accommodates the fluidity
and transformations of the labour market and employment in modern
economies where individuals are likely to move between jobs and across
organisations and industries.
Building on the work of Bridgstock (2009), Clarke (2018) proposed
individual behaviours as a key component of employability, comprising
self-management and career building skills. Career management skills are
a combination of these two, and they facilitate graduates’ capacity to
navigate and manage both the career pathways and the career portfolio
post-graduation (Bridgstock, 2009). Self-management skills are described
as “the individual’s perception and appraisal of themselves in terms of
values, abilities, interests and goals” (ibid., p. 37). The author argues that
self-management skills in relation to employability can be interlinked
with the concept of career identity. Career identity can be described as
encompassing role, occupational, and organisational identity in the
workplace because they convey how individuals want to be and become
in that context (Fugate et al., 2004). These authors further describe:
“Career identities provide a compass for the individual, thereby offering
a motivational component to employability” (ibid., p. 20). In a similar
vein, Tomlinson (2017) posits that career identity capital can be con-
ceived in relation to graduates’ personal investment towards their future
career and employability.
In addition to these components of employability, Tomlinson (2017)
introduces cultural capital, which can be described as the sum of cultural
knowledge and values in relation to the future workplaces. These forms of
capital are resources accumulated through both curricular and extra-
curricular activities and experiences.
Focus of the Book

This book provides fresh empirical evidence not only about the conven-
tional employability skills and knowledge often cited in national and
international literature (such as inter-personal, critical thinking and IT
skills), but also about the new sets of professional skills and attitudes
emerging from the study, which are of growing importance but are still
little researched in the field of graduate employability. The research proj-
ect (see Tran et al., 2018, 2022a) that forms the foundation of this book
was funded by the Australian government through the Improving Quality
of Universities in the Northern Mountainous Region of Vietnam
(QUINS), which is one key component of the Aus4Skills Program. The
project focuses particularly on the needs and skills gaps encountered by
employers in the economically disadvantaged northern mountainous
region of Vietnam, populated by many ethnic minorities. Specifically, it
aims to:
• Identify the key generic skills, knowledge and attributes employers

need new graduates to demonstrate to be employable;
• Examine the ways employers assess graduates’ employability (generic)
skills as part of their recruitment process;
• Analyse university perspectives on employability skills, knowledge and
attributes and the development of graduate employability within the
HE sector; and
• Understand graduate employability from the alumni perspectives and
their navigation of the labour market.
This study uses a qualitative mixed-methods approach involving a desk

review of existing literature, policy analysis, semi-structured interviews
and focus group discussions. Especially, it consists of:
• A policy analysis mapping the Vietnamese national policyscape in rela-

tion to higher education and graduate employability,
• In-depth interviews with 40 employers and five graduates;
• Eight focus groups with university leaders and academics, employers

and recent graduates from two universities in the Northern mountain-
ous region.
Together, these combined methods provide a rich set of explanations

and illuminate general trends about graduate employability in Vietnam
based on the views of employers, universities and graduates.
A qualitative inquiry suits the purpose and nature of this research
because it enabled the researchers to examine perspectives, experiences
and insights of individuals regarding a research phenomenon in their
own setting (Merriam, 2009). The semi-structured interviews allowed
employers and graduates to share their thoughts and insights about what
they perceived as employability needs, challenges and opportunities in
their sector. The eight focus group discussions with university leaders and
academics from two regional universities were conducted allowed partici-
pants to voice their opinions about and responses to the key issues related
to graduate employability and skills needs in the region. The interaction
among participants elicited nuanced understandings about university
responsibilities, practices and challenges in assisting graduates with devel-
oping employability. In line with the semi-structured approach (Glaser &
Strauss, 2017), we used some guided questions for both the in-depth
interviews and focus group discussions but allowed flexibility for the
researchers to ask follow-up ones in order to elicit interviewees’ articula-
tion of why a specific skill and attribute is needed, which otherwise would
remain hidden or unexplained in a survey. The researcher would ask a key
question related to a specific theme and the participants’ response would
lead the following impromptu questions.
A purposeful sampling approach was used to identify and select suit-
able participants to meet the aims and nature of the research (Maxwell,
2005). Forty employers including HR managers from private and public
organisations and representatives from the Northern Mountainous
Provinces’ Associations of Employers (Hội Doanh Nghiệp các Tı ̉nh Miền
núi Phía Băć ) were recruited for the semi-structured interviews. Careful
consideration was employed to ensure that the selected employers had
expert knowledge and nuanced insights into graduate recruitment in
their field. Of the 40 employers, 20 are from the public sector and 20 are
from the private and cooperative sectors. Nineteen employers are male,
while 21 are female. The employers are from six provinces in the Northern
mountainous region: Sơ n La, Hòa Bình, Lào Cai, Điện Biên, Yên Bái and
Thái Nguyên, and represent the following key local sectors: Electronics,
Agriculture, Telecommunication, Education, Construction, Education,
Hospitality, Forestry and others.
In addition, ten focus groups with university leaders, academics and
recent graduates from four universities were conducted. There were four
group discussions and one panel at each workshop. Altogether, the ten
focus groups provided significant insights into employers’ perceptions,
graduates’ experiences and university responses. The interaction among
participants during the focus groups elicited nuanced understandings of
the employability skills, knowledge and attributes employers expect, how
graduates and universities respond, and proposed actions.
The study reported in this book shows that graduates in the Northern
mountainous region of Vietnam are required to be adaptable, resilient,
creative and engaged in continuous learning as well as to demonstrate
empathy for locals and the local environment. We argue that these con-
stitute the “in-context” employability attributes that graduates are cur-
rently expected to develop to be able to fit in in the region. The study
contributes new knowledge about the ways graduate employability is
subject to a specific context and is shaped by local demographic condi-
tions and cultural norms. Hence, the study underscores the importance
to closely look at the notion of “employability in context” (the set of
employability attributes for the targeted local region rather than only
technical and generic employability skills) to understand what is required
of graduates, especially in contexts that are not commonly discussed in
the current literature on graduate employability—such as disadvantaged,
remote and mountainous regions. The study shows that it is critical to
assist graduates with awareness and development of this notion.
Structure of the Book

This book comprises of eight chapters. Following this Introduction,
Chap. 2 sets a background context for the book by discussing the main
issues related to the broader socio-cultural, political and economic con-
text, the higher education setting and graduate employability in Vietnam.
It presents a critical review of existing research on graduate employability
and employer needs in the country. The chapter critically depicts issues of
graduate employability, professional skills development, opportunities
and barriers facing graduates in navigating the Vietnamese labour market.
Chapter 3 addresses Vietnamese government’s view on graduate
employability. It examines the context affecting government and institu-
tional policies on higher education reforms and graduate employability.
The chapter presents a comprehensive analysis of various policies and
initiatives to boost graduate employability and employment outcomes in
Vietnam.
To understand and support the development of graduate employabil-
ity, it is essential to take into consideration the interaction of different
stakeholders, among which employers play a crucial role. Chapter 4
therefore presents employers’ perceptions of the key generic skills, knowl-
edge and attributes new graduates need to demonstrate to be employable.
The findings presented in this chapter show that the trend towards a
more technology-driven industry (Agriculture 4.0, for example) and the
demographic features of the Northern mountainous region mean employ-
ers are looking for additional capabilities beyond technical ones, such as
the twenty-first-century skills of intercultural competence, flexibility,
adaptability, continuous learning and initiative-taking while retaining
appropriate attitude, responsibility and empathy.
Chapter 5 analyses employers’ approaches to assessing graduates’ pro-
fessional skills as part of their recruitment process, including probation
time. The discussion in the chapter shows that graduates were assessed by
various stakeholders using criterion-based performance indicators, obser-
vation, group meetings or subjective judgements. The recruitment proce-
dure mainly consisted of three stages: profile screening, interview and
probation. In some organisations, additional or alternative methods can
be real-life tasks, tests and direct recruitment. Most of the desirable

employability assets emphasised by employers were assessed during the
recruitment. The chapter identifies emergent themes regarding the types
of recruitment used, the stages of formal recruitment, the type of generic
skills, knowledge and attitudes assessed in each stage, and assessors and
assessment tools used by organisations. It also indicates that being on the
household register (Hộ khẩu) in the region is preferred, as it is seen as an
indicator of long-term commitment to the region and the company.
There is a recurring concern that the Northern mountainous region is
experiencing serious brain drain; therefore, specific strategies and policies
are to not only attract but importantly retain and give incentives to capa-
ble employees.
Chapter 6 explores graduates’ experiences and perspectives on the
employability knowledge, skills and attributes required by the labour
market based on group discussions. The graduates admitted that they
lacked some skills and knowledge which were not developed at university
but are critically important for securing employment. The chapter also
analyses graduates’ perspectives on the courses and activities that helped
them obtain employability knowledge, skills and attributes, enhance
their career-building capacity and how they navigated the labour market.
Chapter 7 reports on academics and university leaders’ perceptions on
employability skills, knowledge and attributes and their current status of
developing graduate employability based on group discussions. Academics
and university leaders shared similar views to the employers about which
skills, knowledge and attributes are considered important for the employ-
ment market in the mountainous regions, and added a few more. They
raised the issue of curriculum reform and professional training in order to
provide their students with critical employability skills, knowledge and
attributes.
Chapter 8 provides insights into universities’ strategies in supporting
the development of graduate employability and the challenges that they
face during the implementation process. Despite universities’ commit-
ment to and efforts in enhancing graduate employability, the outcomes
are still far from satisfaction due to several external and internal chal-
lenges. University leaders and academics reported internal challenges
such as leaders’ fixed mindset and weak leadership, unsatisfactory student
quality, lack of resources, weak publicity and a lack of career orientation.

External challenges include intense competition among universities and
between universities and businesses employing manual labourers, the
fast-changing labour market, low public awareness and a backward pub-
lic attitude towards employability, political organisation inside universi-
ties and local demographic characteristics.
Chapter 9 summarises the main themes emerging from this study and
identifies recommendations essential for strategic planning, policies and
practices to enhance graduate employability. It brings together key find-
ings about the labour market needs and skills gaps encountered by
employers in Vietnam. It synthesises the practices, possibilities and chal-
lenges in terms of the design and implementation of curriculum to sup-
port graduates’ career capability building. It also summarises graduates’
experiences and perspectives on employability knowledge, skills and
attributes, and their strategies to navigate the labour market. In light of
the findings from semi-structured interviews with 45 employers and
graduates, and focus groups with university staff, and prominent trends
from the literature on graduate employability in Vietnam and interna-
tionally, the chapter identifies seven key recommendations for enhancing
graduate employability and career capacity building. Each recommenda-
tion summarises specific strategies and approaches for related stakehold-
ers to consider in working towards a more coordinated, coherent and
consistent framework to support graduates in the development of knowl-
edge, skills and attributes to be work-ready. The chapter concludes by
underscoring the importance of how the combination of institutional
perspectives, graduates’ experiences and understanding employer percep-
tions of graduate employability can help inform the design and imple-
mentation of curriculum as well as continuing support mechanisms in
ways that equip and empower students with relevant skills, knowledge
and attitudes for the professional world in the complex, changing and
dynamic context of Vietnam.
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2
Labour Market Demands, Graduate
Employability and Employment
Outcomes in Vietnam
Introduction
Vietnam is the world’s 14th and ASEAN’s 3rd largest nation with a popu-
lation of approximately 97 million people and a consistently high eco-
nomic growth in the decades following the launch of Đổi mớ i, even amid
the 1997–1998 Asian Financial Crisis (Hong, 2012; Truong et al., 2010).
Issues related to graduate employability in Vietnam have been driven by
the country’s economic, social and political forces. In particular, graduate
employability and employment outcomes in Vietnam have been largely
influenced by the changing business models, demands and structures of
the Vietnamese labour market. These include the exponential growth of
international trade and private, joint venture and foreign direct invest-
ment (FDI) enterprises since Đổi mớ i, which marked the country’s tran-
sition from a subsidised, centralised economy to a socialist-oriented,
multi-sectoral market one (Anwar & Nguyen, 2014; Nguyen et al., 2019;
Nghia, 2019; Tran et al., 2018b; Trinh & Doan, 2018). Comprising of
both open-door and economic reforms, Đổi mớ i is a vital policy of the
Vietnamese government and is part of their ongoing agenda to moder-
nise, rebuild and renovate the nation after the Vietnam war and China’s
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 29

L. T. Tran et al., Employability in Context,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04144-0_2
land invasion at the Northern border in 1979. Đổi mớ i has revived
Vietnam, turning it from a country on the brink of economic crisis and
isolation to one with rising economic and international standing.
Vietnam’s 10-year average annual GDP growth across 2009–2018 was
5.4% (World Economic Forum, 2019). According to the 2019 Global
Competitiveness Report (World Economic Forum, 2019), Vietnam
ranked 67th out of 141 countries, and globally was the nation whose
national competitiveness score improved the most in 2019, up from 77th
in 2018. This major shift has also created a critical need for graduates
with a new set of skills, knowledge and attributes to operate in a socialist-
oriented market economy.
In addition, Đổi mớ i accelerated Vietnam’s integration into the
regional and global economy through their participation in organisations
and activities, such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (1995),
the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (1998), ASEAN Free
Trade Area (AFTA) and the conclusion of the US-Vietnam Bilateral
Trade Agreement (2001). These regional and international integration
developments have increased demand for more qualified human resources
with a good command of foreign languages and appropriate attributes to
work not only in a more ‘internationalised’ local labour market, but also
in the region and the world (Tran & Nørlund, 2015; Tran et al., 2018b).
Also, in response to this dynamic and fast changing labour market, many
graduates have moved from the public to the non-public sector, and oth-
ers work in areas different from the major discipline they were trained in
(Tran et al., 2014a). These changes have created a critical need not only
to improve generic employability skills and foreign language competence
for the Vietnamese younger generation, but also to enhance their oppor-
tunities for career mobility and flexibility.
Despite the demand for a new generation of Vietnamese graduates
with the capabilities to engage in one of Asia’s fastest growing and
dynamic economies (Truong et al., 2010), in 2019 Vietnam ranked
116th out of 141 countries for graduate skillset, according to the Global
Competitiveness Report (World Economic Forum, 2019). Statistics from
the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA, 2016)
show that the number of highly skilled, unemployed graduates in Vietnam
2 Labour Market Demands, Graduate Employability… 31
reached about 417,000 in the first quarter of 2016. In March 2017, the
national rate of graduate unemployment peaked at 17.5%, while the
national unemployment and youth unemployment rates were only
2.09% and 7.29%, respectively (Pham, 2019). However, up to 60%
overall of Vietnamese graduates do not work or have been unable to
secure employment in their area of specialisation, according to a World
Bank survey (Tran Thi Binh, n.d.). In addition, statistics show that 50%
of employees need to undergo on-the-job training because of deficiencies
in their technical skills (Pham, 2019).
As discussed in Chap. 1, there have been a lot of concerns about gradu-
ate employability in Vietnam in recent years due to rising graduate unem-
ployment, inadequate work readiness and employers’ dissatisfaction
about graduate skills. Within this context, enhancing Vietnamese gradu-
ate employability has become critical and should be the shared responsi-
bility of stakeholders, including government, students, education
providers, employers and various communities in society. Universities
play a key role in this mission, and graduate employability has become a
growing focus of curriculum design and delivery. Indeed, a range of
higher education reform policies has positioned the development of grad-
uate employability as the key to quality improvement for Vietnamese
universities (see Chap. 3 for a more detailed discussion of these policies).
This chapter focuses on the key issues related to graduate employability,
its development, and employment outcomes in Vietnam. The chapter
also addresses the context shaping education and employability in the
Northern mountainous region of Vietnam, where the study reported in
this book is situated.
raduate Employability and Employment

G
Outcomes in Vietnam
There are different structural conditions underpinning the unsatisfactory
employability and low employment outcomes of Vietnamese graduates.
The long-lasting imbalance between labour demand and supply is one of
the key structural reasons for the rising unemployment in the country
(Tran et al., 2014a) and elsewhere in the world. Despite Vietnam being
one of the most dynamic economies in Asia with 610,637 active enter-
prises in 2019, of which 96.0% were non-state (General Statistics Office
of Vietnam, 2020), the number of graduates still far exceeds the econo-
my’s demand for labour force. The massification of HE in the country has
led to a significant expansion in number of universities and student vol-
ume. The former more than doubled in just three years, from 204 in
2012 (Do & Do, 2014) to 445 in 2015 (General Statistics Office of
Vietnam, 2017). The number of students enrolled in HE also increased
dramatically from approximately 133,000 in 1987 (Do & Do, 2014) to
1,526,111 in 2018 (General Statistics Office of Vietnam, 2020). Yet, the
massification of Vietnamese HE is criticised for being ill-planned, lead-
ing to a staggering decrease in quality programmes and the phenomenon
of “excessive abundance of bachelors, shortage of technical workers” (Do
& Do, 2014, p. 51).
Indeed, the massification of HE has satisfied people’s desire for univer-
sity degrees but failed to meet the nation’s workforce need (Do & Do,
2014). In addition to the quantitative imbalance between labour supply
and demand, the quality mismatch between the two is another reason for
low graduate employment outcomes. Despite the significant demand for
labour force from enterprises, up to 61% of them rated it Low or Very
Low quality (Malesky, 2009). According to MOLISA (2009, cited in
Tran et al., 2014a), only 6% of applicants for 100,000 jobs offered in
2009 met recruitment criteria.
In addition to the above issues, previous research has identified the HE
curriculum as one of the key reasons for unsatisfactory work readiness
and employability of graduates in Vietnam. The HE curriculum is con-
sidered to be both too theory-laden and largely irrelevant to the needs of
the employment market (Tran, 2012, 2013; Tran et al., 2014a; Tran
et al., 2017; Vu, 2005, cited in Ca & Hung, 2011). The knowledge that
graduates gain from university is perceived to be outdated, impractical
and irrelevant (Tran, 2010). Đổi mớ i’s economic and social renovation
has created a demand for a dynamic and flexible workforce that is innova-
tive, independent, able to work under pressure, with a good command of
foreign languages (especially English) and soft skills (Nghia, 2019; Pham,
2008; Tran & Swierczek, 2009; Ketels et al., 2010). These characteristics
2 Labour Market Demands, Graduate Employability… 33
differ markedly from those that were considered important in the past,
when workers were often expected to be obedient, hard-working, loyal
and able to follow orders (Tran, 2013).
Hence, the lack of integration of graduate employability development
into the curriculum in Vietnamese HE is identified as one of the factors
underpinning graduates’ poor employability and employment outcomes
(Tran et al., 2014a). Inadequate soft skills development is seen as a key
barrier for students to secure a job upon graduation (Tran, 2012; Vallely
& Wilkinson, 2008). Notably, despite the growing popularity of intern-
ships in Vietnamese HEIs, research evidence suggests a lack of partner-
ship between universities and employers to facilitate these experiences,
leading to ineffective organisation and monitoring and low quality work
placements (Nghia, 2018; Nghia & Tran, 2020; Nguyen et al., 2019).
The mismatch between the preparation of Vietnamese graduates for
employment and the new expectations and requirements of the labour
market results in graduates’ inadequate preparation and inability to trans-
late the knowledge acquired at university into real-life work (Dao, 2015;
Tran et al., 2014a). Inadequate work-integrated learning in HE partly
explains why each year thousands of students graduate, but employers
still lament a difficulty in finding graduates with the required knowledge
and skills.
Another explanation is the lack of qualified human resources in ter-
tiary education to initiate and implement curriculum innovation and
reforms (Aide et Action, 2019; Ho et al., 2019; Ca & Hung, 2011). The
teaching staff themselves are often insufficiently supported to gain new
skills and expertise to prepare students for the new developments and
requirements of the labour market. Some could be too conservative, or
unwilling to change their long-established practices in response to the
new demands on HEIs to enhance graduate employability. Institutional
inbreeding recruitment practices, which promote the retention of high-
achieving graduates to become lecturers (Marginson & Tran, 2014), can
also contribute to the disconnect from the new developments in the
world of work.
Furthermore, HEI infrastructure in Vietnam is generally considered to
be antiquated and backward, failing to accommodate the needs of inno-
vative curricula and pedagogies to develop students’ employability. For
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
manier waarop de ouders met hun jongen omgingen, maakte, dat
Piet nooit achterbaks behoefde te zijn.
Toen mijnheer uit zijn studeerkamer kwam, kon zijn vrouw niet
nalaten hem te vragen, of hij niets bizonders aan Piet had
opgemerkt.
„Aan Piet!” zei mijnheer heel verbaasd. „De jongen was net als
anders. Wat haal je je nu weer voor muizenissen in ’t hoofd?”
Het antwoord bevredigde mevrouw maar matig en zonder er verder

op door te gaan, bleven haar gedachten nog lang bij haar jongen
verwijlen.
En zoo gebeurde het, dat, toen reeds alles in diepe rust was, zij nog
met open oogen lag en den slaap niet kon vatten.
Ze had de klok reeds elf en half twaalf hooren [104]slaan, keerde zich
om en om en voelde zich hoogst onrustig.
Plotseling hoort zij in de stilte van den nacht een geluid als het
piepen van een raam dat opengeschoven wordt.
Even denkt ze nog dat het bij de buren is, doch dan, als gedreven
door een voorgevoel, staat ze haastig op, en begeeft zich ijlings naar
Piet’s kamertje.
Ze opent de deur.…! Daar staan moeder en zoon tegenover elkaar.

Piet, met jas aan en pet op, juist gereed om het raam uit te klimmen,
blijft als versteend staan.
Zijn moeder kijkt hem met een mengeling van verbazing en verdriet
aan en dit stille kijken treft den jongen dieper dan hevige verwijten
hadden kunnen doen.
En Piet, het Opperhoofd der Inka’s, de ontdekker van het Hol van
Kaan, barst in snikken uit, terwijl hij, net als toen hij nog klein was,
z’n hoofd tegen haar schouder aan verbergt.
„Wàt wilde je doen, jongen, nu mag je ’t me toch vertellen,” vraagt ze

zacht.
Ze gaat op den rand van zijn bed zitten en Piet vertelt haar met
horten en stooten het geheele plan.
Hij ziet er zóó ontdaan en verdrietig uit, dat moeder medelijden met
hem heeft, want ze voelt heel goed, wat ’t voor hem is, zijn makkers
te verraden.
„Dàt was ’t dus, Piet. Ja, moeder voelde wel, [105]dat er iets gaande
was. Ik wil je verder geen verwijten maken, alleen wil ik je zeggen,
dat je een domme, roekelooze jongen bent geweest. Want, denk je
er eens even in, dat ik wat later was gekomen en je bed leeg had
gevonden. Kun je voelen, vent, hoe ’n radelooze angst je ons dan
bezorgd had?”
Weer ging Piet’s hoofd schuil in moeder’s schouder.
„En luister nu eens, jongen; diezelfde angst kunnen vannacht de

ouders van drie jongens hebben. Mogen we dit toelaten?”
Bij die woorden kijkt Piet verschrikt op.
„Niet ze verraden,” wil hij zeggen. Maar moeder kijkt hem ernstig in
de oogen en zegt:
„En als er nu vannacht, eens een ongeluk met een van je vriendjes
gebeurt, Piet!… Denk eens aan Bob van Eest …”
„Dat is waar, moeder,” zegt Piet haastig. „Ze mogen niet gaan. Ik ga
’t ze zeggen.”
„Neen baas, dat zullen we vader laten doen. ’t Is wel hard, om hem
uit z’n rust te halen, maar ’t is noodig.”
In minder dan geen tijd is mijnheer Kaan in de kleeren. Het was een
heel werk geweest, hem uit z’n vasten slaap te halen en hem in
korte trekken de toedracht der zaak duidelijk te maken.
Gelukkig nam hij het geval nogal niet te zwaar op. Piet kreeg een
voorloopigen uitbrander met het bevel onmiddellijk naar bed te gaan.
En toen toog mijnheer er in den nacht op uit [106]om de drie andere

roekelooze knapen op het rechte pad te brengen.
Het is precies vijf minuten over twaalven als mijnheer op den

Nieuwen Binnenweg aankomt. Even vóór het huis waar Ambro
woont, ziet hij drie kleine, donkere gedaanten heen en weer loopen.
„De schelmen,” bromt mijnheer in zichzelf. „Ze hebben ’t dan toch

gewaagd.”
Hij besluit hen achterop te loopen. De jongens hebben er geen flauw

idee van, dat ze bespied worden. Ambro, die tusschen Puckie en
Chris loopt, raadpleegt z’n horloge en zegt ongeduldig:
„Piet komt niet, hoor! Dat valt me van hem tegen, hij is toch anders
altijd van de partij.”
„Laten we een steentje tegen z’n raam gooien, misschien is ie in

slaap gevallen,” zegt Chris.
„De wekker zal ie niet hebben laten afloopen,” grinnikt Puckie.

De laatste woorden werden gehoord door den heer Kaan, die het
drietal zachtjes is genaderd.
„Zoo heeren,” klinkt z’n stem tamelijk hard door de stille straat. „Nog
zóó laat op ’t pad?”
De drie nachtbrakers blijven als versteend staan.
„Waar gaat de tocht heen?”
„Wandelen naar Overschie,” zei Ambro, die als altijd de moedigste

was.
„Een vreemd uur om zoo’n wandeling te maken. Weten jullie ouders

daar wel van?”
„Natuurlijk niet, mijnheer, u begrijpt, dat we dan zooiets niet zouden

mogen doen. Die slapen [107]nu allen gerust en hebben geen flauw
idee, dat we niet in ons bed liggen.”
„Behalve de moeder van Piet,” zegt mijnheer. „Die slaapt niet

gerust.”
„Nou mijnheer,” zegt Chris. „Piet is toch niet meegegaan.”
„Neen, dank zij de oplettendheid van zijn moeder, die hem op

heeterdaad betrapte toen hij al met één been buiten het raam stond.”
„Zie je wel,” verdedigde Puckie, „Piet heeft ons niet verraden.”
Hiermede gaf hij eigenlijk een antwoord op de gedachten van alle

drie.
„Neen jongens, je begrijpt ’t verkeerd. Over Piet is m’n vrouw niet

meer in onrust, wel over drie andere roekelooze bengels.”
Het begon tot de jongens door te dringen en ze keken verlegen naar
den grond. Ambro schopte denkbeeldige steentjes van de straat
weg.
Er volgde een pijnlijke stilte, die eindelijk onderbroken werd door

meneer Kaan.
„Nu, wat denken jullie te doen? Wordt het plan doorgezet?”
„We zijn stom geweest, meneer,” bekende Ambro volmondig. „We

hebben aan alles wat u daar zegt, niet gedacht.”
„Wie weet, of mijn moeder nou ook niet in onrust zit,” zei Puckie,
wiens geweten begon te spreken.
„Als ik jullie een goeden raad mag geven, kruip dan weer net zoo
zacht je bed in, als je er uitgekomen [108]bent en vertel morgen aan
je ouders wat je hadt willen doen. Ik hoop, dat jullie in het vervolg
verstandiger zult zijn en ik vertrouw jullie nu verder.”
Meneer reikt ze daarop alle drie de hand en de druk van die drie
jongenshanden bewijst hem, dat hij naar hun hart gesproken heeft
en dergelijke grapjes niet weer zullen voorkomen.
Mijnheer verdwijnt in den donkeren nacht en haast zich huiswaarts,

teneinde niets meer te verliezen van zijn kostbare nachtrust.
De jongens gaan op een drafje naar huis en ’t gelukte hen allen even
vlug hun slaapvertrek te bereiken als ze dit verlaten hadden.
Den volgenden morgen, aan het ontbijt, vertelde Ambro de

geschiedenis aan zijn ouders, die het eerst niet gelooven wilden en
hem zeiden: „je hebt vast gedroomd.”
Maar toen het dienstmeisje, dat de thee binnenbracht, met een
verbaasd gezicht vertelde, dat vanmorgen de knippen van de
straatdeur waren en het raampje open stond, moesten zij het wel
gelooven.
Nadat hij Ambro flink de les had gelezen, zei de heer Verbrugge:
„We kunnen meneer Kaan niet dankbaar genoeg zijn en ik wil niet
wachten, hem onzen dank te gaan betuigen.”
Zoo dachten ook de ouders der andere jongens erover en meneer

Kaan ontving dien dag drie dankbare vaders, die ’t er met hem over
eens [109]waren, dat hun zoontjes schelmen van ’t zuiverste water
waren.
De heer Kaan vond het noodig nog even tot hun verdediging aan te
voeren, dat het wel rakkers waren, maar dat bij geen van het
ondeugende stel een kwaad hart zat.
[Inhoud]
HET GEHEIMZINNIGE APPARAAT.
Ambro en Karel loopen langs de Schiekade. Ze komen van

gymnastiek en daar ’t Woensdagmiddag is, willen ze nog naar het
Hol, waar ze weten dat de jongens hen wachten.
Een steenen paal, langs den weg, lokt ze echter eerst tot haasje-
over springen. De paal is hooger dan Ambro’s schouder.
Niettegenstaande dit, weet hij er met een flinken afzet handig over
heen te komen.
Karel heeft er meer moeite mee en al eenige malen heeft zijn buik
op een onaangename manier kennis gemaakt met den harden paal.
Eindelijk gelukt het hem zijn aanloop groot genoeg te nemen en hij
vliegt met een vaart over den paal heen, waarbij echter dezen keer
zijn zitvlak in zoo’n hevige botsing komt met den paal, dat dit een
eind maakt aan het spel.
Ambro staat te gieren van pret om de pijnlijke grimassen die Karel

maakt bij het wrijven langs bovengenoemd lichaamsdeel.
„Je bent ook een reuzen-os,” zegt Ambro.
„Je moet je aanloop grooter nemen.”
„Ik vertik ’t langer,” zegt Karel kwaad. [110]
„Als je nu niet meegaat, ga ik alleen.”
„Goed,” zegt Ambro. „En dan nemen we den paal mee.” Hij doet
alsof hij den paal met alle geweld uit den grond wil trekken.
„Maciste, de groote krachtpatser is er niks bij,” lacht Karel. „Schiet
op,” laat hij er op volgen, „anders komen we nooit verder.”
Het tweetal vervolgt zijn weg.
Maar daar krijgt Ambro het pontje in de gaten, dat voor twee centen
de liefhebbers naar den overkant brengt.
„Nou weet ik een goeie,” zegt hij.
„Wat dan?”
„We zullen dien pontjes-baas er tusschen nemen.”
„Hoe dan?”
„Ik loop zoo hard als ik kan om, en als ik aan den overkant ben,
wacht jij af aan welken kant het pontje ligt en dan doen we net of we
elkaar niet kennen. Ligt het nou aan mìjn kant, dan doe jij net of je
mee wil. Ik doe natuurlijk net zoo als ie aan joùw kant ligt. Vaart hij
nou over, dan smeer je ’m! In dien tusschentijd sta ik aan de andere
kant en probeer hetzelfde. Als dàt lukt, is ie volmaakt.”
„Potverdrie, ja! dàt zullen we ’m lappen,” zegt Karel.
In vollen draf rent Ambro de Heulbrug over en nu loopt het tweetal

op gelijke hoogte, ieder aan een kant van de Schie. Het pontje komt
juist, met twee juffrouwen als vracht naar Karel’s kant toe. [111]
Karel vervolgt kalm zijn weg.
Het pontje is intusschen aangekomen en Ambro staat aan den

overkant kalm en geduldig te wachten, tot de pontjesbaas hem komt
halen.
Deze keert dan ook onmiddellijk terug en zonder dat de man het in
de gaten heeft, is Ambro reeds verdwenen en houdt hij zich schuil in
het portiek van een huis.
De man begrijpt er niets van en zal wel gedacht hebben, dat hij
droomde. Nog net ziet hij een jongetje staan en—weg is ie!
„Zoo’n aap,” bromt de man. „Laat me daar voor niks overvaren! Dat
zal me geen tweeden keer gebeuren!”
Hij blijft nog even wachten en als hij eenige passagiers bij elkaar in
z’n bootje heeft, onderneemt hij de reis naar den overkant.
Dit is een groote teleurstelling voor Karel, want nu het bootje vol is,
kan hij hem den tocht niet te vergeefs laten maken. Dùs blijft hem
niets anders over, dan Ambro te fluiten en hem toe te schreeuwen
weer samen te komen op het Hofplein.
„Jammer, dat ie de tweede keer mislukte,” zegt Ambro, als ze weer

bij elkaar zijn.
„Zeg, jôh, wat is ’t al laat; ga je mee naar ’t hol?”
„Mij best, de anderen zijn er nu ook.”
Nu gaat het in looppas naar den Dierentuin. Bij het hol gekomen,
laat Ambro een zacht fluitsignaal hooren, dat onmiddellijk wordt
beantwoord en, na even goed rond gekeken te hebben, schieten zij
als konijnen weg tusschen de dichte bladeren. [112]
Op hun buik voortkruipend, komen ze eindelijk op hun zorgvuldig in

orde gehouden paadje en bevinden zich alras in het hol, waar zij
Chris en Puckie aantreffen. Beiden liggen te lezen.
„Wat zijn jullie laat,” zegt Chris.

„We hebben keet gemaakt aan de Schie.”
En ze vertellen hun maar half gelukte grap met den pontjesbaas.
Puckie vindt het „een flauwen bak”.
„Omdat jij ’m niet verzonnen hebt,” bijt Ambro hem toe.
„Neen, dan hebben wij een beteren voor vanavond,” zegt Chris. „Hè,
Puckie?”
„Nou, ’n fijne!” stemt Puckie toe.
„’t Zal wat zijn,” smaalt Ambro.
„Als jij ’t niet verzint, kan ’t niet deugen,” zegt Chris.
„Wat zijn jullie strijdlustig vandaag,” zegt Karel, die zich behagelijk
heeft neergevleid op den zachten grond en naar de plekjes blauw
van den hemel kijkt, die door de boomen zichtbaar zijn.
„A la routschkia de Baviani, met den kikvorsch op den schouder, van

de boesa van de bombernades!” zegt Ambro met een
onweerstaanbaar mal gezicht.
„Wàt zeg je nou?” vragen de jongens vol verbazing.
„Dat is Russisch,” zegt Ambro gewichtig.
„Wat beteekent het?” vraagt Chris geamuseerd.
„Juffrouw, haal je katje naar binnen, want het begint te regenen.” [113]
„Och, malle, hou je snater,” giert Puckie.
„Toe, zeg ’t nog eens,” vraagt Chris.

„Neen, ik zing me liedje geen twee keer. Kom op met je plan, Chris,
wat is ’t?”
En ze komen er mee voor den dag.
Chris neemt het woord en zegt met het gezicht van een toovenaar:
„Ik zie kans om in een heele straat belletje te trekken, door maar één
bel aan te raken.”
„Da’s onmogelijk,” zegt Karel.
„Neen, dàt kan niet,” bevestigt Ambro.
„En òf ’t mogelijk is,” zegt Chris. „Vanavond, als ’t donker genoeg is,
moeten jullie komen kijken en dan zal ik je bewijzen, dat ik waarheid
spreek.”
„Top,” zegt Ambro. „Hoe laat moeten we komen, en waar?”
„Ik heb vioolles,” zegt Karel bedrukt.
„Tot hoe laat?”
„Tot half acht.”
„Nou, dat is net mooi, want dan is ’t donker genoeg om te beginnen.”
„Zeg nou es hoe je dat doet?” vraagt Ambro nieuwsgierig.
„Je zal ’t vanavond zien,” zegt Chris op vastberaden toon. „Komen

jullie nou om kwart voor achten op de Heulbrug.”
„Wat een eind weg,” klaagt Karel.
„Ja, in een drukke straat gaat ’t niet.”

„Nou, vooruit dan. Ik zal er zijn. En we zullen Piet en Paul ook nog
even waarschuwen.”
„Ja, da’s best.” [114]
De klok slaat half acht.
Op de Heulbrug wachten Chris en Puckie en kijken in donker uit, of

ze de anderen nog niet zien verschijnen.
En jawel! in de verte hooren ze een vroolijken deun fluiten en even

daarna komen hun makkers, in marsch-tempo, aangestapt.
„Hallo!” schreeuwt Ambro. „Daar waren we.”
„Het spul kan beginnen,” lacht Chris.
Op een drafje gaat ’t nu naar de bewuste zijstraat van den Bergweg

waar het wonder vertoond zal worden.
Het is intusschen al goed donker geworden.
De straat, die Chris uitgezocht heeft tot het terrein zijner operatiën, is
wel een der stilste van deze wijk, hetgeen voornamelijk komt,
doordat ze doodloopt en begrensd wordt door een hooge houten
schutting.
Geen enkel levend wezen vertoont zich in de straat, uitgezonderd

een zwarte poes, die, door een krijgskreet van Ambro opgeschrikt, in
dwaze vlucht wegijlt.
„Hou je bakkes,” zegt Chris met ingehouden woede. „Ze mogen ons
niet hooren!”
Met „ze” bedoelde hij de argelooze bewoners der straat.

„Nou jongens,” zegt Chris. „Ik zal aan ’t laatste huis beginnen, mot je
kijken.”
Hij haalt uit z’n zak een groot kluwen stevig touw. Het einde daarvan
maakt hij vast aan den deurknop van het huis en loopt dan, het touw
[115]flink strak houdend, naar den overkant, waar hij het touw aan de
trekbel bevestigt.
Dan snijdt hij het touw af en bindt aan den deurknop van hetzelfde
huis weer een eind vast, om vervolgens de bel van het huis aan den
overkant daarmee te verbinden.
En zoo gaat hij voort, tot hij bij het zesde huis gekomen, bemerkt
geen touw meer te hebben en den arbeid dus moet staken.
„Nou, opgelet, jongens,” zegt Chris. „Nou zal je een lol beleven.”
Mèt begeeft hij zich naar het eerste huis, waar hij het touw aan den
deurknop vastbond en trekt hard aan de bel.
Het resultaat is schitterend!
In een portiek staan de jongens te kijken naar het effect.
De eerste deur wordt geopend, maar diezelfde deur brengt de bel

van den overkant in beweging. Ook daar wordt geopend en met
hetzelfde resultaat. En warempel, geen enkele deur die zijn plicht
niet doet, geen enkele bel, die weigert.
Dan verschijnen zes hoofden aan beide zijden van de straat, en

nijdige uitroepen weerklinken van „wie daar!!!” „Wie belt daar toch
zoo!!”
Een juffrouw ontdekt het touw dat aan haar deurknop is bevestigd en
in haar verwoede pogingen om het touw te verwijderen, klingelt, door
die beweging, de bel bij haar overbuurman, als bezeten door het
huis, met het gevolg, dat een man in hemdsmouwen naar buiten
komt rennen, die eveneens [116]het touw ontdekt en de verschrikte
juffrouw aan den overkant vraagt, of ze gek is geworden en wat dat
bellen van haar te beduiden heeft.
„Ik bel niet,” zegt de juffrouw nijdig.
„U belt wèl,” houdt de man vol.
„Nou kom dan kijken,” zegt de juffrouw met een hoofd als een
kalkoenschen haan.
Intusschen zijn nog meer bewoners naar buiten gekomen, die geen
van allen begrijpen hoe dit fopschellen zonder de aanwezigheid van
kwajongens kan plaats hebben.
De jongens in het portiek rollen over elkaar van het lachen en

besluiten, alvorens ontdekt te worden, het hazenpad te kiezen en in
volle vaart hollen ze naar de Heulbrug terug. Ze worden niet
achtervolgd, want de menschen hebben te veel werk om de touwen
van hun knoppen en bellen te verwijderen, maar de liefelijkste
verwenschingen worden ze achterna geroepen.
Geheel buiten adem door het harde loopen, komt het stel op de
Heulbrug aan.
„Hè, hè!” zegt Ambro voldaan. „Hij was van den bakker! Je hebt er
alle eer van, Chris! Hoe ben je op ’t idee gekomen?”
„Dat weet ik zelf niet. Maar we zullen ’t meer doen! ’t Is alleen

jammer, dat je je touw kwijt raakt bij zoo’n grap. ’t Was vast een eind
van 100 Meter.”
„Nou, dan leggen we botje bij botje en we koopen weer eens een
kluw.”
Dit vonden ze allen best. [117]
Het was intusschen kwart over acht geworden en hoog tijd om naar
huis te gaan.
Dus keerde de vroolijke troep lachend en joelend huiswaarts en

Ambro droomde dien nacht dat hij stond in een grooten kring van
juffrouwen en vloekende kerels die groote schellen in ’t rond
zwaaiden en hem steeds dichter naderden.
[Inhoud]
VAN EEN VLIEGER EN EEN MEISKE.
„Hè! is Ambro er weer niet?”
Deze uitroep verbreekt de stilte die in het Hol heerschte, waar de

jongens rustig zaten en lagen te lezen.
Piet kijkt uit z’n boek op en zegt eveneens:
„Neen, hij is er weer niet, da’s warempel al de derde keer, dat ie

ontbreekt, en na school gaat ie altijd direct naar huis. Zóó vreemd is-t-
ie nog nooit geweest.”
„Zou ie kwaad zijn om ’t een of ander?” vraagt Paul.
„Kwaad! Daar is heelemaal geen reden voor.”
Het gezicht van Chris, die al dien tijd gezwegen heeft, verraadt, dat hij
meer van de zaak weet.
„Chris, jij weet er van,” zegt Karel. „Ik zie ’t aan je heele bakkes.”
„Och, kletsika! Ik weet van niks,” bromt Chris.
„Je liegt, man! Jij weet er meer van,” houdt Karel vol.
Dan wordt Chris kwaad. [118]
„En al zou ik er meer van weten, dan hoef ik ’t jou toch niet aan je
neus te hangen.”
„Ah! zei ik ’t niet,” triompheert Karel. „Wat heeft ie je beloofd als je niks
zegt?”
„Een oplababbel als ik ’t wèl zeg,” lacht Chris.
„Wat kan ’t mij ook verder schelen,” roept Puckie, die met dezen
kwasi-onverschilligen uitroep een laatste poging doet om achter het
geheim te komen.
„Dat dacht ik ook,” zegt Chris, die zich niet in de kaart laat kijken.
Karel geeft ’t echter nog niet op.
„Och, jôh! Chris doet maar net of ie iets weet, hij weet net zooveel als
wij.”
„Zoo is ’t,” zegt Chris, maar z’n gezicht logenstraft zijn woorden.
De jongens gaan weer door met lezen, maar hun nieuwsgierigheid is

geprikkeld en lang kunnen ze er niet over zwijgen.
„Weet je wat ik doe,” zegt Puckie plotseling. „Ik ga naar z’n huis; ik zàl
weten waar ie uithangt.”
„Dat zal je laten,” zegt Chris woedend.
„Daar heb jij niks over te zeggen,” bijt Puckie hem toe.
„Heb ’t lef es te gaan!” dreigt Chris.
„Dat zal je gewaar worden,” zegt Puckie, terwijl hij opstaat.
Chris, die op den grond ligt, pakt Puckie’s been vast. Deze begint te
trappen en te schreeuwen.
„La’me los!”
„Ga dan niet naar z’n huis!” [119]
„Los!” blijft Puckie schreeuwen en geeft Chris een klap op z’n hoofd.
De andere jongens, die eerst pleizier hadden in de ruzie, zijn nu bang,
dat door al dat lawaai hun heiligdom wel eens ontdekt zou kunnen
worden. Ze trachten dus sussend tusschenbeide te komen, hetgeen
ze ook gelukt, want Chris laat Puckie’s been los en deze laatste houdt
op met schreeuwen.
Als de rust in het Hol weêrgekeerd is zegt Piet kalm:
„Ja, hoor es, Chris, als je d’r geheimen voor ons op nahoudt, dan moet
je maar je biezen pakken. We houwen voor mekaar niks achterbaks;
da’s flauwe kul! Of je zegt ’t ons, òf je gaat maar naar Ambro.”
„Natuurlijk,” stemmen de anderen toe.
Ze leggen Chris het vuur na aan de schenen en hij eindigt met Piet
gelijk te geven.
„Ja,” zegt hij dan. „Nu ie ’t mij verteld heeft, hebben jullie net zooveel
recht het te weten.”
En snel laat hij er op volgen: „Ambro heeft een meisje!”
Dat bericht valt als een bom temidden van de jongens en wordt met
gemengde gevoelens ontvangen.
„Wat een idioot!—Wat mankeert ’m!—O, is het dàt!!”—
Tot eindelijk Karel nieuwsgierig vraagt: „Wie is het?”
„Margot Hoevers.”
„Dàt schaap!—Die aanstelster!”— [120]
„En komt ie nou nooit meer met ons spelen,” vraagt Paul, die Ambro
steeds bewonderd heeft en heel dikwijls steun bij hem vond wanneer

Employability in Context Labour Market Needs Skills Gaps and Graduate Employability Development in Regional Vietnam Ly Thi Tran Full Chapter

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Employability in Context: Labour

Market Needs, Skills Gaps and

ISBN 978-3-031-04143-3 ISBN 978-3-031-04144-0 (eBook)

Cover illustration: Maram_shutterstock.com

Melbourne, 2021 Ly Thi Tran

enhancing graduate employability in response to the demands of the

3 Vietnamese Government’s View on Graduate Employability 57

5 Employers’ Approaches to Assessing Graduate Employability117

6 Graduates’ Perspectives on Employability in Vietnam145

Fig. 1.1 An integrated model of graduate employability (based on

Table 2.1 Proportions of approved poor and borderline poor

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 1

Enhancing graduate employability has become one of the prominent

curriculum design and implementation to support graduates’ career

participation of students from disadvantaged or regional backgrounds at

structures, and the broader socio-economic, cultural and political con-

• All students need a solid grounding in generic skills, in addition to

However, existing research suggests that in a rapidly changing and

in the scope and strategy for implementation, curriculum models, peda-

Labour Market and Employer Expectations

A life-time career is no longer the expected norm in a fast-­changing econ-

socialist-oriented market economy (Mai, 2018; Tran et al., 2014). As the

lose their confidence in the qualifications they have earned at university

 raduate Employability Development

targeted professional skills and knowledge and strengthen their connec-

development initiative (Barrie et al., 2009b; Tran, 2017a). Yet, research

 he Framework for Conceptualising

subject to the inter-relationship between the supply and the demand

Fig. 1.1 An integrated model of graduate employability (based on Clarke, 2018;

such as problem-solving, critical thinking or teamwork are core to gradu-

(Tomlinson, 2017). Fugate et al. (2004) regard personal adaptability as

Focus of the Book

• Identify the key generic skills, knowledge and attributes employers

This study uses a qualitative mixed-methods approach involving a desk

• A policy analysis mapping the Vietnamese national policyscape in rela-

• Eight focus groups with university leaders and academics, employers

Together, these combined methods provide a rich set of explanations

Structure of the Book

be real-life tasks, tests and direct recruitment. Most of the desirable

quality, lack of resources, weak publicity and a lack of career orientation.

Jackson, D. (2015). Employability skill development in work-integrated learn-

for assessing graduate outcomes and curriculum development]. Retrieved from

Simpson, M. D., & Gates, A. (2014). Exploring workplace learning in university

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 29

 raduate Employability and Employment

Het antwoord bevredigde mevrouw maar matig en zonder er verder

Ze opent de deur.…! Daar staan moeder en zoon tegenover elkaar.

„Wàt wilde je doen, jongen, nu mag je ’t me toch vertellen,” vraagt ze

Weer ging Piet’s hoofd schuil in moeder’s schouder.

„En luister nu eens, jongen; diezelfde angst kunnen vannacht de

Bij die woorden kijkt Piet verschrikt op.

En toen toog mijnheer er in den nacht op uit [106]om de drie andere

Het is precies vijf minuten over twaalven als mijnheer op den

„De schelmen,” bromt mijnheer in zichzelf. „Ze hebben ’t dan toch

Hij besluit hen achterop te loopen. De jongens hebben er geen flauw

„Laten we een steentje tegen z’n raam gooien, misschien is ie in

„De wekker zal ie niet hebben laten afloopen,” grinnikt Puckie.

De drie nachtbrakers blijven als versteend staan.

„Waar gaat de tocht heen?”

„Wandelen naar Overschie,” zei Ambro, die als altijd de moedigste

„Een vreemd uur om zoo’n wandeling te maken. Weten jullie ouders

„Natuurlijk niet, mijnheer, u begrijpt, dat we dan zooiets niet zouden

„Behalve de moeder van Piet,” zegt mijnheer. „Die slaapt niet

Melbourne, 2021 Ly Thi Tran

3 Vietnamese Government’s View on Graduate Employability 57

5 Employers’ Approaches to Assessing Graduate Employability117

6 Graduates’ Perspectives on Employability in Vietnam145

Labour Market and Employer Expectations

A life-time career is no longer the expected norm in a fast-changing econ-

raduate Employability Development

he Framework for Conceptualising

Focus of the Book

Structure of the Book

raduate Employability and Employment