RELEVANCE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY GRADUATES’ COMPETENCIES TO THE INDUSTRY NEEDS A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School Southern Luzon State University, Lucban, Quezon, Philippines In Collaboration with Thai Nguyen University, Socialist Republic of Vietnam In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Management Bui Ngoc Tuan (Future) April, 2014 0 APPROVAL SHEET In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Management, this research entitled “RELEVANCE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY GRADUATES’ COMPETENCIES TO THE INDUSTRY NEEDS” has been submitted by Bui Ngoc Tuan (Future) and is hereby recommended for oral examination. CONRADO ABRAHAM Research Adviser Approved by the Oral Examination Committee, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Management offered by Southern Luzon State University, Republic of the Philippines in collaboration with Thai Nguyen University, Socialist Republic of Viet Nam DR. DR………………………… Member Member DR…………………………. ……………………… Member Member DR.
………………………… Chairman Accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Management offered by Southern Luzon State University, Republic of the Philippines in collaboration with Thai Nguyen University, Socialist Republic of Viet Nam APOLONIA A.D Dean, Graduate School Vice President, Academic Affairs Date___________________ i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Sincerest appreciation is extended to the following individuals who in their own special ways have made this dissertation a reality: Hon. Cecilia Gascon, President of Southern Luzon State University, Republic of the Philippines, for her immeasurable contribution in the development of the joint program of Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Management between Southern Luzon State University and Thai Nguyen University; Prof. Dang Kim Vui, President of Thai Nguyen University, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam for his approval in the offering of Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Management program in cooperation with the Southern Luzon State University, Philippines; Prof. Tran Van Dien, Rector of Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry, for his invaluable assistance in the establishment of the Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Management program in cooperation with the Southern Luzon State University, Philippines; Dr.
Nguyen Tuan Anh, Former Director of the International Training Center, Thai Nguyen University, for his enthusiasm in the establishment of the Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Management program in cooperation with the Southern Luzon State University, Philippines; The Panel of Examiners, for their remarkable comments, suggestions and recommendations to enhance this thesis manuscript; Dr. Conrado Abraham, his thesis adviser, for his unparalleled guidance and advice in conducting this research; The Visiting Professors including Dr. Lee Kar Ling, Dr. de la Cruz, and Dr.
Espinosa and other professors, for sharing their most precious time and abundance of knowledge during the whole duration of this study; The information and communication departments in the provinces: Thai Nguyen, Bac Giang, Bac Kan, Police Bac Kan, National Academy of Public Administration for approving the request to conduct the study; The Graduates – respondents of the study, for their active involvement, without their cooperation, the result of this dissertation could not have been possible; His loving classmates and colleagues, for the endless support and friendship which inspired the researcher to do his best in finishing the study; His wife, his son and his parents, for their encouragement, financial, moral and spiritual supports for continuously believing that he can finish the task to the best of his abilities Bui Ngoc Tuan (Future) iii TABLE OF CONTENTS APPROVAL SHEET. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iv LIST OF TABLES. vi LIST OF FIGURES .Error! Bookmark not defined.
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Background of the Study .5 Objectives of the study .8 Significance of the study .8 Scope and limitations.9 Definition of terms.10 II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES Research paradigm .35 Relevance and satisfaction.35 III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Locale of the Study .39 Population and sampling .41 Data gathering procedure.41 iv Descriptive interpretation of the scale .43 IV RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS V SUMMARY, FINDING, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION Summary .76 Apendices B……………………………………………………………………………………77 RESEARCH PROFILE…………………………………………………………………….163 v LIST OF TABLES Table1 : Frequency and Percentage Distribution of the Respondents 40 Table 2: Frequency and Percentage Distribution of the units surveyed 40 Table 3: Graduation student capacity about qualifications and skills 45 Table 4 : Specialized capacity of graduation students 46 Table 5: Assessing work ability of graduation students 48 Table 6: Industry’s knowledge requirement to IT graduation students 49 Table 7: Industry’s skill requirement to IT graduation students 50 Table 8: Industry’s working attitude requirement to IT graduation students 52 Table 9: Level Knowledge training needs of industry for IT graduates 53 Table 10: Level Skills training needs of industry for IT graduates 54 Table 11: Level Attitude training needs of industry for IT graduates 54 Table 12: The Mean and Standard Deviation 55 Table 13: Correlations 56 Table 14: The Mean and Standard Deviation 58 Table 15: Correlations 58 Table 16: The Mean and Standard Deviation 58 Table 17: Correlations 59 Table 18: Level of competency and satisfaction of IT graduates and the training needs 60 of the industry (Skill and qualities- knowledge) Table 19: Level of competency and satisfaction of IT graduates and the training needs 61 of the industry (Professional capacity - knowledge) Table 20: Level of competency and satisfaction of IT graduates and the training needs 63 of the industry (Work ability - Attitude) Table B 1.1 Reliability Statistics Cronbach's Alpha of Skill and qualities - 75 Professional capacity - Work ability Table B.2 : Frequency, percentage and Distribution of the Respondents 78 Table B 1.3: The IT curriculum of Thai Nguyen University.4 : Questionnaire for employer survey 85 vi Table B.5 SURVEYS FORM LEVEL OF SATISFACTION OF GRADUATES COMPETENCIES 89 Table B 1.6: Online questionnaire 92 Table B 1.7: SURVEYS FORM LEVEL OF SATISFACTION OF GRADUATES 98 COMPETENCIES Table B 1.8: Mean Distribution of the Responses According to Skill and qualities Needs 104 Table B 1.9: Mean Distribution of the Responses According to Professional capacity Needs 105 Table B 1.10: Mean Distribution of the Responses According to Work ability Needs 105 Table B 1.11: Mean Distribution of the Responses According To Knowledge Needs 106 Table B 1.12: Mean Distribution of the Responses According to Skills Needs 106 Table B 1.13: Mean Distribution of the Responses According To Attitude Needs 107 Table B 1.14: Level Knowledge training needs of industry for IT graduates 108 Table B 1.15: level Skills training needs of industry for IT graduates 108 109 Table B 1.16: level Attitude training needs of industry for IT graduates 109 Table B 1.17: The Mean and Standard Deviation 111 Table B 1.19:The Mean and Standard Deviation 112 Table B 1.21:The Mean and Standard Deviation 113 Table B 1.23: level of competency and satisfaction of IT graduates and the training 113 needs Table B 1.24: level of competency and satisfaction of IT graduates and the training 114 needs 116 Table B 1.25: level of competency and satisfaction of IT graduates and the training 116 Table B 1.25: Da ta industry’s need Table 126: Data graduates need 131 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Competencies model 23 Figure 2. Research diagram 35 Figure 3. Location of Thai Nguyen University 37 viii INTRODUCTION According to international assesment agencies on Information Technology and Communication, Vietnam has informantion technology and communication development index (IDI) ranking at 86 out of 161 nations and rank 4th position in Southern East Asia (2012).
Networked Readiness Index (NRI) of Vietnam ranked at 84 out of 144 nations and 5th position in Southern East Asia in 2012. Regarding to information technology industry, Vietnam ranked at 8th worldwide on software processing activities (according to Tholon Corporation, 2011), stays on top ten nations in Pacific Asia and top thirty worldwide (according to report of Gartner Corporation in 2012). Vietnam has been highly considered on public service and application of information technology on State Agencies. For the norms of electronic Administration/Government, Vietnam has been classified at 4th position in South East Asia and 81 out of 190 nations in 2012.
Regarding human resource quality, Vietnam has ranked at 101 out of 161 nations in 2012 and highly considered on education qualification of mathematics and scientific subjects. Nowaday human resource on information technology is not only very limited in number in Vietnam, but it is also lack in the world. Now the world is in shortage of 4 million engineers on information technology (IT). And in Vietnam demand of humand resource on software industry (PM) has been drammatically increasing.
From 2011 to 2015, Vietnam is estimated to need about 20.000 engineers on IT. While education and training capacity of human resource on information technology provides about 34.048 ones in 2010 and 2012 respectively.In fact number of qualified IT enginners under employer’s requirements are even much smaller. According to employer’s statistics database, Vietnamese IT engineers are very weak in communication skill, professional working style, and English proficiency. Moreover, about 64% of human resource is weak in group working ability.
Thus they could not integrate and adapt to employer’s standards after being recruited. Up to 71% graduation students have not adapted to technology advance change, 90% foreign language insufficient students. Therefore Vietnamese IT staffs could only utilise 60% their capacity and big obstacles for enterprise’s recruitment. ix According to, Deputy Prime Miniser Nguyen Thien Nhan: “In IT industry, Vietnam has very good potentials to cooperate with international partners.
And a question is how to attract more and more foreign investors participating in IT human resource education and training”. Therefore, I have conducted this study “Relevance of information tecnology graduates’ competencies to the industry needs”. The objective of this study is to assess IT student capacity of Thai Nguyen University in meeting to enterprise’s demand and to find out gap between training education quality and real requirements. The findings of this study will be scientific evidences for policy- makers, educational institutions, educators, and students in improving education program and efficiency.
x CHAPTER I GENERAL INTRODUCTION Education in its general sense is a form of learning in which the knowledge, skills, and habits of a group of people are transferred from one generation to the next through teaching, training, or research. It is essential for everyone and the level of education helps people earn respect and recognition. It is a fact that the importance of education is undeniable for every single person. It goes without saying that education has a positive effect on human life.
All people need to access to education. Only with the advent of education can people gain knowledge and enlarge their view over the world. Education plays such a rudimentary role in our society that we cannot even imagine a life without it. It is a determined element for the civilization of human society.
Not only does it helps us develop healthy surroundings but it also generates an advance community. As a matter of fact, everything we create today is based on the knowledge that we obtain throughout our life by way of education. This assists scientists in inventing equipment and devices, resulting in a high technology nowadays. The more developed life becomes, the more necessary education is for everyone because the development of a country depends vastly on the standard of education, it must do everything to improve it.
Although the educational systems of different countries are not similar but they have to share a common goal which is to provide its citizens a suitable and proper learning. Education is absolutely beneficial for the society on the whole. It is a life-long process to each person that needs to be reinforced throughout life. However, we need an education system that may eradicate illiteracy and may provide the common man an access not only to basic education but also to higher and technical education.
Viet Nam’s competitive advantage in the global economy depends on qualified and skilled workforce. A troubling gap, however, currently exists between the skills and knowledge of the country’s current and projected workforce and the demands of jobs expected to grow most rapidly during the next decade.