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

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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.

DR. 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


ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Sincerest appreciation is extended to the following individuals who in their own special
ways have made this dissertation a reality:
Hon. Dr. 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. Dr. 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. Dr. 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.Arivalan, Dr. Balakrishnan, Dr. Walberto A.
Macaraan, Dr. Lee Kar Ling, Dr. W.Johnson, Dr. Teresita V. de la Cruz, and Dr.

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Apolonia A. Espinosa

I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study .............................................................................................5
Objectives of the study ................................................................................................8
Hypothesis ...................................................................................................................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 ....................................................................................................37
Research Design ........................................................................................................39
Population and sampling ...........................................................................................39
Research instrumentation ..........................................................................................41
Data gathering procedure...........................................................................................41
Statistical Treatment ..................................................................................................41
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Descriptive interpretation of the scale .......................................................................43
IV RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
V

SUMMARY, FINDING, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

Summary ....................................................................................................................69

48

Table 6: Industry’s knowledge requirement to IT graduation students
Table 7: Industry’s skill requirement to IT graduation students

49
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


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.1.2 : Frequency, percentage and Distribution of the Respondents

78

Table B 1.3: The IT curriculum of Thai Nguyen University.

81

Table B 1.4 : Questionnaire for employer survey

85

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Table B.1.5 SURVEYS FORM LEVEL OF SATISFACTION OF GRADUATES
COMPETENCIES

89

Table B 1.6: Online questionnaire


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

Table B 1.16: level Attitude training needs of industry for IT graduates
Table B 1.17: The Mean and Standard Deviation

109
109
111

Table B 1.18: Correlations
Table B 1.19:The Mean and Standard Deviation

111
112

Table B 1.20: Correlations
Table B 1.21:The Mean and Standard Deviation

112
113



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Figure 2. Research diagram

35

Figure 3. Location of Thai Nguyen University

37

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INTRODUCTION
According to international assesment agencies on Information Technology and
Communication,

Vietnam

has

informantion

technology

and

communication


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 - 25.000 engineers on IT. While
education and training capacity of human resource on information technology provides
about 34.448 engineers, 41.048 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.

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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 policymakers, educational institutions, educators, and students in improving education
program and efficiency.


and knowledge of the country’s current and projected workforce and the demands of
jobs expected to grow most rapidly during the next decade.
From 1stof October to 15th

of October 2012 in Hanoi, the 11th steering

committee of the party held the 6th meeting to discuss and draw the resolutions on
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building project “Fully and fundamentally innovate the education and training in the
market economy which is oriented to the socialist and international integration; and on
building project “Develop science and technology to support the industrialization and
modernization in the market economy which is oriented to the socialist and
international integrations.”
The steering committee of the party identified that for a secured leading of the
party and for the consideration of the whole nation as well as the efforts of the
teachers, managers and scientist communities are the reasons that the science and
technology of the nation obtained important achievements on the quantity and quality
of the education in all levels, including management, scientific research and
applications, market and services for the science and technology, and international
collaboration.
Developing Viet Nam ICT brand name Products and service
On September 22nd, 2010, the Prime Minister promulgated the Decision No.
1755/QD-TTg approving the National Strategy on “Transforming Viet Nam into an
advanced ICT country”, which defines strategic missions to accelerate the IT industry
of Viet Nam. Some of the important missions are to improve the capacity and
competitiveness of Vietnamese enterprises, and to develop Viet Nam’s ICT brandname products and services. To accomplish these missions and implement the
campaign, “Vietnamese people prefer Vietnamese products” of the Politburo of the
Communist Party of Viet Nam and the Government’s Resolution No. 11/NQ-CP dated

with Vietnamese IT businesses providing IT products and services. Thus far, VIBrand
2011 has received the support and participation of various Ministries, agencies,
associations and IT enterprises nationwide, as well as international partners. In this
context, the Ministry of Information and Communications is developing and
implementing the VIBrand 2012 on a larger scale, with a hope to bring about a greater
impact.
Together with the VIBrand, the Ministry of Information and Communications is
conducting several related activities, namely:

periodically updating a list of IT

products suitable for government-funded organizations and agencies; developing and
publishing the “Catalogue of Viet Nam IT products”; implementing the “National
Brand” program in cooperation with Ministry of Industry and Trade; and promoting
youth innovation in the IT sector in cooperation with Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth
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Union. These activities will contribute substantially to the development of the IT
industry and operationalize the National Strategy on “Transforming Viet Nam into an
advanced ICT country”.
In recent years, under the leadership of the Party and the Government, the ICT
sector of Viet Nam has been continuously moving forward, fostering the development
of infrastructure system, and contributing positively to the socio-economic growth. In
2011, although the Vietnamese economy still faced many challenges due to the
negative effects of the global economic crisis, this sector maintained its growth and
continuously gained many important achievements.
The telecommunication infrastructure was modernized to cover the whole
country with and had met international standards in providing good quality services
and improving customer satisfaction. IT application in government agencies has been

technology industry including the software industry in a fast and sustainable manner.
Background of the Study
The strategy on development of human resources of Viet Nam during the period
2011 – 2020 ( Prime Minister’s No. 579/QĐ-TTg dated Apr 09, 2011) are as follows:
The National strategy on “Transforming Viet Nam into an advanced ICT country”
(Prime Minister’s Decision No. 1755/QD-TTg dated Sep 22, 2010) includes: (1)
Planning on the development or digital information security to 2020 (Prime Minister’s
Decision No. 63/QD-TTG dated Jan 13, 2010); (2) Master plan on development of
information technology human resources of Viet Nam to 2015,orietations toward 2020
(Prime Minister’s Decision No. 698/QĐ-TTg dated Jun 01, 2009); and (3) Planning
on the development of information technology human resources of Viet Nam to 2020
(Decision No. 05/2007/QĐ-BTTTT dated Oct 26, 2007).
The strategy in the development of information and communication technology of
Viet Nam to 2010 and orientations toward 2020 (Prime Minister’s Decision No.
246/2005/QD-TTg dated Oct 6, 2005), includes the following:
(1) National strategy on development of posts and telecommunications of Viet Nam
to 2010, Orientations towards 2020 (Prime Minister’s Decision No.
158/2001/QD-TTg dated Oct 18, 2001).
(2) National Programs and Projects on ICT
2.1 IT industry, posts and telecommunications

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Project on improvement of computer usage and public Internet access ability in
Viet Nam (BMGF), with the Ministry of Information and Communications,
implementation duration: 2011 – 2016 as implementing agency.
2.2 Information technology application/E-Government
(3) National program on information technology application in state agencies’
operations during the period 2011 - 2015 (Prime Minister’s Decision No. 1605/QDTTg dated Aug 27, 2010).

The multiple professional expertise’s required in terms of the industry specific
technical nature of the ICT capabilities for effective discharge of functions is identified
for the industry. The horizontal and vertical career movements in search of higher
exposure in gaining strong profiles and the transitory trend of ‘keep learning keep
moving’ of the workforce identifies the need for faster learning techniques and
acknowledging IT worker as an industry resource rather than an organization resource.
The multiple professional expertise’s required in terms of the industry specific
technical nature of the ICT capabilities for effective discharge functions is identified.
In building a competent ICT workforce to meet the industry’s challenging
opportunities, this report presents a detailed list of key findings, recommendations and
a way forward that include; Requirement of greater congruence between training
organizations and the ICT industry need for training strategy to be implemented as an
evolving process and ICT to initiate an accreditation process for training courses as
well as on the training entities.
Non-technical skills lack in greater proportions across the industry of which
effective communication skills in the English language is highlighted Industrial
standardization and accreditation of the courses and course curriculums, evaluation
mechanisms with the participation of the training institutes and the industry is
recommended for skill standardization.
Career and transitory trends of individuals identified as seeking greater exposure for
building high profiles for future progression rather than titles that require deployment
of faster, economical training methods with the increasing demand for value-added
services that require higher competencies in both modern technical and non-technical
areas.
Potential need to incorporate industrial placements to IT related degrees and
professional qualifications to give individuals prior exposure to fast-pace the work
environment.

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Administrators: It is hoped that this study will provide new solutions to develop
training programs in the field of information technology in Thai Nguyen University to
meet the industry needs.
Teachers: The results of the study are of great help to teachers, since they will be
made aware of the development of information technology training programs needed
for the development of the school to meet the satisfaction of the students and the
requirements of employers. Researchers can contribute to a new path in their search
for better ways to improve themse if and their work environment. In this way,
eventually it will lead to a better quality performance in the teaching and management
human resources.
Students: They will benefit in this study because they are the main concerns of
higher education and a healthy environment and relationships can create a positive
impact on teaching and learning process. The researcher hopes that the results and
findings will bring understanding and learning-oriented, harmonious relationship
between the school, students and employers.
Future Researchers: This study can provide a reference for researchers of Thai
Nguyen University in making decision on curriculum development oriented
information technology, communication skills, and personal qualities, as the most
important competencies, but suggests that the workplace context determines their
relative importance.
SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS
The main purpose of this study was to investigate the Relevance of Information
Technology graduates’ competencies to the industry need at Thai Nguyen University,
where training in the field of information technology. Of the 1089 students who have
graduated from the faculty of information technology, only 146 respondents were
included in the study.