- Vietnam proposes allowing international students to work up to 20 hours per week, aligning with UK and US norms.
- Policy aims to attract more foreign students and boost international integration, says education consultant Mark Ashwill.
- Part-time opportunities could include teaching, IT, marketing, creative industries, and hospitality, with monitoring to ensure legal compliance.
Foreign students in Vietnam could have a maximum of 20 hours' work per week, a new proposal by the country's Ministry of Education and Training has put forward. The proposal was among a series of education and training policy proposals recently put forward by ministers to the National Assembly, local media reports.
Ministers have been reported as saying the proposal would put Vietnam on par with other countries, such as the UK and US, where 20 hours of work a week is permitted. Mark Ashwill, Managing Director of education consulting company Capstone Vietnam, said the proposal was driven by a desire to attract more foreign students.
"This is one practical way to do it", he told The PIE News in an interview. He noted that current 'pull factors' for international students were relatively low cost, political stability, favorable education opportunities in Vietnamese and English, security for individuals, and a tropical climate.
"This would offer an additional incentive for international students to consider Vietnam as a potential foreign study destination and is in line with the policy of the government to attract more international students", he noted.
"It would also complement the government's oft-stated aspiration of international integration", he continued. Vietnam doesn't have a policy governing how many hours foreign students may work, but Ashwill said some were probably already working for local firms.
"Most of them are probably working illegally without a permit and being paid cash in the under-the-table way, so no tax revenue for the government", he said. This also makes it simpler for employers to exploit such workers as they do not exist on paper in the labor market, and therefore there is little accountability or recourse.
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Institutions that take in international students should have appropriate communication with counterpart government offices Mark Ashwill, Capstone Vietnam The 'devil will be in the details' when it comes to monitoring a 20-hour limit, Ashwill explained.
"The government needs to ensure that employment of students is approved and that they are working 20 hours or less a week for a licensed organisation or business", he said.
"That is asking that there be effective communication among institutions that take in international students and involved government offices".
The country's current digitalization strategy towards developing an 'e-government' would make the process easier, he added. Opportunities for part-time work would differ depending on the sector, Ashwill said, but some possible fields are teaching English and other-high in-demand foreign languages, technology and information technology, marketing and creative industries, and the service and hospitality sectors.
"Those skilled jobs could be a stepping stone to long-term employment, yet another new policy terrain for Vietnam amid its waning demographic dividend", he stated. Almost 22,000 foreign students were studying in Vietnam as of the end of 2024, with some 80% hailing from neighboring Laos and Cambodia, local media reported.
