Game of blames: Higher education stakeholders’ perceptions of causes of Vietnamese graduates’ skills gap

This article reports a mixed-method study that explored higher education stakeholders’ perceptions of the causes of Vietnamese graduates’ skills gap. Email interviews with 38 stakeholders and a survey with the participation of 475 final-year students, graduates, academics, and employers revealed 27 factors perceived to have caused the skills gap. Among them, factors related to impractical university curriculum, constant changes in the labor market, and students’ passivity in planning and developing their career were perceived to be the most influential. The study also revealed that stakeholder groups were blaming each other for who should be responsible for the skills gap.