Abstract

The rapid rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is profoundly transforming the global labor market, driving major shifts in required skills, working methods, and recruitment standards across nearly all professional domains. In this context, Vietnam’s higher education system faces an urgent imperative to reshape its approach to preparing students -the country’s future workforce - for an AI-driven world.
This study analyzes the impact of AI on the nature of work and career competencies and evaluates the current career readiness of Vietnamese university students amid digital transformation. While many students in Vietnam possess strong academic backgrounds, foreign language proficiency, and cross-cultural adaptability, they lack essential digital skills, AI literacy, experience working in digital environments, and career self-management capabilities.
Employing qualitative research and thematic content analysis from academic literature, labor market reports, and education policy documents, the study identifies key challenges hindering students’ career transition in the age of AI.
The article proposes strategic recommendations for three primary stakeholder groups: universities, students, and employers. These include interdisciplinary curriculum reform, promoting self-directed digital learning, developing online personal branding, and enhancing university-industry collaboration in practical training. The ultimate goal is to nurture a new generation of graduates who are agile, tech-savvy, and adaptable to career volatility driven by AI, thereby contributing to the quality of Vietnam’s human capital in the digital era.