HA NOI — Universities with their own
financial self-control schemes should have the same rights to set their own
tuition fees that private institutions have, a conference heard last Tuesday.
At a conference on renewing financial
mechanism in public universities, Headmaster of the University of Foreign Trade
Hoang Van Chau said the university had operated its own financial self-control
scheme since 2005 but still did not have real autonomy when it came to planning
expenses.
When using a financial self-control scheme,
universities needed to set suitable tuition fees to maintain and develop the
quality of their education, Chau said. But in fact, they were still required to
follow the same regulations as all State-owned universities.
Ngo The Chi, headmaster of the Academy of
Finance, pointed out that his university had to spend money to improve its
educational offerings but it was not allowed to collect it back.
For example, lecturers used projectors in
their classes three times per day on average, meaning most started showing wear
and tear within about one year. However, they weren't permitted to purchase new
ones under current regulations.
The school did not have the autonomy of
private universities and was dealing with State budget cuts for regular
expenses, Chi said.
Vu Truong Giang, deputy director of the
Ministry of Finance's Administrative Affairs Department agreed, saying that
tuition remained low while many universities didn't have the funds to upgrade
infrastructure and improve educational quality.
Many universities were forced to open new
courses to attract additional funds. As a result, many lecturers didn't have
time for professional development to improve their knowledge and teaching
skills, he added.
To deal with the situation, Chau from the
University of Foreign Trade said schools with financial self-control should
have the right to raise tuition to improve quality and raise lecturers'
salaries.
He also said that universities should have the
power to decide how to enroll students, how much to pay lecturers and how to
spend fees.
Deputy minister of Education and Training Bui
Van Ga said the Government had allowed some universities to set their own
tuition but the quality of education did not match the high fees.
The deputy minister also expressed his
agreement to suggestions from representatives, but said universities needed to
set up specific criteria to assure educational quality.
VNA
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