Viet Nam's complex higher education system needs to be better integrated
in order to improve training quality, a foreign education expert has suggested.
At a workshop held yesterday in
HCM City, Martin Hayden, deputy rector of Australia's Southern Cross University,
said Viet Nam should establish a single coordinating body such as a Ministry of
Higher Education and Research for its higher education system.
A single coordinating body, he
said, should take responsibility for implementing national priorities approved
by the State for the higher education system.
The higher education sector has
been expanding rapidly. From 2001 to 2011, there were on average eight new
universities and twelve new colleges founded each year, and the enrollment
increased from 162 students per 10,000 persons in 2001 to 251 students per
10,000 persons in 2011.
The growth is expected to rise to
more than 400 students per 10,000 persons by 2020.
Hayden noted that Viet Nam's
higher education system was complex, with national and regional universities,
research institutes, academies, comprehensive schools, specialised schools,
technical and vocational colleges, teacher-training colleges, community
colleges and professional secondary schools.
Authority for decision-making in
Viet Nam's higher education system is widely dispersed and as a consequence,
administration of the system is highly fragmented, according to Hayden.
The government has responsibility
for the two national universities.
The Ministry of Training and
Education has responsibility for another 54 public universities and colleges,
while 13 other ministries, together with many State agencies and provincial
governments have responsibilities for another 250 public universities and
colleges.
Hayden said the dispersal of
authority within the system severely limited its capacity to make progress in a
coordinated manner, leading to problems in implementing system-wide policies.
New accountability processes
should also be deployed, he suggested, adding that line-management control by
ministries and other State instrumentalities were significant impediments to
accountability.
"Public universities, which
are generally not able to make their own decisions in Viet Nam, should be given
more self-governing capacity," he said.
Viet Nam's public universities
rank poorly in terms of institutional autonomy, even in comparison with public
universities in the former Soviet satellite countries such as Hungary, the
Czech Republic and Lithuania.
"The need for a transfer of
governance responsibilities for public universities from the State to
university councils is a matter of high priority," Hayden said.
Further expansion of the public
higher education system, however, would require vastly increased amounts of
expenditure.
Because the capacity of the Government
to invest even more heavily in the higher system is limited, increased tuition
fees appear to be the only available option, according to Hayden.
He said the government should
also set up an independent quality assurance agency for the higher education
system.
Organised by the Viet Nam
National University-HCM City's Development Fund in co-operation with the
International Education Institute, the workshop was attended by many domestic
and foreign educational experts.
Business & Investment Opportunities
YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd, Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Strategy, Investment and Management, focusing Healthcare and Life Science with expertise in ASEAN. Since we are currently changing the platform of www.yourvietnamexpert.com, you may contact us at: sbc.pte@gmail.com, provisionally. Many thanks.
No comments:
Post a Comment