Universities told to improve their training

Improvements in Vietnam’s tertiary education must be in line with rules, appropriate to the reality and encourage creativity, said Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan.

Improvements in Vietnam’s tertiary education must be in line with rules, appropriate to the reality and encourage creativity, said Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan.

Students of Ho Chi Minh City University of Science in a class
Students of Ho Chi Minh City University of Science in a class

He made the statement at a meeting of the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) held on September 1 in Ha Noi to review the 2009-10 academic year and launch plans for the new academic year.

Deputy PM Nhan urged universities to continue improving the standard of teachers so that those at universities have higher qualifications than bachelor degrees.
 
He asked universities and colleges to foster training based on the demand of the society, and their current capacity to deliver education in certain core subjects.
 
Each school should offer at least one core subject demanded by the market, and also place emphasis on a subject which is its forte to offer according to international standards, he added.
 
He also stressed importance of evaluating instructors, which will ensure teaching quality. He said schools also need to send teachers abroad for training.

Tran Thi Ha, director of MOET's Department of Higher Education, said there remained many weaknesses in tertiary education management. These included a lack of proper legal documents on higher education management, qualified teachers and poor infrastructure.

Some universities and colleges did not follow the compulsory regulations on reporting to MOET, with 39 per cent of the country's universities and colleges having failed to file a report.

Representatives of universities and colleges at the meeting said current financial mechanism has caused difficulties for the tertiary education sector, adding that school fees are too low to cover training costs, and allocation of State budget for the sector is unequal.

Schools asked the ministry to give them more independence in terms of finance, infrastructure facilities, teaching and learning conditions, and enrollment.

Participants at the meeting also raised the issue of universities co-operating with foreign educational institution without asking for permission from MOET.

Nguyen Xuan Vang, director of the International Training Department, said that the ministry would issue new regulations to ensure stricter control.

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