VietNamNet Bridge – Professor Chu Hao, former Deputy Minister of Science, Technology and the Environment, talks about Vietnam’s dream of having internationally-recognised universities by 2020.

Professor Chu Hao

However, I don’t think that the universities which announced that they will become modern universities in the region and universities of international standard by 2020 are overly optimistic; I don’t think the dream of becoming an internationally-recognised university is a pipe-dream. The leaders of the universities have their own reasons to set the targets for themselves.

I firmly believe that Vietnam’s universities of international standard must be the universities of Vietnam, where the teaching and learning are carried out under Vietnam-designed curricula.

If you invite foreign universities to Vietnam, bring their curricula and teachers, while the degrees are granted by the universities, these will not be Vietnamese universities.

How do you think Vietnam should start to have internationally-recognised universities?

The number of scientific articles published in prestigious international magazines updated on ISI (Institute for Scientific Information) proves to be modest, which shows the weak scientific research activities of Vietnamese universities.

Some experts say that research-oriented universities requires a lot of money for investment, and suggest merging the higher education department of the Ministry of Education and Training into the Ministry of Science and Technology, which could help universities gather strength in scientific research. What do you think about that?

The idea of merging the Ministry of Science and Technology into the Ministry of Education and Training was initiated thirty years ago. The model was once set up, but the department was later split from the Ministry of Science and Technology. None of the models are perfect; each of them has advantages and disadvantages.

I think that there exist problems in the orientation on scientific research. The articles published in international magazines are mostly in mathematics and physics, while there were very few in agriculture, health care and environmental protection, things we need more in the immediate time.

How has the Ministry of Science and Technology been associating with universities in researching?

The Ministry of Science and Technology has programmes at national level which are open for inviting universities and institutes for bids. I have to say that in many cases, universities do not have close links with research institutes.

Do you think that building universities of international standard is a must for Vietnam?

The plan on building universities of international standard needs to be draw up as soon as possible. Singapore and Malaysia set up their plans in the 1950-1960s and they have just got universities of international standard. Therefore, Vietnam needs to have a clear plan on this, so that it can have internationally-recognised universities in 20-30 years.

Bao Anh