VietNamNet Bridge – A lot of universities hurried to become established, while they did not have the conditions to be set up. As the result, they have suffered from their premature births.

Nguyen Trai University, where 35 students are studying

The university is allowed to enroll 800 students, but it was only able to enroll 16 students for the 2008 academic year.

On December 10, a student called, informing that he would be giving up his studies, which means that there are only 15 students left. The university is also able to enroll 20 students for pre-university classes. In fact, these students did not receive the minimum marks stipulated by the Ministry of Education and Training in the university entrance exams, and the students now are learning together with other regular students.

When asked how the university will organize training with just 15 students, the head of the training division said he still has to wait for a decision from the higher level.

The ‘higher level’ here is Nguyen Tien Luan, Chairman of the Board of Directors, while the management board of the university has been left idle for the last few months, since the principal and deputy principal decided to step down in July 2008.

The university has invited one person to the post of principal, while the head of the training division has just taken the office in November.

Ha Hoa Tien, also a non-state university, is also facing the same situation. The university has a large campus, located alongside the 1A Highway, 50 km from Hanoi, but is lacking both students and lecturers.

The university’s campus still looks like a construction site, though it became officially established and began enrolling students in 2007.

The university has been allowed to enroll 1,000 students for the last two years, for both the university and junior college training levels. However, there are only 500 students learning at the university.

It seems that many universities and junior colleges do not have long-term development strategies. The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has discovered that the Phuong Dong Junior College has been asking visiting lecturers to draw up syllabuses themselves. The Hue city Industrial College has been allowed to enroll students for 10 study branches, while the detailed programs for study subjects have not been approved.

Quotas for enrolment, what for?

It is clear that universities and colleges have all been trying to ask MOET to provide as many quotas for enrolment as possible.

The HCM City Economics and Technology College, for example, enrolled a number of students 70% higher than the allowed levels during the last three consecutive years.

The Long An Economics and Technology University has also enrolled students exceeding their allowed level by 65%.

Most recently, the HCM City-based Hung Vuong people-founded University has been founded through joining with a company to provide training service. As the cooperation began experiencing troubles, students have become uncared-for.

Rushing to be established, and hurrying to enroll students, many universities have been pushed against the wall. However, the more serious problem is that society and students have been suffering from their bad training quality.

(Source: Tien phong)