LookAtVietnam – Many profit-driven private universities and colleges in the country espouse noble causes but actually spend far less on their students than their public counterparts.

Student designs are exhibited at HCM City’s Hong Bang Private University, one of the few private universities noted for providing students with good facilities.

In general, private universities are plagued by problems including inadequate campus facilities, a lack of teaching staff and unclear legal framework for their operations, they add.

The campus of Hung Vuong University, officially stated to be on a main street in District 5, turns out to be a fenced empty piece of land. The school is actually renting classroom properties in Tan Binh and Phu Nhuan districts.

On another rented property in District 3, the school has converted two rooms into a library and a laboratory, both of which are not spacious and well-equipped.

Van Hien University has also been renting its main campus in Binh Thanh District with classrooms poorly partitioned and sound-proofed, their gypsum walls cracked and flaked.

Lectures from different classes are mixed up. Heat from the low ceiling makes it hard for students, already crammed into the rooms, to keep up with the lessons.

For the last 12 years since the school came into being, its students have shuttled between four rented campuses, says Rector Dr. Nguyen Mong Hung.

According to their 2005 official figures, Hung Vuong University rented 21,000sq.m out of its 35,000 sq.m campus area, and Lac Hong, another privately-owned university, rented the whole of its 25,000 sq.m campus.

This means that rentals account for a large portion of the schools’ expenses, even more than salaries paid to the teaching staff. At Lac Hong, for instance, corresponding figures are 32 per cent and 14 per cent respectively.

Dwindling faculties

Most of the private universities have seen the number of faculty numbers shrink over the years and have failed to comply with the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET)’s requirement that at least 50 per cent of the syllabi is taught by a college’s own regular teaching staff.

Instead, the bulk of teaching is undertaken by guest lecturers. At Thang Long University in Ha Noi, the payroll for regular faculty members and guest lecturers account for 16 and 45 per cent of the payroll respectively. The figures read 14 and 26 per cent at Hong Bang University in HCM City.

In fact, the proportion of teachers’ salaries paid to regular faculty members at Hong Bang has decreased by almost 1 per cent from 2001 to 2005, showing that the faculty has become smaller over the period.

According to MoET, regular teaching staff at private universities are deficient both in number and quality. It says experienced teachers are aged and that there is no coherent strategy to recruit younger ones.

Untested disciplines

In the race to attract as many students as possible, some universities are offering “new” disciplines, bypassing the pre-requisites prescribed by the ministry.

Colleges and universities are required to have teaching staff capable of undertaking 70 per cent of the syllabi in a particular subject with at least one Ph.D and two Masters degree holders.

A college should also be equipped with enough lecture halls and other functional rooms, related textbooks and equipment.

Most importantly, their application dossier should provide a convincing scientific demonstration of the relevance and necessity of teaching a particular discipline.

However, some universities have managed to get their applications for the new disciplines approved, so courses in spa technology, hospital management and post-harvest technology, to name just a few, are being offered without sufficient oversight.

Marketing ploys

There are concerns that driven more by commercial considerations than the exalted goals they claim, private universities would be focused on maximising profits.

So university executives would try to raise fees and other forms of students’ contributions as much as they can, while profit generated goes to the shareholders rather than being reinvested in training and other facilities that need to be improved.

One professor, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said annual dividends of 25-30 per cent at some universities show this business is very lucrative.

He calculated that a profit margins of up to 40 per cent for each class period after paying all essential expenses.

With tuition fees accounting for 90-99 per cent of their revenue, private schools take every cost-cutting opportunity to increase their income and pay handsome dividends.

Despite high cash inflows, annual average spending on each student by privately-owned universities is just one-fifth of their peers in the State sector, according to MoET’s Department of Finance.

Ambiguous legal status

Private university administrations are also troubled by a lack of legal clarity in the division of profits earned, because regulations issued by the Government in 2000 stipulate collective ownership.

The regulations require the ownership of private universities be shared by investors, executives, faculty members and other employees.

However, when the initial capital of several billion dong multiplies several times, ownership disputes break out.

On the other hand, the regulations also allow private universities up to ten years to develop their own properties in scale with their training activities.

These regulations have been used by the schools to delay building their campuses, even ten years after their establishment, to avoid further capital disbursement.

Since Thang Long University was founded 20 years ago in Ha Noi, the country has allowed the opening of 64 private universities in major cities nationwide, accounting for 25 and 12 per cent of the total number of universities and students.

The Government’s plan is to expand the private sector’s role in education. It has targeted having 30 per cent of students trained in private universities and colleges by 2010.

This is difficult to achieve with only 12 per cent of the total students attending private universities now.

“The reason for this is the ministry’s lax management of the private sector,” said a private university rector who refused to identify himself.

Unlike State-owned schools over which the ministry has full authority in financing and staffing, private schools enjoy a high level of autonomy, he said.

“This can allow for mismanagement,” he noted, adding that the ministry should tighten its grip over the private education sector to straighten out issues and make it more effective.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News