The body under pressure is the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) which has the right to inspect and license schools and yet appears oblivious to blatant abuses of the system.

Tuoi Tre newspaper, which highlighted on-going irregularities at Phan Thiet University, yesterday profiled increasing pressure on MOET. One contributor Le Minh Tien, MA, called on the government to reconsider its inspection capabilities.

“When newspapers point out the problems of universities, MOET always says: “We will inspect the universities”. However, inspections by the ministry have not helped reduce the problems, but have made them more serious and numerous,” Tien wrote.

“Therefore, the issue that needs to be discussed now is not to take inspection tours to universities, but to reconsider the inspection capability of MOET. The Government needs to set up a taskforce to examine the procedures and the capability of MOET in verifying new university projects,” he continued.

“If MOET carefully examined the project as documented by the director of the University Education Department Tran Thi Ha, why did they not notice the big problems which can be easily seen?” he questioned.

Deputy prime minister and minister of MOET Nguyen Thien Nhan had instructed urgent inspection of Phan Thiet University.

It followed local newspapers reporting it was still licensed to operate by MOET and was set to start the new school year with 750 students, yet it could not meet even the most basic requirements and documents had obviously been falsified.

Later, Thanh Nien newspaper now reports MOET made an inspection tour to Phan Thiet University on October 18.

The minutes of the inspection tours wrote that by that time, the university had had enough rooms for 750 students to start the new school year from October 20. All 12 rooms at the ‘Mui Ne ancient village’, normally a tourist site, had stopped tourism activities to focus on university activities. A computer lab with 100 computers had been installed.

The final inspection report will be released soon.

Professor Tran Dinh Long from the Hanoi University of Technology:

“We must follow the principle ‘the chicken must be there before the eggs’. I mean universities must be licensed only after they can meet the requirements of establishment.

“I think that a two-step process for university establishment should be set up. In the first step, management agencies release the decision to allow establishment after the universities have completed the necessary administrative procedures which give them legal status. After getting licenses, universities need to prepare material facilities, staff and curriculums and they will only be able to begin training if they have the required conditions”.

“MOET always says it is striving to improve the education quality. However, it seems that its deeds do not match its words.”

Professor Nguyen Minh Thuyet, deputy chairman of the National Assembly’s Committee for Culture, Education, Youth and Children

“We should learn lesson from the Phan Thiet University case. I think we should not allow the Minister of MOET to release decisions on university establishment as suggested in the drafted amended education law. Only the Prime Minister himself, not the minister, should be given the power to make such decisions.

“Phan Thiet is not the only case of the universities with three ‘nos’. One year ago, in our report on the implementation of the Education Law, our committee reported that universities have been established or upgraded too easily.”

Professor Vu Duong Ninh from the Hanoi National University

“It seems management agencies most focus on considering material facilities of universities before licensing them. Meanwhile, I think the most important factor is the universities’ staff. It happens quite regularly now that newly established universities ‘borrow’ names of professors and doctors from other universities. I myself sometimes discovered my name in the lists of lecturers of other universities, while I had no relationship with them”.

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