LookAtVietnam – The Ministry of Education and Training has unexpectedly changed the tuition fees it set for state owned schools two weeks ago.

Under the latest draft, MOET plans to apply a single tuition fee frame to different levels of education instead of setting different fees for different levels of education. There will be three different fees to be applied to urban areas (40,000-200,000 dong per month), rural areas (20,000-80,000 dong per month) and mountainous areas (5,000-40,000 dong per month).

Under the newly suggested tuition scheme the base fee for mountainous areas has been reduced, while base fees for urban and rural areas have seen considerable increases in comparison with the previous draft.

In the previous draft, which was released just two weeks ago, base fees for general school and pre-school education were 75,000 dong and 160,000 dong a month. They have been raised to 200,000 dong.

The fees for rural areas in the previous draft were 50,000 dong and 55,000 dong for pre-school and general school education, and have been raised to 80,000 dong.

Explaining the increases in fees MOET said that the tuition frames suggested by local authorities all showed high fee levels.

MOET also expects to adjust the tuition levels based on the annual consumer price index to be announced by the relevant Government agency

The draft document has also shown an adjustment in the tuition fees for higher education. From 2011 to 2014, fees will increase by five thousand dong per month from previously expected levels. It will be applied to all areas of study.

As for vocational schools, MOET plans to set fees at 260,000-440,000 dong per month, depending on the branch of study. In the previous draft, the base level was set at 700,000 dong per month. The fact that the expected fees have been lowered clearly shows the MOET’s policy on encouraging students to go to vocational schools.

Tuition fees will be collected from students monthly. However, universities can collect money every semester or every school year if this is accepted by students.

VietNamNet/TT