LookAtVietnam – Professor Nguyen Xuan Han, believes that Vietnam must stop opening more universities and focus instead on strengthening those that already exist.

Professor Nguyen Xuan Han believes that Vietnam must stop opening more universities and focus instead on strengthening those that already exist.

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Professor Han, in a recent Tien Phong interview, observed that university education is not a business venture. He criticized the random opening and closings of schools and argues for better facilities and more trained lecturers.

Tien Phong: University education is the matter of your interest. You seem to think that university education lacks many thing to develop?

Professor Nguyen Xuan Han: Dao Trong Thi, Chair of the National Assembly’s Committee for Culture, Education, Youth and Children has released statistics on university education that may startle everyone. From 1987 to now, the number of students has increased by 13 times, while the number of instructors has increased by only three times, which means that we seriously lack lecturers. The ratio of students- lecturers is very high: one lecturer for every 40 students. Meanwhile, Vietnam education standards require one lecturer for every 25 students. The percentage of professors, associate professors and doctorates among instructors is also low.

Regarding material facilities, under Vietnam’s standards, the required ratio is 6 square meters per student. Yet at many prestigious universities existing for tens of years, the ratio is just 0.5 square meters per student. The average ratio is 1-2 square meters per student. Polytechnique schools do not have the machines and equipment for students to practice, so they must study without practical lessons.

As far as I know, many non-state schools must borrow facilities from state-owned schools. The institutions also lack areas for students to relax and their dormitories remain very poor.

As for state-owned schools, in theory, training a student costs a total of six million dong. However, the Ministry of Education and Training allows schools to enroll additional students. Therefore, in fact, spending on each student is just 2.5-3 million dong.

Tien Phong: It seems that requirements for an operation license to open a school have been loosened?

Han: In fact, the set requirements are very strict, but many schools do not follow them.

One of the important things that need to be accomplished before licensing schools is to examine material facilities and lecturers. However, after the media reported the case of Phan Thiet University (which received a license to operate despite poor material facilities and a dearth of lecturers – VNNB), people have realized that the school’s material facilities were not inspected.

I once noted that, in just a single week, four universities announced their establishment.

Tien Phong: Do you think that it is necessary to shut down universities that cannot meet established standards?

Han: University education is not a kind of business, and universities cannot be opened and closed spontaneously, because the object is to educate people who will decide the future of Vietnam. Right now we must stop opening new schools and instead focus on strengthening institutions that already exist. We have more than 400 universities and junior colleges already.

Source: Tien phong