While educators argue about the quality of in-service
training, someone has suggested that evaluating it would be the best solution to
find out the actual quality. Why not?

everyone
knows that evaluation allows to give exact conclusion about the quality of
university training. However, in Vietnam, to date, the quality appraisal has
only been implementied on the trial basis.

By
November 2010, only 100 out of 180 universities had completed the quality
self-assessment reports. Meanwhile, the national council for education quality
assessment has appraised 20 universities to date, and the accreditation result
has not been declared.

How
many in-service training students?

The
Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), in its report on the development of
the university system in Vietnam in 2009, said that Vietnam had more than 1.7
million students at universities and junior colleges, inclujding 900,000
students of non-regular training mode (of which, 220,000 students followed
distance training courses), or 50 percent of the total number.

However,
to date, the ministry has not released any report showing the number of
students, following in-service training courses. When VietNamNet’s reporters
called the Planning and Finance Department of the ministry, which is in charge
of collecting information about in-service training, they were told that to
date, 50 universities have not sent reports about the number of in-service
training..

Meanwhile,
an expert asserted that in fact, MOET has the exact numbers of students, but it
does not want to declare the figure. He said that the numbers should be made
public in order to avoid wrongdoings in training.

“If MOET
does not have such very simple figures, how can it manage the training system
with so many complicated problems?” he questioned.

Accrediting universities, when?

Pham Xuan
Thanh, Deputy Director of the Educational Quality Evaluation and Measurement,
said that to date, 169 out of 412 schools, including 92 universities and 77
junior colleges have sent reports about self-assessment. However, Thanh admitted
that the national council for education evaluation has completed the evaluation
of 20 schools.

Dr Vu Thi
Phuong Anh from the HCM City National University, said that the evaluation of
in-service training has been “ignored”.

“MOET has
been proceeding/working very slowly even with regular training, let alone
in-service training,” Anh commented

Anh said
that the evaluation and accreditation have become a too big task for MOET,
especially when the number of schools has been increasing so rapidly,and
therefore, it is necessary to socialize the service.

By
September 2009, Vietnam had had 440 universities, junior colleges and other
higher-education schools. In 2008-2009 academic year, Vietnam had 1,719,499
students, 13 times higher number than that in n1987.

How to
evaluate in-service training?

Many
people now believe that in-service training always has low quality, while
universities argue that they ensure the quality of in-service training.

Dr Lam
Quang Thiep, an education expert, said that it is necessary to set up a
mechanism that allows to test the quality of in-service training graduates.

Other
experts believe that the testing must be done by a third party in order to
ensure the objectivity

According
to Dr Anh, in other countries, three parties get involved in the evaluation,
while the State only set rules and controls the market. All the evaluation
results must be made public.

Tu
Uyen