VietNamNet Bridge – Under the draft university
education law, Vietnamese students can reduce the actual duration of studying
at universities, allowing them to obtain a bachelors degree after just 1.5
years of studying.

In the draft
university education law for which the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET)
is now soliciting public opinion, the duration for university training may last
from 1.5 years to six years, while the duration for junior college training
from 1.5 years to 3 years. People have to spend 1.5-2 years studying to obtain
a masters degree, while they have to
spend 2-4 years to obtain doctorate degree.

The draft
regulation that students can obtain bachelor degree just after 1.5 years of
training has surprised many people, who believe that the training plan is
unfeasible.

Utopian plan?

Professor
Pham Phu, a well known educator in HCM
City, said that in many foreign
countries, universities are following a 4-year bachelors programs. During the
four years of studying, students will have to complete 120 credits. Meanwhile,
the current number of credits in Vietnam is 140-160. If students
fulfill the education training program within 1.5 years, they will have to
complete 100 credits a year. “It is unfeasible. How can they arrange time to
attend lectures?” he questioned. “I think only one out of one million people has
the capability of completing 100 credits a year.”

Professor
Nguyen Canh Toan, former Deputy Minister of Education and Training, thinks that
by setting different durations for university education, MOET aims to create
most favorable conditions for students to control the duration of studying
themselves, depending on their conditions and capabilities.

Meanwhile,
Deputy President of the Hanoi University of Technology Nguyen Canh Luong calls
this “mission impossible” and “unimaginable”.

Looking into
the issue from the angle of the Education Law, Professor Nguyen Xuan Han said the
regulation does not come in line with the provision No 38 of the law. The law
clearly stipulates that a university education must be carried out in 4-6 years
depending on the major, applied to people who have finished high schools or
intermediate schools; in 2.5-4 years applied to the people who have finished a
training program of the same major at intermediate schools; and in 1.5-2 years
applied to the people who have finished the training program of the same major
at junior colleges”

Knowledge is limitless

Professor
Pham Minh Hac, former Minister of MOET, said that in developed countries, such
as the US or Germany, a
university education program lasts any given number of years. Russian tends to
reduce the training duration to five years. Though in the UK, the
duration has been shortened to three years, no country in the world can train bachelors
within a record time of 1.5 years.

Hac said that
he received university education in Russia, where he could see only one
person who could fulfill the 5-year university education program within three
years – Professor Nguyen Xuan Han. He stressed that the persons like Professor
Han are very rare.

“I agree that
the university training duration can be shortened depending on teachers and
students’ capabilities. However, obtaining bachelor degree after 1.5 years of
studying is an impossible goal. No other country in the world is applying such
a program,” Hac said.

Professor Dr
Nguyen Minh Thuyet, Deputy Chair of the National Assembly’s Committee for
Culture, Education and the Youth said that 60 years ago, general education last
9 years and university education last two years only. At that time, the volume
of knowledge was smaller, while the requirements on knowledge and skills on
university graduates were lower.

Meanwhile,
students nowadays must study a wider range and volume of knowledge and therefore
they need more training time. “It is impossible to set up such a short duration
for university education,” he stressed.

C. V