Deputy Prime
Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan has asked the Ministry of Education and Training to
complete the transfer of universities and colleges in HCM City and Ha Noi to the
cities’ outskirts by 2025.

Nhan spoke during
an online workshop on university, college and vocational school networks in Ha
Noi and HCM City yesterday, June 7.

During the period
between 2011 and 2015, each city will implement a pilot programme to move the
five universities and colleges to the outlying areas.

The capital needed
for removal is estimated to be around US$300 million each, not including the
capital for paying compensation for ground clearance.

During the period
of 2015-20, they will continue to remove 10-15 universities and colleges, with
total estimated capital of $1.2 billion needed for the two cities.

The remaining
universities and colleges will be moved by 2030.

Deputy Minister of
Education and Training Bui Van Ga said that the ministry would not accept more
applications to build or upgrade new universities and colleges in Ha Noi and HCM
City’s inlying districts.

If 80 universities
and colleges are moved by 2030, the number of students in Ha Noi will fall to
150,000 in 2030 from 478,856 in 2011, and in HCM City, to 170,000 in 2030
compared to 516,544 in 2011.

However, Nhan
asked the ministry to not wait until 2030 and complete the removal by
2025.

He agreed to keep
large universities with beautiful architecture and specific traits of the two
cities in inlying areas.

He also asked the
Ministry of Education and Training to co-operate with the Ministry of
Construction to continue finishing the new plan of building a network of
universities and colleges as well as vocational schools.

He said the plan
should be submitted to the Prime Minister by June.

At the workshop,
Phi Thai Binh, deputy chairman of the Ha Noi People’s Committee, said that Ha
Noi was planning to build infrastructure and roads to connect with the area
where the universities and colleges would be located.

Ha Noi would need
at least 3,500 hectares for the relocated schools, Binh said.

Binh said the
Ministry of Education and Training should announce a list of universities and
colleges to be moved.

Hua Ngoc Thuan,
deputy chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee, also suggested setting up a
standing board for moving the schools and a team with the capacity to draw up a
list of universities and colleges to be moved from 2011 to 2015.

The city would
need 1,750 hectares in outlying areas to move the universities and colleges,
Thuan added.

VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News