VNU Journal of Science, Vol. 31, No.

4 (2015) 85-97

Higher Education Reform in Vietnam: Current Situation,

Challenges and Solutions

Nguyễn Văn Nhã1, Vũ Ngọc Tú2

1
VNU University of Education, 144 Xuân Thủy, Cầu Giấy, Hanoi, Vietnam
2
VNU International School, 144 Xuân Thủy, Cầu Giấy, Hanoi, Vietnam

Received 24 April 2015

Revised 30 July 2015; Accepted 20 December 2015

Abstract: The comprehensive reform that has been vigorously carried out over the last decades in
all sectors has achieved important results. In spite of many difficulties and challenges, “Vietnam’s
GDP growth rates have been very strong compared to its South-East Asian neighbors” (Nuffic
Neso Vietnam). That has been attributed to higher education reform as higher education has been
considered a very important part of the renewal of the State. In other words, Vietnam’s higher
education reform that has been carried out since the late 90’s of the last century has recorded
remarkable achievements. Firstly, the university scope and network has better met the people’s
learning requirements. Secondly, higher education quality has been gradually enhanced. Thirdly,
equity of accessing higher education has been improved. Fourthly, university governance has
changed for the better. Fifthly, teaching and administrative staff have considerably increased in
terms of quality and quantity. Sixthly, private higher education has developed. Seventhly,
investment in higher education has increased and lastly, higher education institutions’ physical
facilities have improved (Education Development Strategy 2011-2012, June, 2012). However,
there are still a number of issues to be solved chiefly in the training area in such a way that makes
the higher education reform achieve its aims: (i) to produce human resources, raise people’s
intellectual level, foster talent, conduct R&D in order to generate knowledge, create new products
to meet the requirements of socio-economic development, national defense, security and
international integration and (ii) to upgrade some universities to international standards and
improve the competitive strength of the country’s human resources and economy (Higher
Education Law, 2012). Key words: higher education, reform, objectives, challenges, solutions

1. Introduction12 require more and more highly qualified human

resources for their developments. In order to
Vietnam’s integration into WTO has meet these requirements, Vietnam has to speed
brought about changes in the economic up its higher education reform. Higher
structures and not only Vietnamese companies, education reform in the years to come has to be
joint ventures but also more and more foreign mapped out in accordance with the Higher
companies which have invested in Vietnam Education Law 2012 and the Education
Development Strategy by the Vietnamese
_______ Government. Education and training, science
1
Email: [email protected]
2
Email: [email protected] and technology are regarded as necessary
85
86 N.V. Nhã, V.N. Tú / VNU Journal of Science, Vol. 31, No. 4 (2015) 85-97

foundation and active factors for the successful (v) Foreign-invested universities (Higher
implementation of the socio-economic Education Law, 2012).
objectives, national construction and defense. However, in the authors’ viewpoint,
Hence, investment in this field is also national universities should be considered as a
considered as one of the targets of investment separate type as they operate according to their
policy of the Vietnamese Government (Higher own Regulation on Organization and Operation
Education Law, 2012). Although a lot has been promulgated by the government. Moreover,
done in terms of higher education reform and they are clearly stated in one separate article in
the quality of higher education has been the Higher Education Law 2012 as
positively improved, there are still many comprehensive, high quality training and R&D
difficulties and challenges ahead which have to centers which are given priorities for
be surpassed. This paper, therefore, looks at (i) development by the government.
the current situation of Vietnam’s higher
The two national universities: Vietnam
education, (ii) higher education reform in
National University, Hanoi (VNU) established
general and reform in the training area in
in on December 10, 1993 by amalgamating
particular, (iii) and challenges facing higher
some leading mono-disciplinary higher
education and (iv) some solutions for further
education institutions and Vietnam National
development.
University, Ho Chi Minh City (VNU-HCM)
established on January 27, 1995 by merging
nine higher education institutions. VNU and
2. Current situation of Vietnam’s higher
education VNU-HCM have several member universities
(7 and 5 respectively), research institutes (5 and
Thanks to the higher education reform 1 respectively), some schools and a number of
which started in the late 90s of the last century, centers. The model of national universities has
Vietnam’s higher education system has steadily been stabilized by the Government’s decision to
developed. The number of higher education reorganize the two national universities in 2001.
institutions has increased and the training At present, there are 498 higher education
quality has gradually improved. From the institutions out of which 93 are private
system consisting of only narrowly specialized [https:/vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/danh sach cac
universities with only Bachelor and PhD truong dai hoc vien va cao dang tai Viet Nam].
degrees following the former Soviet model,
2.2 Organization of higher education
now many of them have changed to multi-field,
institutions
multi-disciplinary/comprehensive universities
offering Associate/college, Bachelor/university, According to Higher Education Law (2012)
Master’s and PhD programs. Vietnam’s higher education institutions are
organized into State-owned public and private.
2.1 Types of higher education institutions
State-owned public HE institutions are
It is stated that Vietnam’s higher education established by the government and receive
(HE) consists of the following 5 types: budgets for their infrastructure, facilities and
(i) Colleges; operational expenditures from the government.
Private HE institutions are possessed by social
(ii) Universities, academies;
organizations, socio-professional organizations,
(iii) Local universities, national universities; private economic organizations or individuals
(iv) Scientific research institutes eligible for and invested and built by social organizations,
PhD training; socio-professional organizations, private
economic organizations or individuals. The
government supports public HE institutions to
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ensure that they always play a key role in the However, it is worth noting that Vietnam’s HE
national education system. institutions are not only managed by the
Ministry of Education and Training but also by
2.3 Levels of higher education
various ministries and provincial people’s
Vietnam’s higher education comprises the committees: namely by Ministry of Education
following levels: Associate/College, and Training (56), by other ministries such as
Bachelor/University, Master’s and PhD. Ministry of Public Security (11), Ministry of
(i) Associate/college is from 2 to 3 years Defense (25) [https:/vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/danh
depending on disciplines and is for students sach cac truong dai hoc vien va cao dang tai
with upper secondary education certificates, 1.5 Viet Nam] and by provincial people’s
to 2 years for students with secondary committees. 40/63 provinces and cities have
vocational certificates of the same training universities accounting for 63.3%, 60/63
disciplines. provinces have colleges making up 95.2%
(ii) Bachelor/university is from 4 to 6 years (MOET, August 2012). Most of Vietnam’s
depending on disciplines and for students with college-level institutions are managed by
upper secondary education certificates. provincial people’s committees.
(iii) Master is 2 years for students with
Bachelor degrees. 3. Vietnam’s higher education reform
(iv) PhD is from 2 to 4 years for students
with Bachelor degrees and Master degrees The contents of Vietnam’s HE reform
respectively. which touch upon all the training and research
disciplines focus on reorganizing the system of
Colleges normally offer three-year
universities and colleges: their structures and
programs and award Associate diplomas to
training scope; renewal of learning and
those who graduate. About two-thirds of
teaching, writing a new system of course books,
Vietnam’s colleges specialize in training
making teaching and research closely linked;
teachers for lower levels of the education
training and retraining faculty members;
system. Colleges are small and the students in
modernizing the equipment and facilities in
these colleges make up a small pan of the total
order to make it possible for Vietnam’s higher
enrollment of public higher education
education to gradually integrate into the
institutions.
regional and world higher education community
2.4. Higher education management and meet the requirements of the country’s
It might be right to say that HE socio-economic development.
management is characterized by a very high 3.1. Specific objectives for development of
level of centralization. The Ministry of Vietnam’s higher education
Education and Training (MOET) has significant
The specific objectives for development of
power over higher education and determines the
Vietnam’s higher education (HE) may be
curriculum, student enrolment, academic
summarized as follows:
assessment, awarding of degrees, staff
appointments, budget decisions, infrastructure To consolidate some highly qualified
and facility maintenance (Hayden, 2005). universities by giving them the priority in
Universities have little experience in managing human resources, investment, cooperation with
themselves or pursuing their own goals. There prestigious universities in the world so that they
still exists a severe lack of close links between can offer high quality training programs of
higher education institutions and scientific regional and international standards. Up to 2020
research, businesses, industries and employers. Vietnam’s higher education will basically reach
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the regional standards with some world-class the country as at present, some cities and
universities; provinces have more HE institutions than
To continue reforming HE needed. For example, out of about 498 HE
management/governance; institutions, 188 accounting for 37.7 % are
located in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City or Bac
To combine training with research and
Ninh province with the population of less than
practice;
1.1 million has 11 HE institutions not to
To increase the proportion of faculty with mention other provinces like Hung Yen and
Master’s and PhD degrees in the whole country; Nam Dinh. This has led to the fact that those
To increase the number of students per universities can only recruit very few new
10,000 inhabitants, and the number of Master students each year. In 2014, Bac Ha
students and that of PhD students; more International University and Kinh Bac
ambitiously, to train 20,000 PhD till 2020, half University (Bac Ninh province) could recruit
in Vietnam and half from overseas; only 400 new students each.
Then what should be done to achieve the [https:/vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/danh sach cac
above-mentioned objectives? truong dai hoc vien va cao dang tai Viet Nam]
&
3.2. Developing [https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chr
multidisciplinary/comprehensive higher ome-
education institutions with 1-2 world class instant&rlz=1C1GIWA_enVN608VN608&ion
universities (top 200) and gradually =1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=tuoi+tre+online]. In
distributing HE institutions rationally that connection, the rational distribution of HE
throughout the country institutions over the country should be paid
It is obvious that Vietnam’s higher more attention to.
education still has a lot of specialized HE 3.3. Establishing private higher education
institutions which focus on a certain single area institutions
of study, such as economics, banking, law,
technology, agriculture, forestry, fishery…They It is obvious that the increasing expansion
were said to be suitable for the centrally of upper-secondary education has put a great
planned economy rather than the market pressure on Vietnam’s HE system. The number
economy. Therefore, over the last years, quite a of upper-secondary students grew more than
number of multidisciplinary HE institutions double from 1,019,500 in 1995-1996 academic
have been set up by amalgamating the existing year to 2,589,600 in 2003-2004 academic year.
institutions, for example, the two national While annually, more than 1,100,000 upper-
universities in 1993 and 1995 respectively, the secondary graduates applied for the national
three regional universities: Hue, Da Nang and entrance examination, the quota for admission
Thai Nguyen in 1994 or upgrading existing was only about 120,000-140,000. In 2004, the
colleges into universities like Vinh University number of candidates was 888,479 while the
in 2001 (formerly Vinh’s Teacher’s Training quota of admission was only 139,813. In 2005,
College) or Quy Nhon University in 2003 the number of applicants for the national higher
(formerly Quy Nhon Teacher’s Training education entrance examination was 1,537,252
College), just to name a few. The two national of which 1,120,209 (73%) applied for
universities were established possibly with the universities and 4-year colleges, while the quota
hope that they would become world class of admission was only 230,507. That similar
universities. situation has prolonged until now. Clearly,
In addition, it is really urgent to getting a study place in a higher education
appropriately distribute HE institutions all over institution is always highly competitive. In
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order to meet the youth’s excessive demands Whatever happens, it is obvious that the
for study in higher education institutions and establishment of private HE institutions has
ease the public budget burden, in 1993 the proved to be an encouraging result of
Vietnamese government decided to establish Vietnam’s higher education reform.
private HE institutions. Private HE institutions
3.4. Internationalizing higher education
have created jobs for thousands of permanent
faculty numbers and a similar number of Globalization and internationalization can
support staff as well as thousands of learning be analyzed along four main dimensions:
places for students. technological, educational, economic and
As was mentioned above, Vietnam now has political. Relating to Vietnam’s higher
93 private HE institutions accounting for 18.6 education, internationalization can be seen
% of the total of Vietnam’s higher education through the establishment of foreign invested
institutions. In terms of administrative universities and foreign training programs run
apparatus, the key players are experienced, either entirely by foreign universities or through
retired administrators of public universities and cooperation between a foreign and Vietnamese
colleges and government’s education agencies. institution. This sector received a large boost in
In training, they also are the main faculty of 2000 with the enactment of Decree No
public institutions. 06/2000/ND-CP dated March 6, 2000 which
provided incentives for foreign investment in
However, it is obvious that although the
several areas, including education and training
number of private higher education institutions
(Kristy Kelly; The Higher Education System in
is growing rapidly, many are plagued by poor
Vietnam; WENR; 2000).
management, low quality of teaching and
research, and inadequate equipment. For lack of The first university with 100% foreign
qualified academic staff, facilities, equipment investment is the Royal Melbourne Institute of
and special laboratories, quite a number of Technology (RMIT) International University
private HE institutions are not allowed to offer Vietnam. This university has two campuses:
programs in such fields as law, architecture, one in Ho Chi Minh City set up in 2001 and the
journalism and medicine. other in Hanoi set up in 2004. The university
offers training programs which fall under the
Since the establishment of the first private
areas of education, business, computer science,
HE institution, there have been quite a few
information technology, multimedia and
regulations/policies on the management of
engineering. The third campus is under
private HE institutions such as Decision No.
development at Saigon South with the total
61/2009/QD-TTg and Decision No.
investment amount of 20,000,000 USD. The
63/2011QD-TTg, Decree No. 141/ND-CP dated
second one is the British University Vietnam
24 October, 2013 and Decision No. 70/QD-TTg
(2009)… In addition, over the last years,
dated 10 December, 2014 and that is not
Vietnam has set up some Vietnam - foreign
enough. The lack of a regulative framework and
universities: (i). Vietnam-German University
the weak awareness of management hinder
(2008); (ii). Vietnam – France University or the
government’s agencies from effectively
University of Science and Technology (2009);
supervising private HE institutions. Some
VNU Vietnam – Japan University (2014),
private HE institution administrators
Fulbright University Vietnam (2015), Vietnam
irresponsibly take an advantage of this gap and
– Russia University (2015)…These universities
run their institutions in an unprincipled way
are modeled after existing modern universities
[Student finance and accessibility,
in the world and thus meeting international
http://www.gse.buffalo.edu/org].
standards ranging from curricula, teaching
methods, assessment methods and training
90 N.V. Nhã, V.N. Tú / VNU Journal of Science, Vol. 31, No. 4 (2015) 85-97

management. The idea behind this is to build a Fellowships for Master students. A significant
higher education that is multi-tiered and that number of students receive scholarships and
includes HE institutions operating under other types of awards directly from foreign
different ownership model (public, private and universities, non-governmental organizations,
mixed). These universities are said to be foundations or corporations. The Vietnamese
Vietnam’s first research-oriented universities Government, through MOET, also provides
which are more autonomous than other approximately 400 scholarships annually for
Vietnamese universities and they will be the state employees to study abroad. It is worth
first universities to hire administrators and 50- mentioning that quite a number of students
80% foreign lecturers study abroad at their own expenses.
Moreover, a number of foreign institutions 3.5. Improving the national entrance
have also entered into joint programs with examination
Vietnamese institutions, many of which consist
of a study abroad component, and those are As was stated, higher education entrance
referred to as “sandwich programs”. They examinations in Vietnam have always been
include the Fulbright Economics Teaching highly competitive and put great pressure on
Program, a collaboration between the Harvard students and their parents as well as the staff of
Kennedy School’s Vietnam Program and the HE institutions. In 1987, MOET published
University of Economics, Ho Chi Minh City; batteries of higher education entrance
University of Hawaii’s MBA program in examination items for HE institutions and
partnership with VNU’s School of Business, colleges to use in national entrance
Troy State University’s undergraduate degree in examinations. That would prevent negative
collaboration with the VNU’s University of phenomena like cheating that sometimes
Economics, Washington State University’s happened in national entrance examinations in
MBA program with the National Economics the past. But in 2015, MOET dropped the "3
University, University of Houston’s general examination" and replaced it by the
undergraduate degree with the Hanoi University national high school examination thus enabling
of Technology. Among the “sandwich” proactive school enrollment under the scheme
programs, the most highly appreciated by approved by MOET. In May, 2015 VNU
MOET are those conducted by VNU’s organized the first “proficiency examination” as
University of Science in collaboration with the its own entrance examination for over 43,000
University of Greifswald, Germany, Hanoi high school students. And in August, 2015
University of Technology with Sydney VNU organized the second “proficiency
University of Technology, Australia, and the examination” for nearly 170,000 high school
University of Civil Engineering with Liege students. This sort of examination has received
University, Belgium, just to name a few. a lot of support from the public as it has been
considered to be effective, less time consuming
In terms of scholarships for overseas study,
and more economical.
according to a report of the Institute of
International Education, there are only few full 3.6. Improving the training area:
scholarships available to study overseas. Each 3.6.1. Renovating the training process
year, there are approximately 10 Canadian
government scholarships, 70 UK, 200 French, For a long time, Vietnam’s HE institutions
150 Australian, 70 short-term and 10 long-term used the Soviet’s model of curricula which was
Thai and 60 Japanese scholarships. In addition, suitable for the centrally planned economy. The
there are also 25 Fulbright Fellowships and main feature of this kind of curricula is that it
around 50 scholarships from US Government focused too much on narrow specialization.
Vietnam Education Foundation (VEF). Although some HE institutions had tried to
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renovate their curricula, yet their results had not In order to give more autonomy to HE
been up to expectation because their teaching institutions and to make training products
and management staff lacked the knowledge of relevant to and acceptable by the society,
curriculum design and there was a great MOET requires that the contents of programs
shortage of necessary materials and information must be compiled with the participation of the
as well as merging knowledge of offering those faculty of an institution and of employers or
specialized disciplines. “consumers” of the products. Based on this
Up till now, MOET and many HE assumption MOET devolves the curriculum
institutions have spent considerable time management as follows:
studying relevant theories to initiate a real - MOET directly designs and manages the
renovation relating to the aims and contents of content of Marxist-Leninist courses, national
curricula. For example, in 1993, MOET defense, and physical education;
promulgated the regulation on structure and - Higher education institutions manage the
block of knowledge in higher education rest of the courses of general education, core
curricula which clearly states that: and required courses in each curriculum;
- The ratio between the knowledge of - Faculties or departments design and
general education and that of professional manage electives.
education in a 4 year undergraduate program
At present, curriculum development is an
must be about 4/6;
issue of the government’s concern. On 6th
- The minimum block of core knowledge September, 2004 the government issued
depends on each specialized discipline; Document No1269/CP-KG entrusting key HE
- Knowledge of the major must include institutions with the task of designing
minimum block of 45 learning units. “advanced curricula”. This is understood as
Knowledge and skills of the concerned the curricula used at prestigious universities of
specialized discipline must be offered in such a developed countries and appropriate for the
way that students can choose specific courses requirements of the country’s socio-economic
under their lecturers’ guidance; development. Then, on 21 October, 2004 by
- Knowledge of the minor may not be in the issuing another document, MOET instructed
curriculum, but it must contain at least 25 key HE institutions to carry out this important
learning units; task. A number of universities have submitted
their own curricula to MOET for selecting the
- For basic sciences and pedagogy, part of
best to be applied by using the government’s
the knowledge of the major or minor may be
funds.
placed in the block of general education;
3.6.2. Introducing two-phase education and
- A learning unit represents 15 hours of
its failure
theoretical lectures (one hour of lecture plus
two hours of preparation and one hour of self- At the beginning of the HE reform, MOET
study per week, over a 15-week semester), or introduced a two-phase degree program,
30-45 hours of practical work, or 45-90 hours whereby the first three to four semesters
of field work, or 45-60 hours’ preparing constitute the general education, preparing
graduation theses or projects. Four - year students for more specialized studies during the
programs normally require a total of 210 second phase. The aims of this two-phase
learning units, five-year programs require 270 education were: (i)) to standardize and improve
learning units and six-year programs require the quality of basic knowledge of general
320 learning units. education; (ii) to provide learners with an
opportunity to choose the appropriate
profession after two years of general education;
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and (iii) to help to popularize higher education. this system although it was developed by
In Phase 1, students take general subjects such western universities many years ago. They have
as Foreign Language, Physical, Military understood this system as follows:
Education, and Political Theory, as well as core - The credit system is supposed to be a
subjects related to their intended training field. system where each student after completing a
There were seven core groupings: Mathematics course will be given a certificate. If a program
and Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Social consists of 70 courses, for example, students
Sciences, Humanities, Business and must accumulate 70 certificates to be
Management, Economics and Foreign recognized as having completed the program
Languages. and they will be awarded a degree. It is
Having completed Phase 1, students were considered unimportant what and when a
awarded a Certificate of General Education student studies in the program. It is also
which made it eligible for students to take the assumed that it is necessary to move to that
examination to Phase 2 - the specialized system because it would make the training
education. At the end of Phase 1, students’ process more flexible and would be easier for
status and scholarship were reviewed. students to raise the sense of creativeness and
In Phase 2, students took more specialized activeness in making their own study plans.
subjects. Based on the seven core groupings for - The learning unit system advocated by
Phase 1, each HE institution compiled the list of MOET more than 10 years ago is the same
courses for each specialized discipline to be model as the credit system used in overseas
offered. This phase ended with a graduation universities.
thesis or project or graduation exams. Formerly, Under MOET’s regulation on curricula,
writing graduation theses was only for the best each undergraduate program must consist of
students, but now it is required of all students in 210 learning units including 90 units of general
many HE institutions as it is considered to be a education and 120 units of specialized
good way to improve the training quality. education. Each course has a number of
The two-phase HE system had been applied learning units. The courses are of two kinds:
for about ten years until it was strongly obligatory and elective. The purpose of
objected by the public. Many parents did not implementing a “learning unit system” is two-
want their children to be dismissed from a HE fold: (i) to provide students with the flexibility
institution that they had to pass a very in their study rather than sticking to a fixed and
competitive national entrance examination to rigid academic year, raising their sense of
get into if they did not pass the examination for creativeness and activeness, and (ii) to allow
the second phase. Theoretically, it was also students to transfer to another institution or take
possible for students to move to another courses at another institution.
institution after the first phase, but in practice It is fair to say that this system has not yet
this was restricted because of the nature of the helped to achieve realize the set objectives nor
core subject groupings. to bring any changes in the training process at
Having not achieved its aims, MOET HE institutions in Vietnam because of the
abolished the two-phase education in 1998. following reasons:
3.6.3. Applying the credit system All most all courses (subjects) in curricula
The term “credit system” has been are obligatory;
introduced into Vietnam’s higher education for Each study week is full of required courses
over the last 10 years, yet many people working (subjects); students cannot choose other courses
in this field still lack adequate knowledge and they wish to learn;
an accurate image of as well as experiences in
 N.V. Nhã, V.N. Tú / VNU Journal of Science, Vol. 31, No. 4 (2015) 85-97 93

Although some institutions announce that Vietnam lacks even a single university of
electives in their curricula, they do not have recognized quality. That is why, without urgent
enough faculty to teach those electives; and fundamental reform in the higher education
Institutions do not have technical staff to system, Vietnam will fail to achieve its
organize classes according to students’ enormous potential (Vallely & Wilkinson,
registration for each course; 2008). Also according to them, no Vietnamese
institution appears in any of the widely used (if
Institutions cannot provide enough
problematic) league tables of leading Asian
classrooms for courses that students register.
universities. In this respect, Vietnam differs
In fact, many HE institutions have used the even from other Southeast Asian countries,
so-called “mixed annual and credit” system. most of whom boast at least a handful of apex
Nevertheless, being aware of the benefits of institutions. Vietnam’s universities are largely
the credit system, in September, 2005 MOET isolated from international currents of
decided to set up regulations on organizing knowledge. There is a severe lack of close links
training process by the model of this system, to between HE institutions and scientific research,
prepare guidelines for its application as well as businesses, industries and employers. That is
the process of applying it in Vietnam’s HE further confirmed by Hoang Tuy who states:
institutions and set an ambitious target: by 2020 “The Vietnamese university system is heavily
all universities and colleges in Vietnam will influenced by the Soviet academic system, in
have applied this system. which universities were primarily teaching
institutions, while research was carried out by
research institutes”. All that is manifest in the
4. Challenges facing Vietnam’s higher poor publication record (Table 1).
education reform

It might be right to say that the overall

challenge facing Vietnam’s higher education is
Table 1. Publications in Peer-Review Journals, 2007

Institution Country Publications

Seoul National University Republic of Korea 5.060
National University of Singapore Singapore 3.598
Peking University China 3.219
Fudan University China 2.343
Mahidol University Thailand 950
Chulalongkom Thailand 822
University of Malaysia Malaysia 504
University of Philippines Philippines 220
Vietnam National University Vietnam 52
(VNU-HN and VNU-HCM)
Vietnam 44
Academy of Science and Technology
Source: Science Citation Index Expanded, Thomson Reuters

Hayden (2005), MOET’s World Bank Vietnam’s higher education into four groups:
consultant classifies challenges facing
94 N.V. Nhã, V.N. Tú / VNU Journal of Science, Vol. 31, No. 4 (2015) 85-97

finance, management (governance), quality and vary significantly across types of institutions
equity of access. and regions. Although Vietnam’s HE system
(i) The first challenge is to ensure that HE has recently introduced internal quality
system must respond to the emerging demands measures, it still lacks external quality
of a growing economy, that is, to satisfy the measures. The technological and administrative
requirements for human resources of the infrastructure seems to be inadequate, curricula
country’s industrialization and modernization do not meet the social requirements, teaching
and people’s learning requirements. Moreover, methods are backward, the level of articulation
the training scope has not yet met the and global integration is low. The progress of
requirements of industrialization and renovation is slow because of the slow-
modernization; there is imbalance between changing mindset of teachers and their heavy
supply and demand; teaching load (World Bank, 2007). That
explains why about 50% of Vietnamese HE
(ii) The second challenge is the
graduates cannot find jobs in their area of
inappropriate structure of the higher education
specialization.
system, the network of HE institutions and
research academies is separated thus reducing However, it is obvious that there are other
investment efficiency and the quality of training challenges which should also be considered as
and research. Moreover, research is not paid important and should be addressed as well.
due attention to, teaching is not yet closely They include:
linked with research and service for social life; (v) The fifth challenge is that the teaching
(iii) The third challenge relates to finance. and administrative staff have not yet been able
The financial resources are limited, mainly to meet the requirements of HE reform both in
relying on the State’s budget. In addition, the terms of quality and quantity. At present, there
centrally determined structure of funding are only 77,000 higher education
proves to be inefficient and counter-productive. teachers/lecturers out of which only 9,126 have
Most of HE institutions in Vietnam are inactive Ph.D. degrees and 36,347 have Master degrees;
in finding other financial resources. Hayden and 300,000 management personnel for the
(2005) states that the level of funding for whole education system from general education
Vietnam’s higher education is small: only to higher education (MOET, August 2012).
0.41% of GDP in 2002 out of a total of 4.22% There is a serious lack of research experts, and
for all levels of education. In terms of higher education policy makers. Moreover,
expenditure on higher education, Vietnam many lecturers do not pay due attention to
compares poorly to the rest of the region and research;
the rest of the world (average is 1.22%); (vi) The sixth challenge is management.
(iv) The fourth concerns training content Management is characterized by a very high
and methods. It might be correct to say that level of centralization. MOET has somewhat
training quality and efficiency are still low. significant power over higher education and
Learning is not closely combined with practice, determines matters as varied as the detailed
and therefore, human resources produced are curriculum, student enrolment, academic
not highly qualified. Training programs are assessment, award of degrees, budget decisions,
inflexible focusing on theory rather than infrastructure and facility maintenance. The
practice and slow in integration; learning and existing mechanism and policies have not yet
teaching methods are outdated, the training created self-accountability, responsibility of HE
process is closed and inflexible. In general, HE institutions for personnel, revenue-expenditure
institutions have limited research capacity; balance, and quality of training products;
faculty qualifications are generally low and
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(vii) The seventh challenge is that healthy 5. Solutions for Vietnam’s higher education
competition is not created for HE development. reform
Moreover, HE institutions’ development plans
are not clear, just short-term rather than long- In order to realize its objectives, higher
.term and as was mentioned above, they are not education’s most important mission entrusted
rationally distributed over the whole country by the Government: to produce highly qualified
thus reducing investment efficiency; human resources to meet the requirements of
socio-economic development, national defense
(viii) The eighth is that HE reform has not
and security, the following solutions for HE
been able to keep pace with economic reform
reform should be addressed in the most serious
and requirements for integration; HE
way.
management cannot keep pace with HE
socialization; (i) Making a master plan of the network of
HE institutions in such a way that with their
(ix) The ninth is equity of access. Vietnam
structure of professions and training levels, they
has always confirmed the equity of access very
are rationally distributed over the whole country
much in line with “admission to higher
and in each province in conformity with
education should be based on the merit,
population density and strategies of socio-
capacity, efforts, perseverance and devotion and
economic development, national defense and
can take place in a lifelong scheme, at any time,
security.
with due recognition of previous acquired
skills” (UNESCO, 1998). However, the fact is (ii) In the immediate future, adjusting the
that at present, certain groups (women, ethnic existing system of HE institutions so as to make
minorities, the less privileged, those from higher education suitable for the country’s
particular regional areas) are not represented in socio-economic development and the world’s
HE proportionately in terms of their numbers in development trend;
the population. The reason for this is that (iii) Setting up a flexible and articulated
poverty in Vietnam has a geographical aspect, training process, renewing the objectives,
the poorer regions tend to have fewer HE contents, teaching and learning methods in
institutions and people just cannot pay for their higher education;
HE and this consequently results in a lower (iv) Building up a contingent of highly
level of enrolment. qualified, devoted and capable teaching and
(x) In terms of training, the key challenges administrative staff with advanced and modern
would be as follows: teaching and management methods;
a) Vietnamese curricula do not meet the (v) Intensifying/speeding up R&D activities
needs of about 60% young laborers who in order to improve training quality and directly
graduate from training establishments need to solve problems arising from the process of
be retrained for at least 6-12 months after being socio-economic development and increasing
recruited” (Nuffic Neso/Vietnam). revenues for each HE institution;
b) Conflict between the expansion of HE (vi) Reforming the financial mechanism for
system and quality assurance; higher education with an aim to diversify
c) Outdated teaching methods and financial resources and enhance investment
evaluation. efficiency;
Although there are still many challenges as (vii) Renovating HE management according
mentioned above, they have to be surpassed if to the orientation towards raising autonomy in
Vietnam wants its higher education reform to such a way that Vietnam’s HE institutions are
achieve its objectives. What would be the no longer subject to a highly centralized system
solutions? of control as the most immediate cause of
96 N.V. Nhã, V.N. Tú / VNU Journal of Science, Vol. 31, No. 4 (2015) 85-97

today’s crisis in Vietnam’s HE system is a reform has to be sped up as “without urgent and
profound governance failure. Quality fundamental reform to higher education system,
universities, from Boston to Beijing, enjoy Vietnam will fail to achieve its enormous
certain core features that are presently lacked in potential” and there is a “close relationship
Vietnam (Vallely & Wilkinson, 2008); between development and higher education”
(viii) Improving the competitive strength of (Vallely, 2008). This paper has dealt with
the whole HE system in the integration process; higher education reform in general and the
reform in the training area in particular.
(ix) Strengthening quality assurance;
Although there are still many challenges that
(x) Diversifying and effectively utilizing have been pointed out, it is believed that they
resources for higher education; will be overcome so that higher education’s
(xi) Closely combining training with management, efficiency, quality and
research and production; responsiveness and quantitative capacity can
(xii) Expanding international cooperation as surely be improved. With all that being done,
international cooperation is considered “as an Vietnam’s higher education will ultimately
integral part of the institutional missions of realize its important missions very much in line
higher education institutions” and “international with those set by UNESCO especially by
cooperation and exchange are the major Vietnam: (i) to train human resources, enhance
avenues for advancing higher education people’s intelligence; do science and
throughout the world” (UNESCO, 1998). technology researches in order to create
International academic cooperation has knowledge and new products serving the socio-
gradually helped to narrow the gap between economic development, assure national defense
Vietnam and other countries in the fields of and security and international integration; (ii) to
science and technology and to improve train students that possess political quality,
understanding between individuals and between ethics; possess knowledge and professional
Vietnam and other countries. Broader practical skills, possess capability of doing
international exchange would bring about an research and applying science and technology
overall improvement in training and research corresponding to their grade; possess creativity,
quality as well as the change from the “brain professional responsibility and adaptability to
drain” to “brain gain” in Vietnam. In that the working conditions, (iii) to help protect and
connection, each of Vietnam’s HE institutions enhance social values, and (iv) to contribute to
must set up an appropriate structure and/or the development of education at all levels,
mechanism for international cooperation. including through the training of teachers. In
It is believed that with the above-mentioned that connection, this paper hopes to make a
solutions and measures, Vietnam’s HE reform worthy contribution to the success of Vietnam’s
will surely achieve its objectives thus making a current higher education reform.
worthy contribution to Vietnam’s socio-
economic development.
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