Shifting the Ministry of Education and Training from being in charge to state management
An important amendment this time is university autonomy, gradually shifting the role of the Ministry of Education and Training from being in charge to state management. This means each university must be an independent entity in terms of finance, personnel, and academics, and must take responsibility for its operations and accountability.
In this law, the structure of university autonomy focuses on the university council in public schools and partly on the board of directors in private schools. Simply put, the university council has a comprehensive role and responsibility, such as making decisions on policies, strategies, personnel, assets, investments, etc. The rector is responsible for managing the university and no longer focuses on broad-scale tasks. If done correctly, it will balance the powers and responsibilities between the university council and the rector. In the past, rectors of schools were almost fully empowered. Some schools had a university council, but it did not have much power.
This time, the structure to balance power is quite reasonable. But how to put it into practice, in terms of operating regulations, operational methods to create balance, is challenging. In the West, especially in the U.S., this is normal. In Vietnam, we are just beginning. But if we can do it, this will be a significant step forward.
Mr. Tran Duc Canh
The law also states that the minimum number of people in the university council is 15. There are 4 ex-officio members: the Party Secretary, the Youth Union representative, the union president, and the rector. The rest are elected within the school. The regulation requiring at least 30% of the personnel in the university council to be from outside the university is also a progressive step.
However, the important thing about these provisions to enhance university autonomy is to achieve academic autonomy. This must be the goal of higher education. Financial and personnel autonomy actually only serves the goal of academic freedom. Without academic freedom, universities cannot grow to stand alongside international institutions.
From the perspective of someone who has worked on education and training policies abroad, I see that the amended law still has some unresolved issues. But overall, there has been significant progress. We can make and continue to amend it in the future.
One of the unresolved issues, related to the comprehensive nature of an entire education system, is the philosophy of education. A legal document like the Higher Education Law includes many professional and technical regulations, but all of these regulations need to be oriented towards one thing: the philosophy and goal of education.
Students will access a more dynamic and creative education system
What benefits will students receive from the revised Higher Education Law, sir?
Creating a reasonable mechanism to help universities develop will have a long-term impact on the quality of student training. A university with autonomy will be able to make decisions faster, without needing to report to or ask permission from the supervising agency, as is currently the case, where the process is very slow and complicated. However, if a university is poorly organized, arranged, and managed, autonomy could lead to the opposite results. But in the long run, I see a very positive aspect of university autonomy.
For a university to perform well, it needs good capability, good motivation, and good people to execute. In the future, schools cannot blame the Ministry of Education and Training. This impact on schools will lead to rapid changes in the human resource market. They will have to train students with better quality. Therefore, students will be able to access a new, more dynamic, and creative education system from this change.
Additionally, the revised Higher Education Law expands the types of non-formal education, including transfer programs, part-time study, partnerships, and distance learning. This helps working people who want to study further, improve their careers, and obtain short-term qualifications have more and better options. This is a quite “open” direction, meeting the future development of education and training.
Are private schools businesses?
Sir, through the revised content, do you think the lawmakers view private schools as businesses or as educational units with income?
How it is perceived doesn’t really matter. When private schools are viewed essentially as businesses investing in education, they must accept the rules of the market. Saying “education is not a business” is just a saying. In reality, no one can prohibit business activities.
There is only one way to control this, but it takes time. That is, to let the market develop healthily, which will determine the quality and outcome of education. However, evaluating the output of education products usually takes at least 10 to 20 years.
For public schools, the state also needs to invest properly and balance it with societal development needs. Fields like engineering, social sciences, humanities, education, research… the state needs to invest more. Fields like business administration, information technology…, at some point may not need too much investment, allowing private schools to develop. When private institutions are unwilling to do it because it’s not profitable, and the state is not effective, non-profit schools can fill in. The non-profit school system can balance this shortfall.
OPINIONS
Empowering the university council
A core issue to strengthen the autonomy of universities in the revised Higher Education Law is the provisions related to the university council. To ensure tight autonomy, the accountability of the university and the rector has been specified. Previously, these issues were included in the university charter and emphasized in Resolution 77, but now they have been legislated. Many powers previously held by the supervisory agency have now been transferred to the school, such as personnel appointments. The essence of the decision is to give power to the school collective, with the university council being the final decision-maker, issuing resolutions for execution. This shows that the new law has genuinely empowered the university council. However, the issue is not whether the university council truly has power but how to effectively implement autonomy when the law has allowed universities to do this.
Assoc. Prof. Hoang Minh Son (Principal of Hanoi University of Science and Technology)
Universities make decisions, the Ministry oversees
In the future, universities will be autonomous in admissions, including determining quotas, opening majors, and international partnerships. All three of these activities were previously tightly controlled, requiring many complex procedures and a lot of time. Now, all three are within the scope of autonomy. Of course, there are still limitations, such as the requirement for accreditation… The Ministry controls through post-inspection rather than pre-inspection as it is now. This creates initiative while also forcing universities to take responsibility.
Particularly, autonomous universities that violate regulations will not be allowed to exercise autonomy in the same field for the next 5 years. The penalties are severe but acceptable. The biggest gain is that universities are autonomous.
Dr. Le Truong Tung (Chairman of the Board of Directors, FPT University)
Quy Hien (recorded)
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Source: https://thanhnien.vn/giao-duc/truong-dh-phai-duoc-tu-chu-ve-hoc-thuat-1025793.html?fbclid=IwAR2hD4NEliPJbuZciNahvyl1fzN9AGE5gLxDZwQXTOOkR9J9e9OECOAV3X8
