Educational experts have urged the Ministry of Education and Training to strengthen the administrative autonomy of universities and colleges in order to improve training quality.

Students at Ha Noi General University separate out enzymes using a centrifuge. Strengthening the administrative autonomy of universities will help to improve training quality, say education experts.

Tran Minh Hung, lecturer at the Dong Nai Pedagogy College, said tertiary-level educational institutions had achieved progress but that many shortcomings, including unqualified personnel and management, were stalling the rate of improvement.

Training effectiveness has been hampered by a shortage of qualified lecturers and management officials, inflexible curricula and outdated teaching methods.

Hung said universities and colleges still had inadequate long-term development plans, and to meet the demands of socio-economic development, they must be given more autonomy by MoET.

Associate Professor Bien Van Minh of Hue Education University said that although the Government in recent years permitted more autonomy and accountability, problems in implementation still existed.

Minh said MoET still regulated the enrollment quota, the content of curricula and tuition fees.

Dr. Pham Thi Minh Hanh of Binh Thuan Community College said that more autonomy would allow them to hire lecturers and managers, set student enrollment quotas, impose tuition fees, and work collaboratively with domestic and foreign universities and colleges.

Associate Professor Pham Xuan Hau, head of the Institute for Educational Research at the HCM City University of Pedagogy, said universities and colleges must hire qualified lecturers and managers and have proper facilities and equipment for training.

Educational administration reforms

Viet Nam’s universities and colleges have been required to improve their management in line with a three-year programme to be introduced this year. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Thien Nhan told an online meeting of university leaders last Saturday that the Government had ordered the upgrade of university management and documents would be issued soon. The documents covered regulations on new management and how ministries, sectors and provinces would co-ordinate, Nhan said. Starting this year, universities would also have to publicise their fees and budget, education quality, as well as facilities and resources. Meanwhile, the ministry would review the management of universities established since 2006 to see if they met the new requirements, he said. Nhan also ordered that all universities and colleges introduce assessment programmes in which students assess lecturers, lecturers assess university management and universities assess the ministry.

They should also work with local and foreign universities and colleges to ensure that their respective training departments meet society’s demands.

“If not, autonomy in universities and college will not be effective,” he said.

Hoang Van Can, vice rector of the HCM City Pedagogy University, said the role of MoET was important in assisting university autonomy.

Associate Professor Le Duc Ngoc of the Centre for Educational Evaluation and Accreditation pointed out that MoET exercises oversight through legislation, but that it should not issue regulations on training or input materials like textbooks.

He said the ministry should only define the conditions required to grant a university or college degree or certificate.

Ngoc said MoET should also set out criteria on several issues for tertiary-level management officials, and the institutions can then have the freedom to set enrolment quotas and promote as well as dismiss officials who no longer meet standards.

Many experts said each university should set up its own council responsible for creating a development plan and regulations on administrative management.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News

Source: http://www.lookatvietnam.com/2009/11/universities-call-for-more-academic-autonomy.html