VIETNAM

Row over effectiveness of provincial universities

Suggestions to close down universities in provinces and to improve the way higher education centres are run in big cities across Vietnam are causing controversy, reports Viet Nam News.

The idea was suggested by Professor Tu Quang Hien, former director of Thai Nguyen University, who was speaking at the Vietnam Education Conference 2018 in Hanoi earlier this month. He said provincial universities are not proving effective despite the model being in operation for 24 years. Hien believed that the best way forward was to shut down education centres in the regions, or failing that, run them in the same way national universities are managed. But at the same time he said national education centres should also look at shaking up their management structure.

Speaking about the issue, Hoang Ngoc Vinh, former director of the Vocational Training Department under the Ministry of Education and Training, said concerned organisations should search for reasons why provinces’ universities did not develop. After searching for the reasons, concerned organisations can decide whether they should dissolve provinces’ universities or not. “If management is good, provinces’ universities would be a strong group with each member university having their own strong points,” said Vinh.
Full report on the Viet Nam News site