Brian Jeffrey
Recently, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) conducted a seminar to discuss potential reforms to the Higher Education Law.
Bui Xuan Hai, the President of Hai Phong University, suggested eliminating the national and regional university frameworks, viewing this as a progressive change aimed at improving the Higher Education Law.
The concept of national universities originated in 1995-1996, with a vision that differs from current times. Initially, these institutions combined various member schools and offered multiple faculties. Over time, these faculties evolved into independent schools, and new member institutions began to appear. Some of the smaller member schools consist of only a handful of lecturers and a few thousand students.
“When I engage with international academics, they frequently inquire about the differences between our ‘national university’ and a standard ‘university’. Is there anywhere else in the globe with a dual university structure like ours?” stated Hai.
Regarding governance, Hai observed that the dual university approach places member universities in a difficult position.
“National and regional universities do not function as state management entities, yet they oversee member schools, which goes against the principle of university autonomy,” Hai explained.
“If member schools achieve recognition as higher education institutions, they should operate independently like other stand-alone universities.”
Hai emphasized that comprehensive reforms would enable the member schools of national and regional universities to function independently and thrive.
“We cannot consider Vietnamese higher education institutions as just a mix of national universities, regional universities, colleges, and academies,” Hai noted.
While he supports the university model with its internal schools, Hai advised that these member schools should not possess legal entity status within the overarching university.
“The structures of national and regional universities should be dismantled; smaller institutions under them should be enhanced and consolidated to align with their significance,” he proposed.
Vu Hoang Linh, president of the University of Natural Sciences at Hanoi National University, remarked that the two-tier university system is encountering difficulties and calls for evaluation.
Linh pointed out that the main challenge for professionals working within this framework isn’t management, but rather explaining the meaning of a “university within a university” to international partners.
“We present ourselves as a university, while there’s another university above us. Foreign collaborators struggle to grasp how Vietnam operates a ‘university within a university’. We have to clarify that the ‘upper university’ functions like an umbrella, akin to the University of California model in the US, though it doesn’t accurately reflect that. I completely agree that the national and regional university model (dual system) has problems that warrant review,” Linh concluded.
