Ministry of Education and Training consults on policies to build the Law on Higher Education and the Law on Vocational Education

Great opportunity to remove shortcomings in the system

Speaking at the opening of the seminar, Deputy Minister of Education and Training Hoang Minh Son said: Law on HigherEducation No. 08/2012/QH13; Law No. 34/2018/QH14 amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Higher Education have recently had many changes, bringing convenience to higher education institutions.

In particular, university autonomy has been implemented with some encouraging results, creating positive changes in both awareness and implementation.

Deputy Minister of Education and Training Hoang Minh Son. Photo: Ministry of Education and Training

The Law on Vocational Education No. 74/2014/QH13 of the National Assembly, after many years of implementation, has also strongly institutionalized the policy of fundamental and comprehensive innovation in education in general and vocational education in particular, resolving many practical shortcomings, creating a new look for the vocational education system in Vietnam.

“These are important policies, but over time there are still shortcomings in the system, which need to be changed to adapt to the new situation. According to the plan, in October 2025, the Ministry of Education and Training will submit two draft laws to the National Assembly for consideration and approval,” the Deputy Minister shared.

According to Deputy Minister Hoang Minh Son, in the context of the country's new requirements, the Politburo issued Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW dated December 22, 2024 on breakthroughs in science, technology, innovation and national digital transformation, requiring the economy to achieve double-digit growth in the new era. The education sector also needs to quickly complete legal documents.

“General Secretary To Lam emphasized that the “bottleneck” of “bottlenecks” is “institutions”. The Law on Higher Education and the Law on Vocational Education also need to change, to institutionalize the major policies of the Party and State, adapt to changes, and have a solid and long-term foundation,” the Deputy Minister emphasized.

In the context of a short time and important work, the Deputy Minister believes that this is not only a challenge, but also a great opportunity to remove shortcomings in the system, and at the same time propose new breakthrough policies and mechanisms to meet the requirements of national development in the new period - a period in which people are essential and central to development; a period of science, technology, innovation and national digital transformation.

Therefore, amending the Law is extremely important, an opportunity to develop the industry, meeting the requirements of national development.

Representatives of leaders of units under the Ministry of Education and Training chaired the discussion session on the Law on Higher Education. Photo: Ministry of Education and Training

Deputy Minister Hoang Minh Son chaired a discussion on the Law on Vocational Education. Photo: Ministry of Education and Training

Need to adjust, update, and build policies suitable to the new situation

Reporting on the assessment of the implementation of the Law on Higher Education in the recent period, Deputy Director of the Department of Higher Education Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy said that the Law on Higher Education has basically met the practical requirements of developing higher education, enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of state management.

In addition, enhancing autonomy for higher education institutions, ensuring international integration, better meeting the human resource training needs of the socialist-oriented market economy, contributing to the development of education and training, improving the intellectual level and quality of human resources, training talents for the country and contributing to the socio-economic development of the country.

According to Deputy Director of the Department of Higher Education Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy, the current system of higher education institutions has 264 establishments, 2.3 million students, a ratio of 230 students/10,000 people, the proportion of private institutions has increased from 18.8% to 22%. Of which, 167/171 public universities have University Councils, full-time lecturers are more than 91,000, over 33% of lecturers have doctoral degrees.

However, in the face of strong changes in the country's socio-economic situation and international integration requirements, some provisions of the Law on Higher Education are no longer suitable for practical requirements.

Deputy Director of the Department of Higher Education Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy speaks. Photo: Ministry of Education and Training

Deputy Director Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy said that the development of the Law on Higher Education was carried out on the following principles: fully institutionalizing the Party and State's policies on developing higher education; being consistent with the Constitution, inheriting and overcoming legal problems in practice; enhancing autonomy associated with accountability; innovating governance, improving quality, serving the community; encouraging socialization, international integration, digital transformation; approaching international trends, developing open education, lifelong learning.

Reporting on the implementation of the Law on Vocational Education, Director of the Department of Vocational Education and Continuing Education Truong Anh Dung informed that the Law on Vocational Education was passed by the 13th National Assembly on November 27, 2014 and took effect from July 1, 2015.

The Law has created an important legal corridor for the development of vocational education; at the same time, it has strongly institutionalized the policy of fundamental and comprehensive innovation of education in general and vocational education in particular, resolving many shortcomings in practice, creating a new look for the vocational education system in Vietnam.

From there, it contributes significantly to training human resources, especially technical and highly skilled human resources, contributing to improving national competitiveness in terms of human resource quality to serve socio-economic development, ensuring economic recovery, social security and sustainable employment.

According to Director Truong Anh Dung, after nearly 10 years of implementation, a number of regulations and policies in the Law on Vocational Education and the system of legal documents guiding the law have not promptly met practical requirements, especially in the context of the development of the Fourth Industrial Revolution as well as the Vocational Education Development Strategy for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2045; Digital Transformation Program in Vocational Education to 2025, with a vision to 2030; Vocational Education Network Planning for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2045 and the development of adaptive and safe vocational education in the new situation.

Director of the Department of Vocational Education and Continuing Education Truong Anh Dung. Photo: Ministry of Education and Training

At the seminar, delegates agreed on the need to adjust, update, and develop policies suitable to the new situation and clarify difficulties, create a legal framework, and institutionalize for educational institutions to operate smoothly.

Concluding the discussion, Deputy Minister Hoang Minh Son expressed his hope that educational institutions would continue to propose policies to develop the Law on Higher Education and the Law on Vocational Education. In particular, focusing on mechanisms and policies that are favorable for development, contributing to the strong development of the system, human development, talent development, meeting the needs of national development in the new situation.

The Deputy Minister requested the Drafting Committee to accept comments and share them and soon have the first draft to solicit public opinions in the coming time.

Nguyen Lien

Source: https://daibieunhandan.vn/bo-gd-dt-tham-van-chinh-sach-xay-dung-luat-giao-duc-dai-hoc-va-luat-giao-duc-nghe-nghiep-post408774.html