Ministry of Education and Training: Universities have autonomy to implement high-quality programs.

SGGPO June 18, 2023 15:48

In recent days, information about the Ministry of Education and Training issuing Circular 11/2023/TT-BGDĐT (Circular 11) on the repeal of Circular 23/2014/TT-BGDĐT dated July 18, 2014 (Circular 23) regulating high-quality university-level training has attracted much attention.

Students of the International University (Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City) during a practical class.

According to Circular 11 of the Ministry of Education and Training, courses that enrolled students before December 1, 2023 (the effective date of Circular 11) may continue to be organized and taught until the end of the course, in accordance with the regulations in Circular 23.

The Ministry of Education and Training explained that the repeal of Circular No. 23/2014/TT-BGDĐT is necessary and consistent with the provisions of the 2018 Law on Higher Education . Specifically, Clause 6, Article 65 of the 2012 Law on Higher Education stipulates that "The Minister of Education and Training shall prescribe criteria for determining high-quality training programs; and shall be responsible for managing and supervising tuition fees commensurate with the quality of training."

However, according to the provisions of the 2018 Higher Education Law, the concept of high-quality training programs no longer exists. The development of different types of training programs is under the autonomy of higher education institutions, ensuring compliance with the regulations on training program standards for all levels of higher education as stipulated in Circular No. 17/2021/TT-BGDĐT of the Ministry of Education and Training.

The Ministry of Education and Training also stated that it encourages higher education institutions to develop and implement training programs with higher entry and exit standards than those stipulated by the Ministry. Higher education institutions are responsible for publicly and transparently disclosing information about the training programs they offer, making commitments to students regarding the quality of the output of these programs, and fulfilling their accountability responsibilities to stakeholders and society as a whole.

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, the repeal of Circular 23 does not mean that higher education institutions will no longer be able to implement high-quality programs. This also does not affect the enrollment and training of various programs at higher education institutions. Higher education institutions exercise autonomy in developing and implementing training programs, but regardless of their name, they must ensure compliance with regulations on training program standards, quality assurance from input, teaching and learning conditions, the training process, to output, as well as other regulations related to training.

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, the development and implementation of high-quality programs (with higher requirements for learning outcomes and quality assurance conditions, etc.) fall under the autonomy of higher education institutions. Regarding tuition fees, higher education institutions determine and implement them according to the Government 's regulations in Decree No. 81/2021/ND-CP.

According to Government Decree 81 on tuition fees, universities with accredited training programs are free to determine their own tuition fees. Therefore, the elimination of "high-quality" training programs has almost no impact on the training, enrollment, and tuition revenue of universities. Universities that have autonomy and wish to offer higher-tuition programs than the general curriculum can develop and publish the program, taking responsibility and accountability to society.

According to reports, many universities have proactively removed high-quality programs from their admissions plans this year or replaced them with different names. For example, the University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, no longer offers a high-quality Dentistry program; the University of Economics and Law, Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City, has dropped the name of the high-quality program and changed it to an English-taught program.

Therefore, essentially, eliminating high-quality education at universities is just a matter of changing the name.

Currently, many universities in Vietnam are offering high-quality training programs with higher tuition fees, primarily taught in English.

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