Professor Nguyen Quy Thanh, Rector of the University of Education (Vietnam National University, Hanoi), and member of the National Council for Education and Human Resource Development, affirmed that Resolution 71 has helped higher education "clear its path." According to Professor Quy Thanh, Resolution 71 opens up opportunities to legalize the method of budget allocation, transforming autonomy into "guaranteed autonomy."
In the recent past, the understanding of university autonomy has been fundamentally flawed, viewing autonomy as a form of self-reliance where universities are granted greater autonomy by collecting more revenue, transforming autonomy into "self-sufficiency." This has led to a gradual budget cut – a 10% reduction each year, until 2026 when all funding is cut. This has pushed universities into a cycle of increasing tuition fees and opening more high-quality programs to balance their income and expenses.
The "ordering" mechanism for teacher training – which was expected to be a solution – also encountered many obstacles. Professor Thanh cited the example of Decree 116 on ordering teacher training; many provinces and cities did not sign the orders because they feared liability risks when the "product" only appeared after four years, while the required funding amounted to hundreds of billions of dong. As a result, training quotas were low, there was a localized shortage of teachers, and the entrance scores for teacher training programs were pushed up. Therefore, when autonomy became "guaranteed autonomy" according to Resolution 71, Professor Quy Thanh believes there are two positive impacts: curbing the increase in tuition fees, reducing social pressure, and ensuring equal learning opportunities; and at the same time helping schools stabilize their development strategies, focusing on improving quality instead of chasing enrollment scale to generate more revenue.
The second bottleneck is that finance is the "lifeblood" determining the health of the entire system, but the budget allocated to higher education has been steadily decreasing in recent years. Resolution 71 affirms that further cuts are necessary; instead, the budget must be increased. Specifically, spending on higher education must reach 3% of the total budget.
The next bottleneck is the long-standing issues surrounding the school council mechanism. Since the 2018 Higher Education Law, the school council has been defined as the highest authority, expected to bring about modern governance and reduce the concentration of power in the hands of the rector. However, in reality, this mechanism has not harmonized with the leadership structure in public schools. As a result, the decision-making cycle is prolonged: the board of directors - the Party Committee - the school council - and then back to the board of directors.
The solution outlined in Resolution 71 is to abolish the school council in public higher education institutions, not to revert to the old model, but to upgrade it: the Party Secretary also serves as the Rector with clearly defined powers, some functions previously belonging to the school council are transferred to the Party Committee, transforming the leadership role from general policy to close supervision of each decision.
Professor Thanh noted that changes in governance structure are only the first step; for smooth operation, a compatible legal framework is needed. Laws including the Education Law, the Higher Education Law, and the Vocational Education Law will all need to be adjusted. Regulations on school councils, the role of the Party Committee, the autonomy mechanism, and budget allocation must be clearly updated so that the resolution can be implemented synchronously. According to him, this is a necessary step of "legalization," transforming the spirit of the resolution into consistent action throughout the entire system.
Source: https://tienphong.vn/but-pha-giao-duc-dai-hoc-post1775523.tpo
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