Great opportunities from university placement

The Ministry of Education and Training is seeking opinions on a draft resolution of the National Assembly on a number of specific mechanisms and policies to make breakthroughs in education and training development, including regulations on arranging and restructuring the public education system.

Parents and students learn about universities at the University Admission Selection Day 2025 - Photo: NAM TRAN

The resolution aims to institutionalize Resolution 71 of the Politburo on breakthroughs in education and training development.

The draft resolution is expected to be submitted to the National Assembly at the upcoming 10th session. Notably, the draft resolution specifically stipulates the organization of the system, human resources and management of educational institutions, including the arrangement and restructuring of the public educational institution system.

Avoid mechanics, need to research carefully, have a roadmap

The draft clearly states the continued arrangement and restructuring of public universities, vocational education and continuing education institutions (except for educational institutions under the Ministry of Public Security , Ministry of National Defense and Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

Also according to the draft, the Ministry of Education and Training directly manages key universities and colleges or those planned to be key national higher education institutions in engineering and technology, and is assigned to lead a network of excellent and talented training centers, colleges performing the functions of regional centers, and national centers for high-quality vocational training and practice.

The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism manage specialized higher education institutions.

Transfer the remaining educational institutions to local management, ensuring full and comprehensive autonomy for educational institutions regardless of the level of financial autonomy. Research on merging research institutes with higher education institutions (except for special public scientific and technological organizations).

Speaking with Tuoi Tre , delegate Tran Khanh Thu (Hung Yen delegation) stated that this "great university arrangement" must be done and this is an opportunity and a historic mission for the public university system to develop to a new level and be able to reach the world.

She cited many universities today that are small in scale, with fragmented fields of study, and do not have enough resources to compete and improve quality. There are universities that have very few permanent lecturers, meaning that resources are insufficient but they still try to recruit and train students.

This leads to the consequence of low enrollment, which means low input, leading to low quality.

Such fragmentation and dispersion does not bring about good quality education. Therefore, the arrangement and merger will create multidisciplinary universities, larger, more competitive in the labor market and internationally.

"Of course, the next step is related to the story of mergers to help create scale. How to manage human resources? How to streamline the apparatus? How to arrange it effectively. But clearly, when implementing the arrangement, there will be units that are large enough, competitive enough, and strong enough to reach out to the world," said delegate Khanh Thu.

To implement this, there should be two methods: voluntary (bottom-up) and compulsory (top-down). Accordingly, the Government's resolution requested the Ministry of Education and Training to preside over and coordinate with ministries and branches to develop a common project on merger. The ministry is currently implementing this.

As for the second method, she said through the project, the authorities will review, designate the schools to be merged and issue administrative decisions to implement it.

At the same time, the merger, if any, should not be done mechanically but must be researched, evaluated carefully, clearly and have a specific roadmap. Because if the units merge in a way that is not reasonable, for example, or does not solve the problems of the apparatus, it will lead to the story of overload or not operating smoothly.

It is even possible that a strong school will merge with a weak school and become weaker and unable to compete.

Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Xuan Nhi, former Deputy Minister of Education and Training, stated clearly the spirit of Resolution 71 of the Politburo and the resolutions of the Government, the orientation of the Central Steering Committee summarizing Resolution 18 emphasized the arrangement of universities to make them stronger.

Therefore, the first thing to do when carrying out the arrangement is to clearly define this goal. At the same time, it is necessary to develop specific criteria for carrying out the arrangement. In particular, it is necessary to clearly define which universities are weak, which are fragmented and must be arranged or dissolved.

Draft proposal for restructuring should be announced soon.

Associate Professor Tran Xuan Nhi also said that when building a project to reorganize universities, it is also possible to review the method of implementing the merger of provinces and cities in the past.

Accordingly, when implementing the merger, a criterion is to increase the number of coastal provinces or in a province there can be coastal, midland, and delta regions to support each other. Therefore, among the 230 public universities, it is necessary to divide them into groups, regions, and localities. On that basis, calculate specific and reasonable plans.

In particular, when arranging universities, it is necessary to calculate to try to arrange them in the direction of both geographical proximity and functional correlation to be the most appropriate. For small provinces with close locations, how many public universities can be merged into one, to become a multidisciplinary school and optimize stronger professions.

On the other hand, schools with specialized majors such as law, banking, pedagogy... in the same area should be merged together to form a strong school, not necessarily scattered...

Importantly, according to Associate Professor Tran Xuan Nhi, from the assigned tasks, the Ministry of Education and Training should gradually draft a reorganization project and after asking for opinions, should soon publicly announce the draft, organize workshops and conferences to widely gather opinions from experts, researchers, and universities.

It is better to do so than to follow orders or 1 - 2 - 3 added together which may not be reasonable and result in a weak field.

Waiting for instructions from the Ministry of Education and Training

Mr. Vu Thanh Trung - Head of the Department of Personnel Organization, Ministry of Construction - said that because the Government assigned the Ministry of Education and Training to develop and implement the project to reorganize the university system, the Ministry of Construction is waiting for instructions from the Ministry of Education and Training to implement the plan to reorganize and restructure these universities.

Before merging the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Construction (March 1, 2025), the Ministry of Transport had 4 universities and academies including: Vietnam Aviation Academy, Vietnam Maritime University, Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport, and University of Transport Technology.

The Ministry of Construction has 4 universities including: Hanoi University of Architecture, Ho Chi Minh City University of Architecture, Central University of Construction, and Western University of Construction.

Currently, in addition to 8 universities and academies, the Ministry of Construction is directly managing 7 colleges.

- Dr. LE DONG PHUONG (former officer of Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences, Ministry of Education and Training):

Consider establishing an independent financial allocation committee

Current trends show that ministries are gradually shifting to performing general state management functions instead of directly operating training institutions.

For example, the Ministry of Health now only manages public schools and hospitals in terms of ownership. For private schools and hospitals, the ministry mainly plays a professional management role. Regarding education, the Ministry of Education and Training is the agency primarily responsible for professional matters such as training programs, diplomas, quality accreditation and operating licenses.

However, schools are still subject to financial, personnel and asset management by other ministries. This makes the state budget allocated to schools depend on the allocation capacity of each ministry, creating unfairness and inefficiency in resource coordination.

Currently, the Ministry of Education and Training is directly managing dozens of universities and colleges with many different training majors such as education, law, economics, engineering, and technology. However, the Ministry's budget is not enough to meet the development needs of the schools.

Schools under the management of the Ministry of Education and Training often have more limited financial conditions than schools under other ministries. This is also the reason why many schools are not interested in the proposal to transfer to this ministry.

If we want to unify the university education system under the direct management of the Ministry of Education and Training, there needs to be a mechanism to guarantee the rights of schools, especially in terms of finance, facilities and professional support.

A reasonable solution would be to establish an independent commission dedicated to the allocation of funds to higher education institutions. This commission would not be under any ministry, but would act as a central coordinating body, responsible for managing the state budget for the entire higher education system.

From there, the budget will be allocated reasonably according to the national development strategy, prioritizing industries and fields with urgent needs such as science and technology.

Compared to handing over all schools to the Ministry of Education and Training without accompanying resources, establishing a centralized and objective budget coordination agency will help ensure more fairness and efficiency.

In addition, the role of independent research institutes should be reviewed, considering merging them into universities or continuing to maintain the existing model. Research institutes in basic and national strategic areas should continue to be funded by the State.

For universities in remote areas, priority should be given to investment to promote the role of on-site training and retain local human resources, to ensure socio-economic development and national security and defense.

Restructuring the public university system to develop universities to new heights and reach the world. In the photo: a corner of Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology - Photo: THANH HIEP

- MSc. LE VU (Director of Center for Learning Resources and Communication, University of Technical Education - Danang University):

Real resources needed

Key, multidisciplinary, nationally influential universities need to be directly managed by the Ministry of Education and Training to ensure their role in guiding and leading the system. However, this must be accompanied by a specific budget mechanism, based on performance indicators such as international publications, scientific research and innovation.

If only administrative transfers are carried out without adequate resources, restructuring will hardly create real change.

Schools training in specialized fields such as medicine, arts, and sports can continue to be managed by specialized ministries, in coordination with the Ministry of Education and Training on expertise.

For small-scale universities serving regional human resource needs, handing over management to local authorities is the right trend. However, there needs to be clear criteria for classification and a specific roadmap for implementation, while ensuring academic, organizational and financial autonomy for the schools.

Regarding the merger of research institutes into universities, it should be done selectively, based on professional criteria and the ability to integrate postgraduate training. Institutes with a national strategic role should retain their independent model and specific mechanisms.

The merger also needs to ensure human rights, continuity of projects and international contracts. It should be piloted at some national or large universities before being implemented widely.

Restructuring higher education is an inevitable step, but it cannot be successful without substantial resources, appropriate operating mechanisms and consensus throughout the system. Management transfer is only truly meaningful when accompanied by a commitment to investment, governance innovation and protection of autonomy for educational institutions.

No new information yet

- Associate Professor, Dr. NGUYEN DAO TUNG (Director of the Academy of Finance)

The Academy of Finance has not received any updated information regarding the arrangement and reorganization of the university education system.

Currently, the academy is presiding over and coordinating with the University of Finance and Business Administration to complete the dossier and establish a branch of the Academy of Finance in Hung Yen province on the basis of the University of Finance and Business Administration.

This plan existed before the Ministry of Education and Training was assigned by the Government to "develop a project to reorganize the university education system". In the near future, the Academy of Finance is expected to continue to establish a new branch in Ho Chi Minh City.

- Associate Professor, Dr. DINH VAN CHAU (Principal of University of Electricity)

Up to now, the University of Electricity has not received any new information from the governing body about the plan to rearrange and reorganize universities.

Previously, the Ministry of Industry and Trade continued to propose to retain the University of Electricity to develop it into a key national energy center, implementing Resolution 70. The school is still proposing to merge with the College of Economics and Trade. The project has been sent to the Ministry of Education and Training, submitted to competent authorities for approval.

The merger of universities is one of the driving forces to create stronger resources for educational institutions after the merger, forming new resources to keep up with the training needs and develop high-quality human resources.

However, the implementation must be appropriate to the culture, training industry, and existing resources of the parties. Merger is the integration and synthesis of development resources, solving the problem of fragmented training in many educational institutions.

THANH CHUNG - T. PHUNG - NGUYEN BAO - TRAN HUYNH

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/co-hoi-lon-tu-sap-xep-dai-hoc-2025092623032087.htm