Universities are struggling with land issues, finding enough to meet standards.

The main campus of Hanoi Open University is quite cramped - Photo: NGUYEN BAO

In 2023, Hanoi Open University celebrated its 30th anniversary. However, approximately 50% of the university's training space is either leased or rented. Currently, the university has numerous training facilities scattered throughout Hanoi.

Training facilities have been rented for 30 years.

According to the first public disclosure report for the 2023-2024 academic year of Hanoi Open University, the university has a total land area of ​​over 55,000m2, of which it owns less than 1,500m2. This area belongs to the university's main campus, while the remaining 53,000m2 is leased.

Speaking to Tuổi Trẻ newspaper, Mr. Do Ngoc Anh, director of the Communication and Admissions Center of Hanoi Open University, said that due to a misunderstanding about ownership, the university's report caused confusion. The university has corrected the information regarding its facilities. Specifically, the university owns the entire 55,000 square meters, including its main campus and the facility in Hung Yen .

Nevertheless, the school still has to rent various facilities for training. Of the total floor area of ​​over 45,000 square meters used for training, only over 21,000 square meters are owned by the school, with more than 50% of the remaining floor area being leased or rented.

In the South, Ho Chi Minh City Open University is in a similar situation. After 30 years of establishment, the university only owns 9,034 square meters of floor space for training out of a total area of ​​57,695 square meters. The remaining area is either jointly owned (nearly 33,000 square meters) or leased (over 15,500 square meters).

Notably, the school's land area is very small. As of the 2023-2024 school year, the total land area of ​​the school was 454,029 m2, but the land owned by the school was only 2,484 m2. Thus, the owned land accounts for just over 0.5% of the total land area declared by the school; the rest is land that the school has partnered with or leased.

Renting training locations leaves the school vulnerable when the landowner changes. This led to the school having to relocate from Go Vap District to Nha Be District in 2023, causing a strong backlash from students.

Many other universities, although possessing land, have limited space and must rent additional facilities outside the campus to conduct their training. For example, the Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade has to rent numerous locations around the campus for its training programs. The university has a total land area of ​​188,106 m². Notably, this includes 153,529 m² of land in Chau Thanh District, Tra Vinh Province. This location is approximately 150 km from the university's main campus.

This land was allocated to the school by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, but due to its great distance, the school conducts virtually no training activities there. To meet the training needs, the school rents three locations in Tan Phu District and Binh Chanh District as training facilities. The land area per student is 12.2 m2 and the floor area per student is 3.2 m2.

Similarly, some other universities, despite having built spacious facilities, still have to rent external locations for training. For example, Nguyen Tat Thanh University rents five locations and collaborates with two others. However, the land area per student is only 9.96 m² and the floor area per student is only 3.04 m².

The main campus of Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade is quite cramped. Students jostle for parking because the parking lot is too small - Photo: Provided.

A difficult problem

Regarding land area requirements for universities, Mr. Thai Doan Thanh, Vice Rector of Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade, stated that currently about 90% of universities in Vietnam do not meet this criterion. However, there is still time for universities to find ways to expand their training facilities.

It is expected that a unit under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Institute of Oil and Oilseed Research (headquartered in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City), will merge with the Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade. The university will gain additional land and floor space for training. However, according to Mr. Thanh, with a student population of approximately 20,000, the university will need another 50 hectares of land to meet the required standards.

"The campus in Tra Vinh has a large land area but is far away, mainly serving as a research and experimental center; the school does not conduct any training there. In that context, the school has to rent a location for training."

"The school's orientation is to find ways to relocate and expand its training facilities, because it can't keep renting forever. With such a large land shortage, this is a very difficult problem. The State and management agencies must have mechanisms to support schools in order to achieve this," Mr. Thanh added.

Meanwhile, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Anh from Hanoi Open University said that the city of Hanoi currently has a policy of allocating nearly 30 hectares to several universities in Chuong My district, including Hanoi Open University.

"The school's Hung Yen campus mainly organizes national defense and security training. The school also wishes to have a sufficiently large facility for students to study. In the absence of such a facility, the school rents external locations for training. To facilitate students, the school arranges for some related majors to study together at one location," Mr. Anh added.

Not only newly established universities, but even many long-standing universities have not met the standards regarding land area. Most universities currently have a land area per student that falls below the standard, resulting in cramped and stuffy campuses.

A lecturer at Hanoi Pedagogical University said that the campus space doesn't reflect the nature of a university. "Within the main campus, the first thing that catches the eye are the two buildings of the specialized high school and Nguyen Tat Thanh High School. On campus, there are more students exercising than university students. Lecturers jostle with students for parking. This has been going on for years, but it's only getting worse," the lecturer said.

Acquiring land is difficult, and securing clean land for large-scale educational projects is even harder. This is not to mention the high costs of land and construction, which schools can hardly afford. Borrowing from banks is also a solution, but the associated costs are substantial, and this burden can be passed on to students, creating an additional financial strain as tuition fees increase.

Land area per student (m2) Source: Public reports of universities - Graphics: TUAN ANH

Even long-established schools are facing land-related problems.

Even Hanoi University of Science and Technology, one of the oldest and largest universities in Hanoi, has not yet met the standard for land area per student. Member universities of the Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City, such as the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, the University of Economics and Law, and the International University, which have large campuses, also have not met the land area standard.

A burden for students

Mr. Le Truong Tung - Chairman of the Board of Directors of FPT University - gave an example of the costs incurred when universities implement the standards for higher education institutions. Land is calculated at a low price of 20 million VND/m2. Calculating the land cost per student, it would be 20 million VND x 25m2 (the standard land area per student) = 500 million VND.

Let's assume a student borrows money from a bank to buy land, with an interest rate of 10% per year. The interest paid to the bank each year would be 50 million VND. If tuition fees are also 50 million VND per year, it would be just enough to cover the interest payments to the bank.

According to the standard, the student-to-faculty ratio is 40. Faculty salaries are 400 million VND per year, with each student contributing an additional 10 million VND. The building floor area is 2.8 m² per student, with construction costs of over 10 million VND per m², totaling 30 million VND. Therefore, the total cost (land, construction, and faculty) is 63 million VND per year per student.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/dai-hoc-dau-dau-vi-dat-kho-tim-cho-du-de-dat-chuan-20240327224609602.htm