Ensuring the quality of human resources in the medical and legal fields.

The proliferation of university-level training institutions related to medicine and law is creating a need for a comprehensive review of the entire training process, from admissions to output standards, to ensure that graduates truly meet professional standards.

Choosing a residency specialization at Hanoi Medical University in 2025. Photo: HMU.

Statistics show that there are currently 111 institutions nationwide offering law programs, accounting for approximately half of all universities. Of these, 90 universities have law faculties.

Many people are concerned about this issue because medicine and law are fields directly related to the health, lives, rights, and justice of the people. The quality of human resource training will not only affect individual practitioners but also impact the trust of society as a whole.

Supporting the policy of tightening training in specialized and unique fields, including medicine, Professor Tran Diep Tuan – Chairman of the University Council of Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy – observed that currently, opening new academic programs is relatively easy, and the standards for opening new programs are applied universally to all fields. This is unsuitable for the medical field. Furthermore, the accreditation standards are also not suitable for medical doctor training programs.

"In the past, the opening of new training programs in the medical field, especially for medical doctors, has not been truly rigorous and strict. Many schools have been established without ensuring the quality of training," said Professor Tuan, suggesting the need for a separate set of standards for medical doctor training programs.

Associate Professor Dr. Do Van Dung - former Rector of Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education - pointed out that current universities are multidisciplinary institutions. Previously, when opening new programs, these universities had already met all the standards regarding lecturers, facilities, and the ability to coordinate interdisciplinary approaches to provide richer and more diverse training. If these programs are banned, what will happen to these universities? They also meet the requirements for opening new programs, so if they are banned, why should they be banned?

Associate Professor Dr. Do Thanh Nho from the University of New South Wales (Australia) also emphasized that in the current trend, many problems in medicine require interdisciplinary collaboration to solve. He cited the example of his and his colleagues' research on a soft artificial heart, which requires interdisciplinary collaboration with robotics, imaging, medicine, etc., to successfully develop this technology and aim for a reasonable cost so that a large number of people can use it.

Nevertheless, with the goal of improving the quality of training in specialized fields in particular and the quality of higher education in general, it is necessary to continue improving facilities and faculty, especially full-time faculty. Having sufficient practice hospitals or standard laboratories for medical training institutions should be prioritized to increase clinical practice opportunities for students. Similarly, for law students, it is necessary to increase practical training opportunities and strengthen connections with judicial agencies so that students can gain early exposure to the realities of adjudication, enforcement, notarization, or dispute resolution, thereby providing them with the right direction in their studies and training, meeting the demands of the labor market.

Many have also suggested that professional certification exams should be held after graduation so that all students, regardless of their educational institution or whether they attend a domestic or international training system, must meet the required professional standards to practice their profession. Experience in many developed countries shows that professional associations organize these exams and certify qualified practitioners. This ensures quality, and schools will automatically adapt to meet the requirements of the professional certification exams.

Mr. Pham Thai Son, Director of Admissions at Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade, also proposed the most reasonable solution currently available: Medical and Law programs should continue to be offered; the Ministry should issue new, higher, and more specific standards; and universities that fail to meet these standards within 3-5 years will be forced to convert, enter into joint training programs, or have their enrollment suspended. New licensing for these two programs would then be reserved almost exclusively for universities with specialized expertise.

Speaking at a group discussion on the investment policy for the National Target Program on Modernizing and Improving the Quality of Education in the period 2026-2035 on November 25th, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh stated that the Government will tighten the conditions for opening new programs in specialized fields such as medicine and law. Institutions that do not meet the criteria regarding faculty, professional capacity, and practical facilities will not be allowed to offer these two programs.

Lam Nhi

Source: https://daidoanket.vn/dam-bao-chat-luong-nguon-nhan-luc-nganh-y-luat.html