The debate over whether to offer legal education at multidisciplinary or specialized schools remains intense.

Đào tạo luật ở trường đa ngành hay chuyên ngành chưa hết ‘nóng’ - Ảnh 1. — Mr. Tran Cao Thanh, Secretary of the Executive Board of the Network of Law Training Institutions in Vietnam, spoke at the seminar.

This morning (December 10th), the seminar "Legal Training in Vietnam Today: Challenges and Opportunities," jointly organized by the Ho Chi Minh City Law Newspaper, the Network of Law Training Institutions in Vietnam, and Van Lang University, took place in Ho Chi Minh City. The seminar was attended by leaders of universities offering law programs, experts in the legal and judicial fields, representatives of professional associations and organizations, and the business community.

3 models of legal education in Vietnam

According to statistics from the Ministry of Education and Training, there are currently nearly 100 law training institutions nationwide. Recently, during a National Assembly group discussion on the national target program investment policy, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh pointed out shortcomings in higher education, while emphasizing the need to strengthen management, tighten supervision, and improve the quality of training in specialized fields, including law. Issues related to the training of law graduates are attracting significant attention from experts, managers, and training institutions.

Speaking at the seminar, Master Tran Cao Thanh, Secretary of the Executive Board of the Network of Law Training Institutions in Vietnam, presented three models of governance for law training organizations in Vietnam today.

Firstly, there are 7 universities primarily training in the field of law, including those directly managed by the Ministry of Education and Training, universities under specialized ministries or sectors, and universities belonging to national and regional universities. Secondly, there are law faculties within universities and multidisciplinary universities, with approximately over 80 training institutions. Thirdly, there are about 10 law departments within faculties of multidisciplinary universities. Thus, currently, multidisciplinary universities training in law account for a large number, while specialized universities have a modest number.

In particular, regarding the model of law departments within multidisciplinary universities, Master Thanh believes there are some limitations in terms of the teaching staff; students' access to scientific research, practical legal training, entrepreneurship activities, and skill development is more difficult if not given adequate attention.

Considering the various models of legal education, Master Thanh noted that alongside the advantages, there are also many limitations. He emphasized that while the rate of scientific research meets the requirements, some training institutions offer programs in multiple fields, while some fields have high scientific research and international publications, but the legal field has very low rates; there are also insufficient specific conditions for opening and maintaining new majors, and full-time lecturers who open new majors may not directly participate in training activities or may be responsible for too many modules in the training program...

Đào tạo luật ở trường đa ngành hay chuyên ngành chưa hết ‘nóng’ - Ảnh 2. — Associate Professor Dr. Le Vu Nam, Vice Rector of the University of Economics and Law (Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City), shared his opinion on current legal education.

There are still many problems in legal education.

According to Master of Law Le Quang Y, Deputy Head of the Dong Nai Provincial Bar Association, over the past two decades, the number of law training institutions has increased sharply, with more than 100 universities nationwide having law faculties. This has posed a challenge in standardizing training content and lecturer capacity. The Vietnamese legal system is constantly being amended and supplemented, requiring training programs to be regularly updated. However, many training institutions still rely on rigid, inflexible frameworks, leading to outdated programs that fall behind current practices.

Highlighting the shortcomings of law students, Master of Law Le Quang Y stated that many students are weak in legal thinking and unfamiliar with analyzing real-world situations. Furthermore, they lack adequate professional skills, with core skills such as consulting, negotiation, litigation, evidence gathering, and contract drafting not receiving sufficient attention. Their ability to use legal foreign languages is limited, while international commercial transactions, investments, and dispute resolution are increasing. Legal technology skills are also weak, posing challenges in the context of the strong digitalization of legal services.

"Furthermore, legal internships are not substantial. Many students only do administrative work, are not assigned specialized tasks, and do not have direct guidance from lawyers," observed Master of Law and lawyer Le Quang Y.

Associate Professor Bui Anh Thuy, Head of the Law Faculty at Van Lang University, believes that Vietnam is currently in a period of rapid development with significant changes, including the need for breakthrough development in education, especially in the training of legal professionals. In reality, there is a considerable gap between the demands of the labor market and the capabilities of graduates from universities specializing in "law" and those from multi-disciplinary universities that offer law programs. Reasons include inconsistent training programs that are heavily theoretical but lack practical application; uneven competence among lecturers; and limited foreign language skills among many law graduates. Consequently, many law graduates lack both the necessary skills and specialized knowledge, leading to difficulties in their work.

Đào tạo luật ở trường đa ngành hay chuyên ngành chưa hết ‘nóng’ - Ảnh 3. — Associate Professor Bui Anh Thuy, Head of the Law Faculty at Van Lang University, presented her views at the seminar.

Should we choose a multidisciplinary or specialized solution?

To improve the quality of legal training, Master of Law Le Quang Y suggested building a training program based on the professional competence of lawyers; innovating teaching methods, implementing case-based learning, precedent-based learning, trial simulations, consultation simulations, and project-based learning. In addition, the teaching staff could be diversified by inviting lawyers, judges, and prosecutors to participate in teaching. The Bar Association could participate in developing output standards, organizing skills training courses, evaluating internships, and supporting pre-practice training. Including modules on legal English, international law, commercial arbitration, etc., in the curriculum is also recommended.

Speaking at the seminar, Associate Professor Bui Anh Thuy stated that the multidisciplinary university model is common. The idea of consolidating law degree training solely within specialized law schools is incompatible with modern education, university autonomy, and academic freedom. Furthermore, this contradicts Vietnam's goal of building a learning society and lifelong learning, which it has pursued for decades, and goes against the trend of modern educational development. According to Associate Professor Thuy, given the shortage of legal professionals compared to the population size (104 million) and the economic growth rate (over 900,000 businesses and approximately 5 million business households), training law in multidisciplinary universities is a necessary trend.

Sharing the same view, Associate Professor Dr. Le Minh Hung, Head of the Faculty of Law and Political Science at Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry, stated that the societal demand for law is very high. If the retraining of law professionals is concentrated in a few universities, it will put immense pressure on specialized law schools. This will create difficulties for many stakeholders.

According to Associate Professor Hung, the crucial issue is clarifying the philosophy of legal education. He suggested: "Should students study science first and then law, or should they study law as a science, and then pursue further studies in professions like courts, lawyers, or notaries if they want to work professionally? Currently, the requirement to learn all the knowledge in law school sometimes results in knowledge that is both redundant and lacking."

Associate Professor Dr. Le Vu Nam, Vice Rector of the University of Economics and Law (Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City), also believes that the quality of legal education currently varies. Therefore, the policy of controlling and improving the quality of legal education is correct, and improving the quality of training is absolutely necessary. However, Associate Professor Nam also expressed the view that multidisciplinary fields have their strengths, and specialized fields have their strengths; the most important thing is the quality of education.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/dao-tao-luat-o-truong-da-nganh-hay-chuyen-nganh-van-chua-het-nong-185251210143005387.htm