Professor Tran Hong Quan has passed away.

Professor Tran Hong Quan, former Minister of Education and Training, passed away on the afternoon of August 25th at Military Hospital 175 in Ho Chi Minh City, at the age of 87.

The funeral of Professor Tran Hong Quan was held with high-level funeral rites. The viewing began at 11:00 AM on August 27th at the National Funeral Home in the South (Go Vap District).

Professor Tran Hong Quan, originally from My Quoi commune, Nga Nam district, Soc Trang province, was a former member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam in the 6th, 7th, and 8th terms; former Secretary of the Party Committee and Minister of Education and Training; and former Deputy Head of the Central Committee's Mass Mobilization Department.

He was a lecturer at Hanoi University of Technology in 1961. In 1975, he became head of the Mechanical Engineering department at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and served as rector from 1976 to 1982.

From 1987, he served as Minister of Higher Education, Vocational Training and Professional Development, later the Ministry of Education and Training, until 1997. After retiring, he founded and served as President of the Association of Vietnamese Universities and Colleges from 2005 to 2021, and has since been Chairman of the Advisory Board for the association.

Professor Tran Hong Quan. Photo: Thuy Linh

Having been close colleagues for over 30 years, Associate Professor Tran Xuan Nhi, Permanent Vice President of the Association and former Deputy Minister of Education and Training, said that Professor Tran Hong Quan dedicated his entire life to education and was always concerned about developing higher education in Vietnam.

"This is an irreplaceable loss for the Association and a great sadness for educators like us," Associate Professor Tran Xuan Nhi shared.

Professor Quân introduced fundamental policy changes that created a breakthrough in the country's education system, according to Mr. Nhĩ's assessment.

First and foremost, there was the program to build a system of ethnic boarding schools and to decentralize teacher training colleges. Each province had a teacher training college to train teachers from preschool to lower secondary school, while universities trained teachers for upper secondary school and higher levels.

"In the last decade of the 20th century, the achievements in developing the system of ethnic boarding schools in mountainous areas were considered the most beautiful flower of Vietnamese general education," Mr. Nhi said.

Associate Professor Nhi stated that as soon as Professor Quan became Minister, he particularly supported the trend of establishing private universities. With that support, in 1988, Thang Long University became the first private university, with Ms. Hoang Xuan Sinh as its rector. Subsequently, a series of other private universities were established, such as Duy Tan, Binh Duong, and Hai Phong.

"Professor Quân believed that public and private universities were like the two wings of a bird, so both needed to be given attention and developed," Associate Professor Nhĩ recalled.

Professor Tran Hong Quan proposed four prerequisites for innovation to help the higher education system approach market mechanisms and socialization.

These are universities that both recruit students according to state-assigned quotas and expand to serve society in order to utilize their full capacity. The universities are allowed to collect tuition fees according to state regulations. Tuition fees and other legitimate income are used independently and transparently by the universities without being remitted to the state budget.

Thirdly, the state scholarship fund, instead of only providing scholarships to students from disadvantaged backgrounds, will include a portion for scholarships to encourage academic achievement. Finally, the Ministry will publicly allocate budgets to schools, eliminating the Ministry's reserve funds that are often used through a system of requesting and granting permission.

Professor Quân also encouraged universities to shift from a semester-based system to a credit-based system. Furthermore, the Ministry advocates for gradually expanding decentralized management, moving towards self-governing universities.

Professor Tran Hong Quan (left) receives Mr. Vo Van Thuong during his visit on Vietnamese Teachers' Day 2019. Photo: Manh Tung.

According to Associate Professor Nguyen Thien Tong, former Head of the Aeronautical Engineering Department at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, a groundbreaking reform proposed by Professor Quan was the policy of electing university rectors in all universities in 1989. All lecturers, staff, and student representatives were allowed to participate in the election of the rector. Lecturers and staff with more than five years of service received one vote each, while those with less than five years received half a vote. Student representatives were allocated a certain percentage of votes.

Each school typically had four candidates, who took turns presenting and discussing their educational and management perspectives and policies with each faculty to win votes. Associate Professor Tong assessed that the presidents elected at that time were all excellent in their professional expertise and administration. Professor Quan's policy of electing presidents created an enthusiastic and democratic atmosphere, promoting development in universities, but unfortunately, it was not continued afterward.

"It can be said that Professor Quan introduced many important policies, promoting innovation in higher education so that universities could have the form they have today," Associate Professor Tong said.

Le Nguyen

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