College is not higher than university

Deputy Minister Hoang Minh Son speaks at the workshop on the morning of May 15 - Photo: TRAN HUYNH

The workshop organized by the Ministry of Education and Training on the morning of May 15 had the participation of representatives of more than 50 universities in the South.

No distinction between "university" and "university"

At the workshop, the issue of unifying the concept and classification of highereducation institutions received many opinions. In particular, the proposal in the draft law not to distinguish between "university" and "university", both of these concepts are considered "higher education institutions" has received support from many people.

According to Associate Professor Dr. Ngo Quoc Dat - Principal of Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy - this draft law does not distinguish between the scale of "university" and "university", creating many advantages for schools training in specific fields such as health sciences .

"If the revised Law on Higher Education stipulates that health science training schools only train in these specific fields, and do not need to train in other fields to convert to universities, I find that very encouraging," said Mr. Dat.

According to Mr. Dat, this has been a problem for his school for many years. In 2003, the Government decree stipulated that the school's name was Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy. However, according to current law, the school is stuck on the word 'school' or 'university'. For a long time, the school has been struggling with this, wasting a lot of time and resources.

Many times the inspectors suggested that the school change its name to Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy. While the school itself did not think that university would be better than college.

"If there is no regulation on the difference between 'university' and 'university', I wonder how it will be translated into English. Therefore, I suggest that there should be specific instructions to avoid problems for schools," Mr. Dat suggested.

Associate Professor Dr. Ngo Quoc Dat said he was concerned when translating "university" and "university" into English - Photo: TRAN HUYNH

Many difficulties in implementing university autonomy

Mr. Nguyen Tien Thao - Director of the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education and Training - specifically presented 6 policy groups of the draft Law on Higher Education (amended), including: Improving the effectiveness of state management, creating an advanced university governance system; Modernizing training programs and methods, applying advanced technology and promoting lifelong learning; Positioning higher education institutions as centers of research, innovation associated with training high-quality human resources...

Mr. Nguyen Tien Thao said that university autonomy is the proactive right of higher education institutions in deciding on activities according to legal regulations; linking autonomy with accountability of higher education institutions.

The proposed law stipulates that higher education institutions perform the function of training at all levels of higher education associated with research, innovation and community service, including: universities and academies that train at the undergraduate level or higher in one or several fields; universities that train in large-scale multi-disciplinary and multi-field training at all levels of higher education (undergraduate, master's, doctoral); postgraduate academies that train at the master's and doctoral levels.

National universities and regional universities operate as a unified and effective entity to carry out national strategic tasks and regional development tasks.

Notably, the draft law does not stipulate member schools in the structure of universities, except for national universities and regional universities; does not establish school councils at universities under the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of National Defense and member universities; clearly stipulates the authority to appoint key leadership positions at higher education institutions under the direct management agency head according to Party regulations.

Representatives of many universities said that they are currently facing many difficulties in implementing autonomy, especially in finance, organizational structure, and opening training majors. Regulations that are too detailed at the Government or ministerial level cause difficulties and delays in practical application.

Therefore, the law should focus on regulating the framework, basic, core issues, and assign the remaining autonomy and accountability to schools.

When autonomy is increased, the role of state management needs to be adjusted accordingly. Many opinions propose to strengthen the role of state management in building and testing quality instead of detailed administrative control. The role of inspection and auditing also needs to be clarified in the context of relevant laws being amended.

Dr. Thai Thi Tuyet Dung - Deputy Head of Inspection and Legal Affairs Department of Ho Chi Minh City National University - said that as autonomy for schools increases, it is necessary to strengthen state management of inspection/supervision.

In the context of transferring the Inspectorate of the Ministry of Education and Training to the Government Inspectorate, the draft Law on Inspection and the draft Law on Handling of Administrative Violations have many changes in authority and procedures related to inspection/checking/punishing, so the 6th policy in the proposal of the revised Law on Higher Education needs to add the content of "strengthening the role of state management in inspection and handling of violations" to ensure that inspection and handling of violations in the education sector are synchronized and unified", Ms. Dung suggested.

Dr. Thai Thi Tuyet Dung speaks at the conference - Photo: TRAN HUYNH

The content of the Law on Higher Education will be reduced by half.

Speaking at the workshop, Deputy Minister of Education and Training Hoang Minh Son said that society is placing high expectations on this revision of the Law on Higher Education. This revision will create a legal corridor for higher education institutions to make breakthroughs and develop more strongly in the coming period.

"This draft amendment to the Law on Higher Education aims to simplify and streamline the higher education system, avoiding overlaps between current legal regulations. One of the important orientations is to strengthen the autonomy of higher education institutions," Mr. Son affirmed.

According to Deputy Minister Hoang Minh Son, the revised Law on Higher Education is expected to have only about 50% of the content compared to the 2018 Law on Higher Education. The number of guiding documents in terms of pages is also reduced by about half.

"This approach is to simplify and streamline the legal system on education and training, avoiding overlap between different legal regulations. At the same time, it gives the highest autonomy to higher education institutions," Mr. Son emphasized.

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TRAN HUYNH

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/khong-phai-dai-hoc-co-cap-bac-cao-hon-truong-dai-hoc-20250515145440544.htm