Resolution 71 provides more detailed regulations on university councils and autonomy.

GD&TĐ - According to Professor Dr. Nguyen Quy Thanh, Resolution 71-NQ/TW of the Politburo contributes to ending the debate on school councils and university autonomy.

Turn the spirit of the resolution into consistent action throughout the system

Through studying Resolution No. 71-NQ/TW on breakthroughs in education and training development (Resolution 71), Prof. Dr. Nguyen Quy Thanh - Principal of the University of Education (Vietnam National University, Hanoi) - analyzed that since the Law on Higher Education 2018, the school board has been identified as the highest authority, expected to bring modern governance and reduce the concentration of power on the principal.

However, this mechanism is not in harmony with the leadership structure in public schools. There are situations where the Party Committee decides to do something, but the school board votes not to do it.

The consequence is that the decision-making cycle is prolonged: the board of directors – the Party Committee – the school council – and then back to the board of directors. A decision can take several months to process. This not only causes delays in operations but also “undermines the leadership role of the Party, especially in public schools.

According to Professor Nguyen Quy Thanh, the solution proposed this time in the Resolution is not to return to the old model, but to upgrade: the Secretary and Principal with specifically established authority, some functions that used to belong to the school board are transferred to the Party Committee, transforming the leadership role from "general policy" to closely directing each decision: "This time the functions of the Party Committee will be updated, directing more specifically and deeply".

He said that changes in the governance structure are just the first step, and that to operate smoothly, there needs to be a compatible legal basis: “The three laws – the Law on Education, the Law on Higher Education and the Law on Vocational Education – will all have to be adjusted.

Regulations on school councils, the role of the Party Committee, the autonomy mechanism and budget allocation must be clearly updated so that the resolution can be implemented synchronously. This is a necessary step of "legalization", turning the spirit of the resolution into consistent action throughout the system.

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Quy Thanh – Principal of the University of Education (Vietnam National University, Hanoi ). Photo: Internet.

Resolution 71 opens up opportunities to legalize budget allocation methods

From that foundation, Professor Nguyen Quy Thanh believes that it is necessary to continue to discuss the issue of autonomy, because the autonomy mechanism can only operate effectively when the governance framework has been clearly defined.

University autonomy has been a familiar keyword for a decade, but according to the President of the University of Education, the current understanding is problematic from the very beginning. The essence of autonomy is not "cutting" the budget but changing the way the budget is allocated. Instead of annual estimates, the State needs to provide a stable financial package for 3-5 years. Within that framework, schools are free to decide how to spend on personnel, investment and academic activities, as long as there is a transparent accountability mechanism.

This approach of the previous stage was to turn autonomy into "self-care", leading to a roadmap of gradual budget cuts - each year reducing 10%, until 2026 cutting it all. This pushed schools into a spiral of increasing tuition fees, opening more high-quality programs to balance revenue and expenditure: The trend of increasing tuition fees too quickly and strongly is inevitable. But it is very bad in education. It creates inequality, burdens parents, many families have to struggle to pay for their children to go to university.

Not only that, the mechanism of "ordering" training - which was expected to be the way out - also encountered many problems. Professor Thanh cited the example of Decree No. 116/2020/ND-CP of the Government "Regulations on policies to support tuition fees and living expenses for pedagogical students", many provinces and cities did not sign orders because they were worried about the risk of liability when the "product" only appeared after four years.

The result is low training targets, local shortage of teachers, pushing up pedagogical benchmarks, "It takes four years to release a product, no one dares to sign a hundred billion contract but must wait four years for acceptance".

According to Professor Thanh, Resolution 71 opens up opportunities to legalize the way of budget allocation, turning autonomy into "guaranteed autonomy". The State still invests but according to a standardized, transparent ordering mechanism, reducing risks for localities. Schools have the right to decide within the allocated budget package, while at the same time encouraging diversified sources of income (international cooperation, research, services) instead of relying entirely on tuition fees. Tuition fees are adjusted with a roadmap, avoiding "price shock" and limiting inequality.

"If there is no stable budget, schools will be forced to pay tuition fees - the inevitable consequence is to increase tuition fees. There is no other way," Professor Thanh emphasized, saying that there will be two positive impacts: stopping the increase in tuition fees, reducing social pressure and ensuring equal learning opportunities; at the same time, helping schools stabilize their development strategies, focusing on improving quality instead of having to chase enrollment scale to have more revenue.

Financial issues are the "bloodline" that determines the health of the entire system. Professor Thanh pointed out a worrying fact: the state budget for higher education is currently only about 10,000 billion VND, a sharp decrease compared to 17-18 trillion VND in previous years, while the number of students has reached nearly 2 million, at that time, each student was only invested 13-14 million VND/year on average, which is already a lower number than most countries in the region.

Resolution 71 clearly states: no more cuts but an increase in the budget. More importantly, the resolution introduces a new point that Professor Thanh considers a "thinking step forward": the establishment of a national scholarship fund. This fund will pool all scholarship resources and student support into an independent, transparent mechanism, completely separate from tuition fees.

"Scholarships must have their own funds, separate from tuition fees. Children pay money to study, not to use as scholarships for others" - this ends the long-standing situation where schools are forced to spend 8% of the majority's tuition fees to pay for a small number of students receiving scholarships - a problem that Professor Nguyen Quy Thanh has pointed out many times.

Professor Nguyen Quy Thanh emphasized the restructuring of the university system: merging small units, reducing overlaps to concentrate resources. But he also warned that it is impossible to mechanically "reduce staff" in education: the team of PhDs and associate professors are assets that have been trained for many years, if cut, the quality will immediately decline.

Source: https://giaoducthoidai.vn/nghi-quyet-71-quy-dinh-ro-hon-ve-hoi-dong-truong-va-tu-chu-dai-hoc-post747963.html