Resolution No. 71 - Innovative energy brings higher education to the world

Resolution No. 71/NQ-TW dated August 22, 2025 of the Politburo on breakthroughs in education and training development (Resolution No. 71) affirms the role and mission of higher education in the sense of "elite", as the core of developing highly qualified human resources, talents, promoting the development of science, technology and innovation.

The Resolution also sets out many specific and outstanding policies such as full and comprehensive autonomy for higher education institutions; building appropriate policies to mobilize talented people outside the teaching force to participate in teaching and training; implementing a co-tenant lecturer regime for talented people working at public service units... The contents of Resolution No. 71 are the source of innovative energy to bring higher education to the world level.

The teachers and lecturers of the Faculty of Information Technology ( Hanoi National University of Education) are constantly innovating their training programs and methods so that graduates can meet job requirements. Photo: Thanh Tung/VNA

Preserving Vietnamese identity while integrating with world knowledge

Professor, Dr. Pham Van Dien believes that the most breakthrough point of Resolution No. 71 is the thinking and vision that considers education not only as a "top national policy" but also as a source of knowledge, culture and humanity, a social strength crystallized in the Vietnamese human factor. The commitment to spend at least 20% of the national budget on education, along with the policy of promoting socialization and international integration, is the turning point from words to actions, from awareness to commitment, opening the foundation to create a new generation of citizens and a future position for the country.

According to Professor, Dr. Pham Van Dien, countries compete with each other in human resources. Universities are only truly different thanks to the team of lecturers, scientists and students they train. The content of university education development has been clearly defined in Resolution No. 71 with 4 important breakthroughs: financial resources are guaranteed and strongly encouraged socialization; comprehensive autonomy is granted along with a transparent accountability mechanism; internationalization is set as a specific goal in terms of ranking, cooperation, accreditation, and studying abroad. And finally, the team factor - developing international-class lecturers and scientists is considered the key to raising the standards of the entire system.

“Autonomy is the inevitable path for sustainable development of higher education institutions,” said Professor, Dr. Pham Van Dien. Schools have the right to decide on personnel, finance, and strategy, while being transparent and open for social supervision. When truly autonomous in terms of academics, organization, personnel, and finance, schools can boldly innovate programs, apply artificial intelligence (AI) and modern technology to teaching, research, start-ups, and international integration. Therefore, previous State regulations, typically Circular No. 01/2024/TT-BGDDT dated January 30, 2024 of the Ministry of Education and Training on standards for higher education institutions requiring the proportion of lecturers with PhD degrees to account for at least 40%, also need to be reviewed for flexible improvement and timely updates to recognize new capacities. In practice, an “AI professor” can make a big impact in place of many traditional positions, and it is predicted that in the next few years, “AI Professors - Robot Professors” will appear in the classrooms, including at the University of Forestry. “With autonomy along with an open legal framework, ready to recognize these new capabilities, universities will have more opportunities to innovate and make breakthroughs,” Professor, Dr. Pham Van Dien emphasized.

From the practical operations of the Forestry University, Professor, Dr. Pham Van Dien shared that each step of expanding autonomy, no matter how small, creates great innovative energy. Recently, the school has increased its enrollment scale, rapidly increased international cooperation, and sent hundreds of students for internships and study abroad each year. If it is fully autonomous, its momentum will certainly multiply. The school is currently in a leading position in a number of industries in Vietnam and the goal by 2035 - 2040 is to be in the top of the world in strong industries such as Forest Resource Management and Tropical Forestry.

“The University of Forestry is determined to follow the model of a green, smart, global university, both preserving Vietnamese identity and integrating with world knowledge. Becoming a unique university is also a way to take the lead,” Professor, Dr. Pham Van Dien expressed.

Full and comprehensive autonomy in accordance with Vietnamese reality and international practices

Talking about the breakthrough in educational development thinking of Resolution No. 71, Colonel, Dr. Hoang Van Thuc - Director of the Cryptography Technical Academy, commented that the Resolution not only affirms that education and training is the top national policy but also determines the future of the nation. Along with that, the Resolution has innovated from administrative management thinking to development creation, autonomy for educational institutions; from training thinking to meet current needs to global citizens, towards the future, ensuring harmony between the national and elite, comprehensive and specialized, national and global.

Paying special attention to the content of granting autonomy to higher education institutions, Dr. Hoang Van Thuc said that the Academy of Cryptography is a public service unit but at the same time is a cryptographic organization according to the Law on Cryptography. Therefore, like other higher education institutions in the field of national defense and security, before the issuance of Resolution No. 71, the Academy encountered difficulties in building an organizational model, operating mechanism, and autonomy plan to attract resources to serve the training of high-quality human resources. Resolution No. 71 has specific regulations to "untie the knot" for the above problems. That is, to build appropriate policies to mobilize talented people outside the teaching force to participate in teaching and training in educational institutions; to implement a co-staff lecturer regime for talented people working in public service units; to ensure full and comprehensive autonomy for higher education institutions regardless of the level of financial autonomy. “Full and comprehensive autonomy means self-determination of staffing, recruitment, hiring of lecturers, appointment of leadership and management positions for talented people from abroad and experts in accordance with international practices and Vietnamese reality,” Dr. Hoang Van Thuc further emphasized.

At the meeting on September 9, 2025 with the Ministry of Education and Training and representatives of leaders of a number of central ministries and branches on the implementation of Resolution No. 71, General Secretary To Lam stated that the concretization and development of an Action Program to implement the Resolution is very important, will determine the success of the Resolution and must overcome the situation where the policy is correct but implementation is ineffective.

From the perspective of a university manager, to effectively implement the Resolution, Dr. Hoang Van Thuc proposed that it is necessary to thoroughly disseminate the Resolution and action programs and implementation plans in schools so that each educational manager, teacher and student must grasp the guiding viewpoints, goals, tasks and solutions. From there, innovate thinking and action, shift from reform and correction to creative thinking, not applying old standards and old habits to a modern education system.

Innovate training programs according to international standards while promoting the application of digital technology and AI in teaching methods and university management; continue to invest in facilities, practice rooms, and laboratories to ensure "learning goes hand in hand with practice" and "theory goes hand in hand with practice".

Higher education institutions invest in improving their scientific research and innovation potential, prioritizing the development of basic science and new technology; improving the quality and efficiency of scientific research and technology transfer, linking training with research, especially postgraduate training and creating intellectual property; increasing scientific publications in prestigious domestic and international journals. Along with that, focus on building a team of teachers who are both knowledgeable, ethical and have a desire to contribute; arousing the passion for learning to become global citizens of each student.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/giao-duc/nghi-quyet-so-71-nang-luong-doi-moi-dua-giao-duc-dai-hoc-vuon-tam-the-gioi-20250915191254129.htm