The event was held both in person and online, connecting with more than 400 bridges of universities and colleges. University autonomy was one of the contents mentioned by many schools.

More than 200 comments from pedagogical colleges and higher education institutions were sent to the Minister. The comments focused on groups of issues such as: University autonomy and the role of the teaching staff in implementing university autonomy; improving the quality of training, scientific research, technology transfer; digital transformation in education and adaptation of universities to digital transformation; facilities, network planning...

Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son shares difficulties and problems with teachers.

Society does not understand university autonomy correctly.

Sharing about the hot issue that delegates are interested in is university autonomy, Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Thi Huyen, Head of Marketing Department, National Economics University, said that autonomy in universities today, society still understands as autonomy in tuition fees, financial and thinks that autonomy means the State does not support tuition fees and activities. Therefore, it is recommended that the Ministry of Education and Training join hands in communicating about university autonomy. The lack of synchronization in managing financial autonomy is posing difficulties for schools. Therefore, there needs to be a policy mechanism and guiding documents to help universities manage financial autonomy in a reasonable way in the coming time.

Regarding the big issue of university autonomy, according to Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son, Vietnam has been implementing it for more than 30 years, starting with the establishment of two National Universities. Currently, many universities have a very high level of autonomy.

“In implementing university autonomy, a problem that is often mentioned is the institution. We have issued the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Higher Education (Law 34), Decree 99 guiding the implementation of the law, and stipulating many detailed contents to implement autonomy. However, there are still conflicts, overlaps, and lack of synchronization with other laws, making it very difficult to fully implement the autonomy of higher education,” Minister Nguyen Kim Son said.

Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son said that this needs to be adjusted. Currently, Decree 99 is being adjusted and it is expected that in 2023, the National Assembly and the Government will assign the Ministry of Education and Training to review and amend Law 34. From there, it will continue to pave the way for university autonomy in the right direction, with depth, and more favorable for higher education institutions.

Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son also assessed another difficulty in implementing autonomy is the understanding of autonomy; some places do not fully understand, do not dare to do everything; some places understand autonomy as doing whatever they want. Both of the above understandings lead to errors in the implementation process. The issue of academic autonomy and the role of lecturers play an important role in university autonomy. The most important thing about autonomy is how to reach scientists and lecturers. University autonomy does not stop at the level of educational institution management, or the issuance of regulations. The important thing is that rights and responsibilities must reach the internal components of the university; from faculties to departments and lecturers.

At this time, agencies from the Central Party, the National Assembly, and the Government have relatively agreed on the view: Autonomy does not mean self-sufficiency, nor does it mean leaving it to schools to take care of their own finances. Autonomy still requires investment, but how, when, and how to invest is still a story that needs to continue to be proposed for policy in the coming time. Along with that, regarding academic autonomy and financial autonomy, adjustments are also needed to improve the issue of autonomy.

School leaders directly petitioned Minister Nguyen Kim Son.

More regional universities will be established.

At the online meeting, Mr. Mai Dinh Nam, Chairman of the Council of Dien Bien Provincial Pedagogical College, hoped that the Ministry of Education and Training would soon issue a plan for the network of higher education and pedagogical institutions in general, and pedagogical colleges in particular. On that basis, localities will have a basis to orient the development of pedagogical colleges as well as have appropriate investment policies to meet the needs of regular training and development of teachers in the locality, especially in mountainous provinces.

According to Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son, university planning is a very large, difficult and complicated task, requiring calculation of resources and strategic orientation, including the structure of national universities, regional universities, key universities, density, student ratio of regional universities, and priority training fields.

“There are currently three regional universities. According to the resolution of the Secretariat on the development of six regions, it is likely that some more regional universities will have to be established, expected in the Central Highlands, the Mekong Delta and the western part of the Northern mountainous region to ensure the requirements for human resource training and development of the region,” said Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son.

According to the Minister of Education and Training, another important issue is to arrange teacher training colleges reasonably to ensure the supply of teachers. Currently, the teacher training college system is facing difficulties when it only trains preschool systems with very few numbers, wasting facilities and human resources, and not fully utilizing its capacity. One of the tasks of the planning is to rearrange these schools in the direction that some teacher training colleges will merge with teacher training universities or some universities will train basic sciences as a foundation to receive teacher training.

“The planning of higher education will certainly require a lot of discussion. The Ministry of Education and Training will seek public opinions to complete it,” said Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son.

Article and photos: KHANH HA

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