RESOLUTION

On substantial and comprehensive renewal of Vietnam’s tertiary education in the 2006-2020 period

After 20 years of renewal and 5 years of implementation of the Strategy on educational development in the 2001-2010 period, the tertiary education in our country has seen marked developments in terms of scale and diversity of educational types and forms, initial adjustments of its systematic structure and improvements of training programs and processes, and has mobilized numerous social resources. The quality of tertiary education in some disciplines and domains as well as in tertiary education institutions has seen positive changes, step by step satisfying the requirements of socio-economic development. The contingent of cadres possessing university and postgraduate degrees, almost all of whom have been trained in domestic educational institutions, has made important contributions to the cause of national renewal and construction.

However, the above-mentioned achievements of tertiary education remained unstable, unsystematic and insubstantial, still failing to satisfy the requirements of national industrialization and modernization and international integration in the new period, and the people’s learning demands. Weaknesses and inadequacies in the management mechanism, systematic structure, disciplinary structure, network of tertiary education institutions, training processes, teaching and learning methods, contingent of lecturers and educational administrators, use efficiency of resources and negative phenomena in examinations, grant of diplomas and other educational activities should be soon addressed.

To expeditiously satisfy the country’s requirements in the new period, the national tertiary education should be renewed in a vigorous, substantial and comprehensive manner. At the Government’s July 2005 regular meeting, the Government resolved on the scheme on renewal of Vietnam’s tertiary education with the following contents:

1. The guiding viewpoint:

To closely combine the renewal of tertiary education with the socio-economic development strategy, consolidation of defense and security, the country’s demand for high-level human resource and the scientific and technological development trend.

To modernize the tertiary education system on the basis of inheriting the country’s educational and training achievements, promoting the national identity, absorbing the mankind’s cultural quintessence, and quickly approaching the world’s advanced tertiary education.

The renewal of tertiary education must be practical, effective and synchronous; to choose processes to make a breakthrough, domains to give priority and key institutions to concentrate resources on in order to create marked progresses. The scale expansion must be in parallel with the quality improvement; the realization of social justice must go hand in hand with assurance of training efficiency; the renewal must be carried out thoroughly from educational objectives, processes and contents to teaching and learning methods as well as methods of evaluating study results; there must be a transferability between disciplines, training forms and levels; to closely integrate general education with vocational education and create a driving force for further renewal thereof.

On the basis of renewing the way of thinking and the educational administration mechanism, to rationally and effectively combine the definite separation of state management functions and tasks with the assurance of the right to autonomy and enhancement of social responsibility and transparency of tertiary education institutions. To promote the activeness and initiative of tertiary education institutions in the cause of renewal with the contingent of lecturers and administrators playing the key role and the active response and participation of the entire society.

The renewal of tertiary education is a cause of all the people under the Party’s leadership and the State’s management. The State shall intensify the investment in, and concurrently step up the socialization of, tertiary education, and create favorable conditions in terms of mechanisms and policies for organizations, individuals and the entire society to participate in development of tertiary education.

2. Objectives

a/ General objectives:

To substantially and comprehensively renew tertiary education and make substantial changes in education quality, efficiency and scale, thus satisfying the requirements of national industrialization and modernization, international economic integration and people’s learning demands. By 2020, Vietnam’s tertiary education shall attain the regional advanced standards, approach the world’s advanced level, have a high competitiveness and suit the socialist-oriented market mechanism.

b/ Specific objectives:

- To perfect the national network of tertiary education institutions which shall be classified according to their functions and training tasks and assurance of rational structures of levels, disciplines and regions in suitability with the undertaking of educational socialization and the general planning on national and regional socio-economic development.

- To develop tertiary education programs under the research orientation and the career - application orientations. To ensure the transferability among these programs in the entire system. To work out and perfect solutions to ensuring the tertiary education quality and inspection system. To build several universities up to international standards.

- To expand the training scale, attaining the rate of 200 students and 450 students for every 10,000 people by 2010 and 2020 respectively, with around 70-80% of the total number of students studying under career-application programs and around 40% of the total number of students studying at non-public tertiary education institutions.

- To build up a sufficient contingent of tertiary education lecturers and administrators, who have ethical quality and professional conscience, high professional qualifications and an advanced teaching and management style; to keep the proportion of students to lecturers in the whole tertiary education system at 20 or under. At least 40% then 60% of lecturers shall have obtained the master degree and 25% then 35% of lecturers shall have obtained the doctoral degree by 2010 and 2020, respectively.

- To markedly scale up and raise efficiency of scientific and technological activities in tertiary education institutions. Big universities must be powerful scientific research centers of the whole country; revenues from scientific and technological, production and service provision activities shall have represented at least 15% then 25% of the total revenue source of tertiary education institutions by 2010 and 2020, respectively.

- To perfect the policy on tertiary education development along the direction of guaranteeing the autonomous right and social responsibility of tertiary education institutions, the management by the State and the supervision and evaluation by the society over tertiary education.

3. Renewal tasks and solutions

a/ Renewal of training structure and improvement of the network of tertiary education institutions:

- To review and evaluate the network of existing tertiary education institutions; to renew the work of network development planning, ensuring the achievement of tertiary education development objectives.

- To prioritize the expansion of career-application orientation programs; to apply flexible and transferable training processes, and combine the traditional model with the multi-stage model so as to increase learning opportunities and grade levels of human resources.

- To well carry out the transformation of the operation mechanism of public tertiary education institutions under the Government’s Resolution No. 05/2005/NQ-CP of April 18, 2005, on stepping up the socialization of educational, healthcare, cultural, physical training and sport activities; to transform semi-public tertiary education institutions and a number of public tertiary education institutions into private ones; to improve the model of community colleges and formulate a regulation on continuing training from colleges to universities, and consolidate open universities in order to expand the scale of these two types of school. To encourage the establishment of tertiary education institutions in big groups and enterprises. To study the organizational model and adopt specific plans on merger of tertiary education institutions into scientific research institutes in order to closely associate training with scientific research, production and business.

- To concentrate investment on, mobilize domestic and foreign specialists and adopt an appropriate mechanism for, building universities up to international standards.

b/ Renewal of training contents, methods and processes

- To restructure framework programs; to ensure the transferability of educational levels; to well resolve relationships in terms of knowledge volume and learning time volume between fundamental study subjects and vocational education subjects, thus raising the training effeciency of each study subject. To renew training contents, and closely associate them with practical scientific research, technological and professional development in the society, satisfying the socio-economic development requirements of each branch or domain and approaching the advanced level of the world. To promote the researching and creative potentials, professional skills and capability of working in a community and career prospects of learners.

- To renew training methods along three directions: equipping learners with learning methods, promoting their initiative, and applying information and telecommunications technologies in teaching and learning activities. To exploit open sources of educational materials and information sources in the Internet. To choose and use advanced educational programs and teaching courses of foreign countries.

- To set and implement a roadmap for the shift to the system of training credits, creating favorable conditions for learners to accumulate knowledge, change disciplines and fields of study, and be transferred to higher educational levels at home or abroad.

- To renew the mechanism of assignment of student enrolment quotas along the direction of associating it with conditions for ensuring the training quality, demands for human resources and the people’s learning needs, and increasing the autonomy of tertiary education institutions.

- To improve the enrolment of students with the application of modern educational measurement technology. To expand enrolment sources and create more learning opportunities for subjects in difficult plight, thus ensuring social justice in enrolment.

- To rectify the organization of training and the renewal of training contents and methods so as to raise the quality of master and doctoral training.

c/ Renewal of the planning, training, fostering and employment of lecturers and administrators:

- To work out and implement a planning on the contingent of tertiary education lecturers and administrators, ensuring sufficient quantity and raising quality thereof, satisfying the requirements of tertiary education renewal.

- To vigorously renew contents, programs and methods of training and fostering tertiary education lecturers and administrators. To pay attention to raising the professional qualifications and pedagogical skills of lecturers, the strategic vision, creative capability and professionalism of leading officials and administrators.

- To renew the enrolment modes to make the enrolment more objective, fairer and more competitive. To perfect and apply the mechanism of long-term contracts; to ensure the equality between payroll lecturers and contractual lecturers, and between lecturers in public educational institutions and those in non-public educational institutions.

- To formulate and promulgate new policies towards lecturers, covering criteria for lecturers, labor norms, working conditions, scientific and technological tasks, the regime of long-term leaves from teaching activities for academic exchange and the mechanism of objective evaluation of working results. To promulgate policies and regimes toward part-time lecturers.

- To reform the procedures for appointment and discharge of professor and associate professor titles along the direction that tertiary education institutions shall carry out such procedures according to the general standards and conditions set by the State. To make periodical evaluations for re-appointment and discharge of professor and associate professor titles. To reform administrative procedures for considering and accrediting lecturers and principal lecturers.

d/ Renewal of organization of scientific and technological activities:

- The State shall invest in upgrading existing capable research institutes in tertiary education institutions and building a number of new ones, with investment being concentrated on key universities for the immediate future. To encourage the establishment of research institutes, scientific and technological enterprises in tertiary education institutions. To encourage scientific and technological organizations and enterprises to invest in development of research institutions in tertiary education institutions.

- To intensify the research into education science. To enforce the law on intellectual property in this domain.

- To specify scientific research tasks of lecturers, and associate the training of doctoral candidates with the execution of scientific and technological research subjects. To adopt appropriate policies for graduate and postgraduate students to actively participate in scientific research.

- To allocate at least 1% of the annual state budget for tertiary education institutions to perform their scientific and technological tasks provided for in the Science and Technology Law.

e/ Renewal of mobilization of resources and financial mechanism:

- The State shall intensify investment in building infrastructures for tertiary education; concentrate investment on building a number of institutions for public utility such as: the national data center, the system of electronic libraries, key laboratories, dormitories and cultural, physical training and sport facilities. Localities shall adjust the planning and reserve land fund for building modern tertiary education institutions which attain the regional and international standards.

- The State shall adopt policies on preferential treatment of, supports and incentives for, domestic and foreign investors to invest in tertiary education; and secure the lawful ownership right and material and spiritual benefits of investors.

- Tertiary education institutions shall take the initiative in diversifying revenue sources from contracts on training, research and development, technology transfer, and service, production and business activities.

- To reformulate polices on tuition fees, scholarships and student credits on the basis of setting principles for sharing tertiary education expenditures among the State, learners and the community. The State shall provide full or partial tuition fee supports for policy beneficiaries, the poor and allocate such supports directly to learners.

- To reform financial policies in order to raise the efficiency of investment from the state budget and exploit other investment sources for tertiary education. To research and apply the process of budget allocation on the basis of the society’s assessment of tertiary education institutions. To regularly organize the evaluation of economic efficiency of tertiary education institutions.

- To conduct revenue-expenditure accounting in public tertiary education institutions, create conditions for tertiary education institutions to enjoy a greater autonomy in revenues-expenditures according to the principle of using revenues to make up for reasonable expenditures and making necessary accumulations to develop material foundations in service of training and research. To supplement and perfect financial regulations applicable to non-public tertiary education institutions.

f/ Renewal of the management mechanism:

- To switch public tertiary education institutions to operate under an autonomous mechanism whereby they shall have the full legal person status and the right to decide on, and bear responsibility for, training, research, organization, personnel and finance.

- To abolish the mechanism of managing ministries, to formulate the mechanism of representatives of the state-owner at public tertiary education institutions. To guarantee the inspection and supervision by the community and promote the role of mass organizations, especially professional associations, in supervising the quality of tertiary education.

- To concentrate the state management on the formulation and direction of implementation of the development strategy; direction of operation of the tertiary education quality control and inspection system; perfection of the legal environment; enhancement of the inspection and examination activities; the macro-regulation of tertiary education structure and scale, satisfying the country’s human resource demand in each period.

- To elaborate the Law on Tertiary Education.

g/ Regarding international integration:

- To formulate a strategy on international integration, raise the cooperation capability and competitiveness of Vietnam’s tertiary education in the implementation of international treaties and commitments.

- To organize teaching and learning in foreign languages, especially in English for the immediate future; to improve the quality of training and research programs which can attract foreigners; to selectively absorb advanced training programs in the world; to reach agreements on equivalent diplomas and training programs with tertiary education institutions in the world; to encourage various forms of high-quality training cooperation, and exchange of lecturers and experts with foreign countries; to encourage overseas Vietnamese lecturers to give lectures in Vietnam; to increase the number of foreign students in Vietnam. To encourage study at home under foreign training programs; to adopt an appropriate consultancy and management mechanism to help Vietnamese students studying overseas choose study disciplines, subjects and schools, and achieve good study results and high efficiency.

- To create mechanisms and favorable conditions for investors and prestigious tertiary education institutions in the world to open international tertiary education institutions in Vietnam or enter into training cooperation with Vietnamese tertiary education institutions.

4. Organization of implementation

a/ To set up the Steering Committee for renewal of tertiary education which shall be headed by a Deputy Prime Minister for directing the renewal of tertiary education.

b/ To work out detailed schemes on realization of objectives and tasks of, and solutions to, renewal of tertiary education.

c/ To allocate funds for renewal of tertiary education from the state budget.

d/ Responsibilities of the state management agencies:

- To organize the implementation of detailed schemes on renewal of tertiary education.

- The Education and Training Ministry shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with relevant ministries and branches and People’s Committees of provinces or centrally-run cities in, formulating specific plans and roadmaps according to the stages of the five-year socio-economic development plans for implementation of detailed schemes on renewal of tertiary education; guiding, inspecting, supervising and summing up the situation of tertiary education renewal and periodically reporting thereon to the Prime Minister. It shall organize the preliminary review of tertiary education renewal at the beginning of 2010 and 2015 and the general review thereof at the beginning of 2020; and organize the drafting of Tertiary Education Bill for submission to the XIIth National Assembly at its first session.

- The Planning and Investment Ministry shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the Finance Ministry, the Education and Training Ministry and the Science and Technology Ministry in, formulating a mechanism for mobilizing investment resources at home and abroad for the tertiary education renewal; submitting to the National Assembly annual budget allocation plans for tertiary education institutions to perform scientific and technological tasks provided for in the Science and Technology Law.

- The Finance Ministry shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the Planning and Investment Ministry, the Education and Training Ministry and relevant ministries and branches in, perfecting the financial policies towards tertiary education, and the financial autonomy mechanism applicable to tertiary education institutions.

- The Home Affairs Ministry shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the Education and Training Ministry, the Science and Technology Ministry and relevant ministries and branches in, formulating an autonomous mechanism applicable to public tertiary education institutions, policies towards university lecturers; and proposing specific organizational models whereby tertiary education institutions shall be merged with scientific research institutes.

- The Science and Technology Ministry shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the Education and Training Ministry and relevant ministries, branches and localities in, formulating policies and mechanisms for bringing into full play potentials of the contingent of high-level scientific and technological cadres of tertiary education institutions.

- Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of Government-attached agencies and presidents of provincial/municipal People’s Committees shall have to coordinate with relevant ministries and branches in implementing this Resolution.