University arrangement must create a stronger system
Exchanging about this major policy, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Dinh Duc - University of Technology, Vietnam National University, Hanoi said that the core of university arrangement must be to improve the quality of training, research capacity - innovation, resource efficiency and competitiveness of Vietnamese universities.
According to him, a current limitation is that resources are still scattered, in some places the scale is small, training majors are duplicated, laboratories and research teams are divided. Meanwhile, science and technology problems are increasingly inter-sectoral and require large investment.
Therefore, rearranging the network must aim to form institutions with sufficient academic scale, sufficient management capacity and sufficient resources to create strong research groups, shared laboratories, interdisciplinary training programs and large-scale innovation centers.
He believes that each merger plan needs to answer four questions: Will the quality of training and research increase; will resources be more focused and used more effectively; will the management apparatus be truly streamlined and make decisions faster; will organizational culture become more harmonious and better?
In the context that Resolution 221/NQ-CP requires a minimum reduction of 20% of heads of public higher education institutions, he noted that the target for heads should not be turned into the only measure of success.
Mergers are a means, not a goal; reducing focal points is only meaningful when quality and efficiency increase" - Prof. Dr. Nguyen Dinh Duc raised the issue.
Cannot just "mechanically add up" schools
Citing international experience, Mr. Duc said that the most worth learning is not "how many schools combined", but how they define strategic goals before designing the organizational model.
He cited the example of the Aalto University of Finland, formed from the merger of three institutions with strengths in technology, economy and art - design. The goal is not to create a larger school but to form an innovative university based on interdisciplinary intercourse.
With Vietnam, he believes that it is necessary to think of classification. Small-scale schools with limited capacity, overlapping occupations and in the same area can be considered for deep consolidation. Schools that already have brands, specific strengths and good academic capacity can be organized according to a multi-disciplinary university model or a university system, unifying strategies, data, quality standards and common services but still delegating authority to units in academic expertise.
Prof. Dr. Nguyen Dinh Duc also mentioned the risk of "mechanical addition" because if after the merger, each unit still operates as before, and there are still separate boundaries on resources, programs and research, it is actually just placing many units under a new name.
The prerequisite is to have a development project after the merger, not just a merger project" - Prof. Dr. Nguyen Dinh Duc said.
To do this, according to him, the project must clearly define what new schools want to become universities in the next 5-10 years, which key areas are invested in, which industries need to be integrated, what are the recruitment and remuneration mechanisms, and how the data, finance and quality assurance systems are unified.
Keeping talented people, ensuring the rights of learners
The team of lecturers and scientists is one of the decisive factors for the success of the arrangement process. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Dinh Duc said that personnel management must be prepared early, with the principle of transparency, fairness and based on capacity.
According to him, personnel should not be arranged in a "each side holds half the position" style, but should be based on the job position, achievements, leadership capacity, academic contributions and requirements of the new strategy.
Mergers must also create a broader career path: A good scientist must see that after the merger he has more opportunities, not more procedures" - he said.
Prof. Dr. Nguyen Dinh Duc also noted that it is necessary to distinguish between streamlining the administrative apparatus and developing academic capacity. It is possible to reduce overlapping management focal points but not to uniformize administrative streamlining with streamlining lecturers and good scientists. Resources saved from the apparatus need to be reinvested in people, research, laboratories and training quality.
For students, the most important principle is not to let learners bear the costs of the organizational transformation process. Each merger plan needs to have a plan to ensure learners' rights, clarify the training program, output standards, tuition fees, scholarships, accumulated credits, diplomas, study locations and support services.
Learners cannot become the ones to bear the costs of the organizational transformation process" - Prof. Dr. Nguyen Dinh Duc emphasized.
In the long term, he expects the Vietnamese university system to be less dispersed but stronger, with institutions with clear missions: research universities leading science and technology, applied universities associated with businesses, regional universities becoming the nucleus of knowledge and innovation, and some elite institutions with international competitiveness.
To achieve that goal, mergers must go hand in hand with substantive autonomy. According to Prof. Dr. Nguyen Dinh Duc, autonomy needs to be implemented synchronously in terms of academic expertise, organization - personnel, finance, assets and investment, and at the same time shift from the "ask - give, approve first" mechanism to delegating power associated with control by standards, data and output results.
