Self-reliance is not about lax management
On the afternoon of July 11, the Government Electronic Information Portal organized a seminar on "University autonomy - What are the opportunities for development?". The seminar attracted many leading experts to analyze the movements, advantages, difficulties and opportunities for developing the university system.
Associate Professor, Dr. Luu Bich Ngoc - Chief of Office of the National Council for Education and Human Resources Development said that Vietnam's autonomy in higher education in recent times has become a driving force to promote the development of the higher education system in our country.
"We have also had many remarkable achievements, but it seems that in the past 10 years, the speed has been a bit slower than the wishes of the Party, the State, and society" - Ms. Ngoc said and pointed out 3 main reasons: Society and the current higher education institutions in Vietnam in the past have not properly understood university autonomy; the conflict in power, management, and management; the autonomy mechanism has not really opened up.
Affirming that autonomy is not lax management, Ms. Ngoc said that the State plays a "creating" role, issuing policies on general standards such as higher education institution standards, training program standards and output standards. All post-inspection systems behind will be implemented and developed more strongly to monitor operations, ensuring the quality of autonomous higher education institutions will have output training products that can meet the needs of society.
"All of these ideas are being transformed into the revised Law on Higher Education. It is expected that this Law will be submitted to the National Assembly for consideration and approval at the October 2025 session, creating a solid legal corridor for the new development stage" - Ms. Ngoc said.
Innovation in education and training must have new concepts and thinking
Associate Professor, Dr. Hoang Dinh Phi - Principal of the School of Management and Business (HSB), Hanoi National University - shared that the journey of complete autonomy of a public university in Vietnam requires the continuous efforts of the collective.
In the context of globalization, he believes that higher education needs to be positioned at the top of the knowledge pyramid, instead of mass popularization. Not every province needs a large-scale university, but needs to focus on quality science and training.
For those who are not suitable for their academic path, vocational training or other training is a reasonable choice, avoiding wasting time and resources of family and society - Associate Professor, Dr. Hoang Dinh Phi said.
Sharing the same view, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Xuan Yem - Director of the Institute of Non-Traditional Security, School of Management and Business, Hanoi National University, said that higher education - elite education, needs to be recalculated, reducing universities to have strong ones.
He also said that to innovate education and training, considering this a breakthrough, it is necessary to increase the authority of principals. All innovation of the school must start from teachers, especially principals, who determine the innovation and success of education and training.
In addition, to innovate education and training, there must be new concepts and new thinking about teachers. Today's teachers are not only good at teaching and researching, but also good at practice.
The teaching staff is not just part-time, they must participate in management and teaching organization; places teaching about economics must have the participation of economic actors and business directors to teach students how to get rich.
Teachers who do not know how to get rich for themselves cannot teach others to get rich, this is a practical thing - Prof. Dr. Nguyen Xuan Yem suggested, at the same time, it is necessary to increase resources. The National Assembly and the Government prioritize development, allocate appropriate budget resources, within the conditions of Vietnam, for education and training.
