WB to Lend Vietnam $200M to Improve Private Tertiary Education

The World Bank (WB) will lend Vietnam $200 million to help the country improve its private tertiary education in 2012, the Ministry of Education and Training said on September 7. The PHELF program is part of education projects that the WB will offer loans in the next two years, the An Ninh Thu Do newspaper reported Sept 8. The move will help the Southeast Asia country continue its scheme on tertiary education renewal in the 2066-2020 period to train qualified workforce for the national industrialization and modernization. The ministry will carry out a survey on capital demand as well as other related issues in private universities so as to timely and efficiently apportion the money. Vietnam now has 375 universities and colleges. Despite the fast expansion and rapid growth in the numbers of universities and colleges, the quality of education cannot meet the social demand and development in the region. The country targets to have one university placed among the world’s top 200 universities by 2020. (An Ninh Thu Do - Capital’s Security Sept 8 p6)