Vietnam Ministry Seeks Measures to Enhance Tertiary Education’s Quality

Vietnam’s Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) last week held a conference in Danang City to discuss ways to enhance the quality of tertiary education. The conference focused on three major themes, namely university autonomy, quality control and cooperation with recruiters as the key factors determining the quality of higher education. The majority of delegates shared the same view that the quality of higher education in Vietnam is currently rather low. Speaking at the conference, MOET Minister Phung Xuan Nha said that weaknesses in the quality of higher education are becoming visible and have caused public concern, while pointing out several reasons for this, such as the high student-to-lecturer ratio, adding that no more than one fifth of lecturers in Vietnam have doctorates. The education minister stated that it is necessary for universities to reform their administration, reduce the number of recruits to focus on quality and work with enterprises so that their students are equipped with what the economy needs. (nhandan.com.vn Jan 8)