Le Hong Son,head of the department, has said at an Overseas Vietnamese conference held inHCM City recently that overseas Vietnamese could also work as experts orlecturers in Vietnam.
OverseasVietnamese who have teaching experience could help train English teachers orteach science with English instruction at high schools or professionaleducational establishments, he added.
HCM City hasfaced challenges in meeting international standards and providing qualityadvanced education.
A shortageof quality teachers, facilities and curricula that meets high standards hasbeen the major impediment to progress.
Increasedpopulation growth has led to a lack of classrooms and failure to meet thenational standard of 30 to 35 children per classroom.
Thedepartment said the city’s budget for education was too low, and should beincreased at least 1.2 to 1.3 times to meet modern, advanced educationaltrends.
Highereducation
According tothe QS World University Rankings 2016, which compares the top universities inthe world using an interactive results table, Vietnam had five universities onthe list of the top 350 in Asia.
Of the fiveuniversities, Vietnam National University-HCM City is the only one located inthe city.
Dr Tang AnhMinh, chairman of the Association of Vietnamese Scientists and Experts inFrance, said the city should set up an advisory board for higher education withthe aim of improving quality.
He said theboard should include municipal authorities, educational experts, enterprisesand overseas Vietnamese who have experience in working at highly regardeduniversities.
Moreover,universities should offer lecturers a more flexible schedule so they can conductscientific research, while universities should invest more in research, hesaid.
Vietnameselecturers and professors at universities, he said, were not involved in manyscientific research activities for various reasons, including limited funds.The number of research articles published in foreign scientific journals hadbeen low.
Minh alsosaid that lecturers’ English capacity must be improved, and that universitiesshould strengthen exchanges between students and lecturers in other countries.
Vocationaltraining
Pham NamKim, a financial and banking expert from Switzerland, suggested that the cityestablish a vocational training system like Switzerland’s.
InSwitzerland, the unemployment rate among young people is 3.7 percent, while therate in Vietnam in 2015 was 13.1 percent.
Aroundtwo-thirds of students in Switzerland choose to study in vocational trainingschools each year, Kim said.
Aftergraduating, they can continue at a higher level in their field or pursue abachelor’s or master’s degree.-VNA