Students at a practice session at a university in HCM City (Photo VNA)HCM City (VNS/VNA) - Anamended higher education law should create a clear legal environment for publicuniversities to become autonomous, representatives of universities have urged.
The largest barriers to achieving autonomy are in the areas of personnel andfinance, they said.
There are 23 public universities in the country slated to operate independentlyat different levels.
Speaking at a conference on autonomy policies held in Ho Chi Minh City onDecember 25, the university representatives said new regulations should allowthem to attract investment from the private sector and carry out trainingservices that could diversify their sources of revenue.
Ho Thanh Phong, rector of HCM City International University, said thatpreferential policies and tax incentives should be offered to privateinvestors.
Do Van Dung, rector of the HCM CityUniversity of Technology and Education, said the outdated mindset aboutmanagement should be changed and that the government should manage only 50 percentof university affairs.
Other representatives said that tuition should be calculated based on thequality of training and the amount of revenue needed for expenditures.
Professor Pham Phu of the HCM City University ofTechnology said the cost to educate each student was still too low, around 1,000USD each year.
This should be raised to 2,100 USD per student annually, Phu said, adding thatstudents would have to pay tuition representing 50 percent of the total.
He said the Government should also develop a larger fund to provide loans forpoor students.
Nguyen Van Phuc, deputy minister of education and training, said that theamended law would institutionalise regulations on university autonomy and helpuniversities operate more effectively. – VNA
VNA
