Twenty-three universities participating in the pilot programme were allowed toopen new faculties, hire personnel and conduct scientific research, the surveyfound, as reported in Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Saigon)newspaper.
Among other actions, the universities reduced the number of people indirectlyrelated to training, increased the number of lecturers, and hired betterqualified teachers.
As of July, the number of lecturers added at the 23 participating universitiesaccounted for 63 percent of the total number of personnel at the schools.
Fourteen of the universities have set up an administrative council to help themoperate more effectively, and also increased their budget allocations to buymore equipment and build more facilities for training.
The average income for each lecturer at the universities is twice what it wascompared to the past.
Rector of the Hanoi-based National Economics University Tran Tho Dat,told Thoi Bao Tai Chinh Viet Nam (Vietnam Financial Times) that theuniversity has had autonomy since 2015.
With autonomy, the university has opened new faculties to meet the demand ofthe labour market; has applied IT in management and training; and has set uphigh-quality advanced training programmes.
The Centre for Education Accreditation at Vietnam National University Hanoihas also assessed the quality of the university, Dat said. Several of itstraining programmes will be assessed by the Accreditation Council for BusinessSchools and Programmes.
The university also has more financial resources for operations and facilitiesfor professional training, he added.
However, educational experts said that the Law on Higher Education should havemore detailed regulations about autonomy at universities.
Le Truong Tung, chairman of FPT University, said that a clear legislativeframework should be created for universities. Inspections and monitoring shouldbe carried out frequently to ensure effectiveness, he added.
Le Viet Khuyen, former deputy head of Tertiary Education Department under theMinistry of Education and Training, said that autonomy could be implemented ina variety of ways.
Survey conductors suggested that the pilot programme for autonomy should becontinued and that autonomy should be officially given to these universities.-VNA