VietNamNet Bridge - The absence of Vietnamese universities in international rankings is not a surprise to the majority of Vietnamese, but many wonder why even the most prestigious schools are not recognized.

No Vietnamese name is found in the 2017 Times Higher Education’s (THE) list of the 300 best universities in Asia.

Le Viet Khuyen, former deputy director of the Ministry of Education and Training’s University Education Department, said this was "really a sad thing". 

According to Khuyen, university accreditation organizations apply different criteria when giving rankings. 

THE emphasizes universities’ achievements in scientific research with only 25 percent of scores given to teaching and 75 percent to scientific research and related works.

Therefore, the absence of Vietnamese universities in THE’s ranking is understood that Vietnam still doesn’t have high-level research universities like other countries in the region.

Khuyen commented that in Vietnam, scientific research is mostly carried out by research institutes, while higher education establishments undertake training.

In order to be listed in the ranking, Vietnam will have to re-organize universities and institutes so that they can support each other for mutual development.

The absence of Vietnamese universities in international rankings is not a surprise to the majority of Vietnamese, but many wonder why even the most prestigious schools are not recognized.

In developed countries, universities are not only a place to develop new knowledge, but also establishments to carry out research.

However, Khuyen said that Vietnam’s Hanoi and HCMC National Universities are listed in the QS’s top 200 Asian universities.

In the ranking, the former ranked 139th, while the latter was 147th. Can Tho University was between 251-300, while Hanoi University of Technology and Hue University were between 301 and 350.

“I wonder if any Vietnam university acted on its own initiative and provided information to THE to be ranked,” he said. 

Some analysts pointed out that many schools have to spend big money to maintain their appearance in prestigious international rankings.

Asked about this, Khuyen said it is not an easy thing for Vietnam. 

“There are many more important things to do now,” he said. “As we are poor, we cannot spend too much money. " However, 20 percent of the nation’s budget allocated to education development is a high proportion.

However, it is undeniable that Vietnam’s universities are lagging behind.  

Tran Xuan Nhi, a renowned education expert, and former Deputy Minister of Education and Training, agrees that Vietnam’s schools just try to enroll as many students as possible and live on students’ tuition, and do not pay great attention to research.