The seminar "Law Training in Vietnam Today," held on December 10 in HCMC, organized by Phap Luat Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh newspaper, disvussed the issue and challenges in this field.

Nguyen Duc Hien, deputy editor-in-chief of the newspaper, said international integration has sharply increased the demand for high-quality legal human resources, while training programs remain slow to innovate, lack balance between theory and practice, and have not ensured quality.

Associate Prof Bui Anh Thuy, dean of the Faculty of Law at Van Lang University and a member of the executive board of the network of legal training institutions in Vietnam, said that before 2020 there were more than 40 higher-education institutions providing training in law at the bachelor level, with some also training master’s and doctoral students.

This number has increased to around 90 institutions. Currently, there are four universities officially named “law university”, namely Hanoi Law University (Ministry of Justice), School of Law under the Vietnam National University Hanoi, School of Law under Hue University, and HCMC University of Law (Ministry of Education and Training).

In addition, many public and private universities have established Faculties of Law and developed for many years, offering multi-level enrollment and supplying human resources to the labor market. Many institutions, whether specialized in law or multidisciplinary, have built prestige and their brand, attracting learners with their accredited programs and practical requirements. 

The employment rate for bachelors and masters of law six months to one year after graduation is high, with stable income. This is a positive sign reflecting the efforts of training institutions and learners in response to the increasingly high demands of the labor market.

However, not every law training institution achieves such results. There are many institutions that rush to open the major, with impractical curricula, a weak faculty team, inadequate facilities, and superficial study assessment processes. 

This negatively affects the quality of training, creating mixed reactions and disappointment in society, and even within the team of civil servants, leaders, and managers of the state, according to Thuy.

He noted that Vietnam has over 104 million people, nearly 60 million of whom are of working age, but the percentage of adults with university degrees is still among the lowest in the region. This shows that higher education must strive harder to improve quality and expand learning opportunities.

For the law major, despite the high number of training institutions, the demand for legal personnel remains large and has not been met. He emphasized that the need for legal personnel is still huge, spanning from the judicial system to businesses to the public sector.

5 problems 

According to Thuy, training institutions fully support improving quality. However, quality cannot be improved merely by an administrative order, but must be based on foundational factors.

Thuy pointed out five major problems in law training: the curriculum is heavy on theory; output standards lack practicality; the faculty team lacks professional experience; integrity risks from digital technology; and limited foreign language skills make it difficult for graduates to integrate. 

Furthermore, the gap between training and recruitment needs remains large.

He believes that law training institutions need to improve physical and technical facilities and build a modern learning environment. Along with that, the teaching team must be developed toward having high qualifications and rich practical experience in the judicial and legal fields, helping learners not only grasp knowledge but also gain professional skills and experience.

He also emphasized that the training curriculum must be regularly updated to match the pace of social change, the process of integration, and the new requirements of the economy. The learning materials system, libraries, legal practice centers, legal clubs, and simulation rooms need investment to support learners in accessing practical experience.

Tran Cao Thanh, Secretary of the Executive Board of the Network of Law Training Institutions in Vietnam, proposed key solutions to improve the quality of law training. 

Among them, he emphasized reviewing the implementation of standards for opening new majors and faculty standards, ensuring that faculty members listed are directly teaching. 

The training management model needs to be innovated according to labor market needs; and the faculty team must be standardized, increasing the proportion of professors with the correct doctorate degree and attracting experts from the judicial system and businesses.

Thuy Nga