A report notes that about 30 local universities have been developed in the last 20 years. They mostly enroll local students and produce workers for local economies.

The local universities allow rural students to obtain higher education. Their operation mode is linked with the diverse learning needs of the community.

However, in the context of globalization and the new circumstances of institutional autonomy, local universities are facing big difficulties.

Nguyen Duc Vuong from Quang Binh University commented that globalization has caused stiff competition among higher education establishments, especially in enrollment.

A report notes that about 30 local universities have been developed in the last 20 years. They mostly enroll local students and produce workers for local economies.

 Local authorities are believed to have advantages in providing training in some traditional majors, especially majors related to the local conditions. However, in the new era, the advantages no longer exist and the schools have to provide modern majors to satisfy students.

This has led to a decrease in training quality and oversupply of human resources due to the mismatch between supply and demand of the locality.

Most local universities complain it is difficult to enroll students in recent years, though the schools have set very low requirements on input students.

In 2018, the Quang Binh University enrolled the students who got 12-17 score from the national high school finals. This meant that students just had to get 4 score for one exam subject to be able to get a seat there.

In the 2019 enrollment season, a series of local universities set similar floor marks, i.e the minimum exam scores that students must obtain from the national exam to be eligible for the schools.

Quang Nam University, HCMC Agriculture and Forestry University, Phu Yen and Cuu Long Universities all have set the floor mark at 13. Despite the low requirements, the schools are still hungry for students.

Explaining this, Pham Van Hung from Hai Phong University said many high school graduates now don’t go to university but instead vocational schools or abroad to work as export laborers.

The schools also have to compete with Hanoi and HCMC schools and top-tier schools to attract learners.

Thuy from MOET noted that local universities are following the traditional model, providing 4-year training programs. This cannot make a difference between local schools and other universities across the country.

Local universities need to create an identity and difference in modern times in order to obtain firms positions in the market.

Thanh Lich

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