VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has announced that universities have to stop enrolling students for the 207 training majors from the 2014 academic year, if they cannot satisfy the criteria in the teaching staff.

The shocking decision

A lot of schools and the students planning to attend the entrance exams to the schools have been put on tenterhooks, as it is still unclear about the training majors, while the enrolment season is coming in just several months.

These include the Hanoi Academy of Theatre and Cinema, which has 15 training majors on the “black list,” and the Hanoi University of Education with 8 training majors. The others include the Ha Tinh University (14), Quy Nhon University (7) and Quang Binh (8).

Bui Anh Tuan, Director of the MOET’s University Education Department, said the warning has been given by the ministry after it, after taking inspection tours to schools, found that they cannot satisfy the requirements in terms of the teaching staff.

The situation is especially worse at the newly set up schools, or the schools which have just been upgraded from junior schools.

A lot of state owned schools hire the lecturers who got retired as state civil servants. Under the current regulations, the lecturers must not be counted on as the permanent teaching staff of the schools.

In other cases, the same names of lecturers have been declared as the permanent lecturers of several different schools.

The announcement about the stoppage of the 207 training majors all of a sudden has put thousands of students on tenterhooks, because they may have to choose other training majors instead of the initially targeted ones.

MOET’s Deputy Minister Bui Van Ga has reassured the public that MOET will allow the schools to resume the enrolment of students for the training majors, if the schools can find enough lecturers within two months.

This means that changes may be made “in the last minute.” The schools, which can obtain sufficient lecturers in two months, before students make registrations to attend university entrance exams, will be able to enroll students as usual.

Where to find film directors with a doctorate?

Tran Thanh Hiep, President of the Academy of Theatre and Cinema, said the requirements set by MOET on the high qualifications and training degrees prove to be unfeasible.

Hiep said that the school does not have any film director with doctorate over the last 30 years, and he is sure that there will be no such person in three years.

“The teachers of the well-known film directors such as Thanh Van or Luu Trong Ninh (the well-known film directors in Vietnam – reporter) do not have a master degree or doctorate,” Hiep said.

“It was the bachelors with university degrees who taught the excellent artists,” he stated, adding that MOET should offer a specific mechanism for arts schools.

Meanwhile, Bui Thien Du, President of the Phuong Dong University, said there were some mistakes made by MOET.

“The ministry has instructed to stop enrolling students for a lot of majors which were stopped from enrolling a long time ago, including Russian, German and French languages,” Du said.

Kim Chi