Phuc chaired a meeting in Hanoi on November 2 with leaders of the Vietnam National University (VNU) in Hanoi, VNU in HCM City (VNU-HCM), and University of Da Nang, discussing ways to fast-track their university-city complex projects which have been mostly hindered by delay in land clearance and limited funding.

He ordered ministries, state agencies, local governments and the universities to allocate more resources to turn the three universities into centres for human resources training, first and foremost for the country’s key economic hubs, in order to meet the needs of the fourth Industrial Revolution. 

“These universities must be those with innovative and creative thinking, helping improve the quality of universities in Vietnam during the current educational restructuring,” he stressed.

He urged the universities take a more active role in seeking for funding, suggesting they should take into account private resources and public private partnership (PPP) instead of relying only the State budget.

Concluding the meeting, the PM requested five related cities and provinces to provide direct support to the projects, particularly in resettlement affairs. Compensation for land clearance must be directly taken from the state budget, he said. The local governments should also support the universities better as they would provide human resources for their hi-tech parks.

He assigned the Ministry of Planning and Investment in coordination with the Ministry of Finance to formulate detailed plans for the projects’ resettlement and compensation work. He also decided to offer the three universities ODA loans to help them develop educational infrastructures.-VNA