Hanoi Medical University, for example, was established in 1902 under the initial name of Hanoi Medical School, while the Hanoi National University (HNU) was established in 1906 under the name of Indochina University. Sai Gon University was established in 1908 under the name of Lycée Franco- Chinois.

Nguyen Loc, former Deputy Head of the Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences, said universities were established over 100 years ago under French colonization, but higher education only really began in 1945. This means the system is young compared with schools in many other countries.

HNU was actually established in 1993, not in 1945, despite the existence of Indochina University since 1906. As such, HNU is below 50 years old. In general, Vietnam’s higher education remains young.

Only recently has Vietnam’s education community begun thinking of ranking universities as many factors such as accreditation were needed.

The accreditation issue was first mentioned in 2004, when the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) established the Department of Examination and Quality Assurance. However, only in 2017 was the first school accredited. 

While Vietnam needed 13 years, from 2004 to 2017, to seek a solution to quality control, the accreditation and ranking of universities around the world appeared at the same time. 

Only in 2009 did Vietnam learn more about university ranking when some leading schools were listed in international rankings such as QS Asia. Since then, Vietnam has been monitoring the rankings in the world, though in a passive manner. 

Recently, Webometrics, a Spanish institution, ranked universities based on websites. When the institution scanned tens of thousands of universities in the world, nearly 200 Vietnamese universities turned up in its rankings, though information was very modest and just for reference.

In Vietnam, in 2017, a group of scientists tried to rank 49 Vietnamese schools, but they did not continue in the next few years. Some educators said that some scientists were Vietnamese but they worked overseas, so conditions to do the ranking were insufficient.

Now, information about schools is made public, so it is time to rank universities. Most schools have accreditation, and publicize their training scale and enrollment plans. 

They also expose information about the proportion of graduates who obtain jobs, school facilities, and lecturer-student ratios. 

Moreover, schools have become better aware of the need for accreditation and rankings. If schools are not ranked, they will fail to attract students. The schools in high positions in the rankings have greater advantages in enrolling students, while the  unranked ones will fail in the fierce competition to attract students.

Le Van Ut from the private run Van Lang University said people often cite prestigious ranking organizations such as US News, ARWU and SCImago during ranking discussions. 

The rankings not only show positions of universities in the world, but also at continental and national levels. Ut affirmed that ranking universities is not a difficult thing and this is within reach of specialists in Vietnam’s higher education.

“The most important things are the prestige and fame of ranking organizations, and the ability to continue the ranking,” Ut said, adding that one of the interesting approaches that countries are interested in is cooperating with prestigious ranking organizations in the world.

He highly appreciates that the first ranking of Vietnamese universities provided by Vietnamese experts has been released.

“Vietnamese experts have better conditions to know the situations of Vietnam’s universities, though the disciplinary assessment should be without borders. “Therefore, if rankings use international standards, they would be more reliable and convincing,” he said.

Le Huyen