VietNamNet Bridge - The new education law allows in universities to have the right to determine tuition, as well as their missions and development paths.

Universities will have the right to determine tuition

Dong Xuan Dam from the Hanoi Economics University said the new policy would benefit students, because training establishments will have to improve quality.

Meanwhile, students are concerned that tuition will increase too much, making it impossible for poor students to access tertiary education.

However, Dao Van Dong, president of the Transport Technology University, has reassured the public, saying that schools will have to think carefully before setting up tuition for different majors. 

He said schools would not be able to raise the tuition to high levels, because they have to compete with others to attract students.

“The enrollment will be negatively affected if schools require high tuition,” he explained.

Le Huu Lap, former deputy president of the Posts and Telecommunications Institute of Technology (PTIT), also commented that students will not be paying high prices for bad training quality. 

‘This is a story about the market mechanism,” he said.

Dong, while applauding the self-determination policy, said schools would still need support from the state.

The problem is that economics and social sciences training majors require higher training costs than technology. 

Technology schools, which are less attractive to students, are worried that higher tuition could affect enrollment. 

One solution would have the state apply measures to support schools and help attract more students to majors with low demand.

Dam said technology schools have to spend big money on laboratories and equipment.  He said it was necessary to balance the benefits of schools and students and allow talented students to access higher education.

The draft education law stipulates that accreditation of tertiary education establishments must be done by independent institutions which have legal status, not by state agencies as currently applied.

Lap said state agencies do not have enough specialists and financial capability to do such work.

“This is the job of companies and independent institutions,” he said. “And don’t worry that there will be many university rankings. Only rankings by prestigious accreditations will exist.”

At present, the tuition for one-year study at ‘star’ general schools is higher than the tuition for 4-year study at the most prestigious private universities. As universities now lack students, they dare not raise tuition. Meanwhile, the demand for lower education levels is always very high.

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