VietNamNet Bridge – Obtaining a seat in dormitories is now the dream of many university students.

The students who have been admitted to the HCM City University of Technique Education felt disappointed when hearing that there are only 200 seats at the school’s dormitory. Meanwhile, the school informed that the dormitories can house 2000 students.

Nguyen Anh Duc, Head of the Student Affairs Division of the school, admitted that arranging accommodations for students is a big headache to the school’s leaders.

Explaining the lack of accommodations, Duc said that the currently available number of seats is just equal to 1/10 of the planned number, because the construction of the dormitory in district 9 could not be fulfilled on schedule. The school hoped that the dormitory could be put into operation in September, but due to some reasons, this would not be implemented until early 2013.

The existing dormitory only has rooms for 1200 students, while there are 1000 old students already. This means that there are only 200 seats left for newly admitted students. Therefore, the school plans to reserve rooms for the students from poor families, remote areas or the students from the families which made great contribution to the revolutions.

The Saigon University expects to receive 5000 students this year. Meanwhile, the school only can provide 75 seats at its dormitory in district 5 and 20 seats at the dormitory in district 3.

Nguyen Thanh Tuyen from the Saigon University admitted that the school cannot provide enough rooms for students, since the dormitory project on Nguyen Trai Street in district 1 has been suspended for the last two years. The school is seeking permission for the project on building a dormitory in district 8 which would be capable to receive 1000 students.

The students in Hanoi are also facing the same problem. The Hanoi National University, for example, has 25,000 students, but it only can provide rooms to 12 percent of them.

Nguyen Viet Hung from the university said that there are only 4000 seats available for students, while dormitories have always been overloaded.

“We prioritize to reserve rooms for poor students. However, the problem is that there are too many poor students as certified by local authorities,” he said.

The Hanoi University of Technology, one of the biggest schools in Hanoi, has some 30,000 students, including 20,000 who have the demand for living at dormitories. Meanwhile, the current accommodations are just enough for 4000 students only.

According to Ngu Duy Anh, a senior official of the Ministry of Education and Training, some 800,000 students are following training courses at the 120 schools in Hanoi, while the schools can provide accommodations for 10-20 percent of the students.

The HCM City National University is believed to be the school which can best satisfy the accommodation demand. According to Tran Thanh An from the school, 13,500 seats at dormitories have been arranged for students, who only have to pay 100,000-120,000 dong a month.

However, Anh said that the school is facing the security problem. Due to the high number of students, the school has to employ 130 workers to manage the dormitories.

Meanwhile, a lot of schools in HCM City do not have dormitories, especially non- state owned schools. As a result, students have to live in the rent rooms. The rents are between 300,000-500,000 dong a month, while students would have to pay 150,000 dong only if they stay at dormitories.

Compiled by Thu Uyen