VietNamNet Bridge - The number of university students has soared in recent years. Many schools gained 10,000 more students over one to two years despite their ill fame. 

The number of university students has soared in recent years.

A report of the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) showed that in 2014-2015, Vietnam had 1.8 million students, including 1.3 million full-time students. The figure represents an increase of 400,000 students compared with 2010-2011.

Some universities have set a record in the number of students newly enrolled in the last four years. The Nam Dinh Economics & Industrial Polytechnic, for example, saw the number of students soar from 8,900 to 15,000.

However, the sharpest increase can be seen at the Hanoi Business and Technology University. In 2010-2011, it had 14,982 students and in 2014-2015, the figure soared to 34,282. Just within one year, the number of students jumped from 19,700 in 2013-2014 to 34,200 in 2014-2015.

In 2016-2017, the Hanoi National University, a very large university with six member schools and 3 faculties, plans to enroll 5,820 new students. Meanwhile, the Hanoi Business and Technology University, which can’t hold a candle to the Hanoi National University, plans to enroll 5,000 students. 

In 2014-2015, Vietnam had 1.8 million students, including 1.3 million full-time students. The figure represents an increase of 400,000 students compared with 2010-2011.

In an effort to ‘put a break’ on schools which go too fast in expanding their training scale, MOET has released a lot of documents to set limitations on the enrollment. 

Circular 32 dated in 2015 stipulates that one school must not have more than 15,000 students and it sets requirements on the lecturer-student ratio.

The report of the Hanoi Business and Technology University shows that it has 34,000 students and 1,217 lecturers, including 174 PhDs, 31 professors, 54 associate professors, 653 MAs and 348 lecturers with bachelor’s degree.

Meanwhile, the 2012 University Education Law stipulates that university lecturers must have a master's degree at least.

The 23-year-old Hanoi Open University has 36,224 students, while its headquarters only covers an area of 2,000 square meters, where the administration apparatus is located. Meanwhile, the students of the schools receive lessons in classrooms in many different places in the city. They only go to the headquarters when they have to pay tuition.

The school’s Information Technology Faculty is located at a rented building on Dinh Cong street, behind Intimex Shopping Mall, while the Finance & Accountancy and Architecture Faculties are situated at An Huy Building in Ngoc Hoi Industrial Zone.

Analysts noted that at many schools, the number of full-time students are even higher than the number of students under other training modes. The National Administration Academy, for example, has 6,569 full-time students, but has 10,219 in-service students.

Nguyen Minh Thuyet, an expert, former deputy chair of the National Assembly’s Committee for Culture, Education, the Youth and Children, commented that the university education scale expanded too rapidly in recent years despite limited training conditions.

Tien Phong