1 VIETNAM HIGHER EDUCATION REFORM FOR THE NATION’S DEVELOPMENT Dr. Nguyen Thi Le Huong Deputy Director General, Dept. of Higher Education Ministry of Education and Training, Vietnam Macau SAR, PR China 26 th September 2008

2 2 VIET NAM OVERVIEW Land km2 Population 84 mil.,1.2% growth rate GDP 2007 USD 70 billion. GDP per capita 833 USD HDI (109 of 177) Economic Growth % WTO Member Since November, 2006

3 RATE OF GROWTH IN SECTORS , the average rate of growth annually in Industry & construction sector: 10.3% Service sector: 7.3% Agriculture, forest and fishery: 3.9% Industry and service sectors require a large amount of skilled workforce and high demand for appropriate training Added value

Total employed population in 3 sector (x1,000) 37,61038,56339,50840,57441,58642,52743,347 Agr., Forest, Fishery24,48124,46824,45624,44324,43124,34324,123 Industry and construction4,9305,5526,0856,6717,2177,7408,193 Service8,1998,5428,9679,4599,93910,44511,032 CHANGES IN EMPLOYED POPULATION BY ECONOMIC SECTOR

5 LOW QUALITY OF GRADUATES (DO NOT MEET THE INDUSTRY’S SKILL REQUIREMENTS ) VN HIGHER EDUCATION universities and colleges (64 private, account for 17,34%) 1.6 million students. GER ~13% 188 students /10,000 population 56,000 faculties (teaching staff), ratio of students to faculty 28  5,900 PhD. holders as faculties (<11% total teaching staff)  314 full professors; 1,845 associate professors Few research at universities (3% of universities revenues) Weak linkage with the industry Obsolete equipment for teaching and research, outdated curriculum and teaching method Low funding  low spending on teaching and research

6 GRADUATE SKILL’S RESPONSIVENESS Theoretical KnowledgePractice SkillsGeneral Skills Very goodGoodPartialNone Source: Labour Market Survey of Ministry of Labour – Invalids and Social Affairs and ADB, 2003

7 DISTRIBUTION OF TERTIARY ENROLLMENT BY INCOME QUINTILE Source: Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey, 2004

8 Expenditure on education (bil. VND) Total expenditure In which: - budget expenditure - private’s expenditure 25,70133,14349,42773,18689,860101,481 18,38622,54134,87254,798 66,87572,520 7,31510,60214,55518,388 22,98528,961 Ratio of private/total expenditure (%) FUNDING FOR EDUCATION State budget for education increased from 4.2% of GDP in 2000 to 5.6% in 2006; Private contribution fluctuated between 1.7% Total funding from public and private sectors increased from 5.8% of GDP in 2000 to 7.5 % of GDP in 2006, mainly from the increase of public budget The ratio of private sector expenditure to total expenditure on education: 25.58% in 2007 and will be 28.54% in 2008 as estimate

9 THE NEED FOR HUMAN RESOURCE TRAINING The labor force demand in general:  not enough skilled or trained workforce for the industry  possibility to import trained workforce to Vietnam: 49.9% of the labor with college training and below, 46.5% for labor with HE  distribution of foreign labor: administrative role %, technical expert % and other is 27%. The labor force demand of banking – finance:  2007: account %GDP, need of labor increase 383%  2020: account 18-20%GDP, a question for labor force? The labor force demand of IT (FDI increase rapidly. Intel Vietnam, Renesas Company, Fox Con Corperation, Compal Company, Samsung, Quang Trung Software Park )

10 HIGHER EDUCATION REFORM FOR NATION’S DEVELOPMENT Higher Education Reform Agenda 2006 – 2020 General Objectives: By 2020, Vietnam has an advanced HE system by international standards Specific objectives:  completion of the national network of HEIs  new curriculums development, quality assurance & accreditation  establishment some HEIs meeting international standards.  increasing HE enrollment to 200 students per 10,000 population by 2010, and 450 by 2020  at last 40% of instructors with masters degree and 25% with doctoral degree by 2010,  most of instructors with doctoral degree by  increasing revenue from S&T to at least 15% of the total HEI revenue by 2010 and 25% by 2020.

11 TASKS AND SOLUTIONS TO HIGHER EDUCATION REFORM in structures of degrees and system of universities in training programs and teaching/learning methods in lecturing staff and higher education managers in research and development in financial mechanism of higher education in higher education management in international integration process of HE

12 IMPLEMENTING THE HIGHER EDUCATION REFORM AGENDA Implementing the advanced programs in selected Uni. Initiating and promoting the connection between training and using labor force Reforming the financing mechanism for HE in the framework of sharing expenditure among State, learners, and communities Implementing the training and providing administrative and management skills for education administrators through courses, practical training in VN or abroad Implementing projects of profession and application with the support of the Dutch Government’s ODA

13 IMPLEMENTING THE HIGHER EDUCATION REFORM AGENDA (CONT.) Implementing the project of training 20 thousand PhD for HEIs from now to 2020 Applying the credit system in HE The 10-year program for improvement of English teaching quality and application in Vietnam Establishing two high quality universities, helping them become world ranking universities of Vietnam Forming Center of Workforce Forecasting at Ministry of Labor, Invalid and Social Affairs Higher Education Law has been drafted and expected to be proposed to the National Assembly by end of 2010

14 FUTURE PLAN - FIVE DIRECTIONS Introduce performance, based system in education management Improve autonomy, efficiency and accountability of HE institutions Improve the efficiency of financial management of HE Further decentralization Develop multi-tier higher education system

15 THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION !