[Podcast] Recommendations for University education development

14 February, 2025

Keywords: financial management, University education development, public university education

With the purpose of enhancing Vietnamese higher education development, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Dong Phong – Chairman of the Council of University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH) – shared personal comments and proposed solutions for the current higher education context.

Innovation in terms of operational and financial mechanisms

Innovating the operating and financial mechanisms of public higher education institutions, in accordance with Prof. Dr. Nguyen Dong Phong, has brought numerous positive outcomes in financial and asset management.

The system of legal documents is relatively complete and clear in terms of the use of the State Budget, the use of assets of higher education institutions listed as: State Budget Law, Public Investment Law, Public Asset Management Law and more in addition to other guiding documents.

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Dong Phong found that financial and asset management efficiency is increasingly achieved in association with autonomy and self-responsibility. Public higher education institutions have been more proactive in diversifying and expanding non-tuition revenue sources.

Autonomy mechanism implementation has helped public higher education institutions proactively determine and allocate expenditures according to tasks and goals set in each period to innovate and to improve higher education quality.

Fund management in terms of spending and use in schools is stricter and more scientific. However, the actual implementation at educational institutions have been creating problems, limiting the use of finance and assets at higher education institutions.

From this foundation, the legal framework in State management in terms of finance and assets for higher education institutions has been carrying uncountable shortcomings as follows: The autonomy of higher education institutions is not truly comprehensive; The system of legal documents has been issuing regulations that have not kept up with the operating process of the units assigned autonomy, leading to other difficulties in implementation.

Higher education institutions is being in lack of the initiative to mobilize and to use social funding sources. The total societal resources attracted to the non-public sector does account for a very low proportion compared to that of the current potential available resources.

The investment budget for infrastructure development is being limited, especially within the financially autonomous units in education. Implementing financial autonomy mechanism is associated with accountability. The responsibility for sharing training costs among the State, the society and the learners has not been specified.

Creating motivation for education and training development

Those recommendations and solutions proposed by Prof. Dr. Nguyen Dong Phong are necessary to build a synchronous and consistent legal system on financial mechanisms and policies for education and training to promote, to encourage and to create motivation for education and training with the purpose of development in accordance with the current orientation in this new period.

There needs to be mechanisms and policies to prioritize budget allocation for education and training, and to increase the minimum spending rate for education. It is to increase investment budget to develop physical facilities, science and technology in order to strengthen educational institutions, especially autonomous higher education institutions.

To develop higher education institutions, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Dong Phong stated that large investments are needed, especially in terms of staff and facility develpment. Meanwhile, the financial resources of public educational institutions mainly depend on tuition revenue at the rate prescribed by the State.

In the context of limited investment in enhancing facilities in education and training from the budget, revenue from social mobilization and other mobilization sources play an important role in the development of education and training. Therefore, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Dong Phong emphasized that there needs to be appropriate mechanisms and policies to promote resource mobilization mechanisms as follows:

Firstly is to build an appropriate tuition collection and management mechanism on the basis of building appropriate economic and technical norms to increase autonomy in collection and revenue management. The fees are autonomously established and issued by educational institutions according to regulations.

Secondly is to adjust, to supplement and to innovate mechanisms and policies in financial autonomy for educational institutions in order to increase initiative, autonomy and self-responsibility in performing tasks. Decentralize and assign specific rights in implementing financial autonomy.

Thirdly is to invest strongly in the budget for infrastructure development investment.

Fourthly is to build appropriate mechanisms and policies to help educational institutions mobilize funding and aid resources, especially potential international funding and aid resources.

Author: Prof. Dr. Nguyen Dong Phong – Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics (UEH)

This is an article in the series of articles spreading research and applied knowledge from UEH with the message “Research Contribution For All – Research For The Community”, UEH respectfully invites all readers to look forward to the upcoming newsletter UEH Research Insights.

News and photos: Author, UEH Department of Communications and Partnerships