Photo: tuoitrebentre

The country should boost management over the establishment of new tertiary education centres in an effort to ensure quality services in the sector, said Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan.

He made the comments during an on-line conference that drew the participation of more than 1,200 delegates from ministries and localities on Oct. 29.

The conference, held by the Ministry of Education and Training, aimed to review one and a half years of implementation of the Prime Ministerial Directive No 296 on renewing management and raising quality of tertiary education.

Nhan said the Government acknowledges the vital role of tertiary education and stressed that there are challenges to improving its quality.

Breakthrough measures are critical in the coming time, he said, adding that they should involve more innovative approaches to State management of tertiary education and management in each educational institution.

The deputy PM also noted that a revamp should be based on careful planning of the school system and human resources.

According to him, the directive has helped to guarantee balanced growth between the scale and quality of tertiary education.

The risks of allowing too many educational institutions to mushroom across the country has been countered, by ensuring new standards. As a result, the number of new education centres has decreased.

The country saw the establishment of six new universities and colleges and upgrades to 12 others in 2006, while the number was 21 in 2007. It was then cut down to 10, including eight new universities and colleges in 2008 and nine in 2009.

Last year, four new universities and colleges were set up, while eight were expanded, and this year, one new university has opened its doors while 13 have seen expansion.

On average, the period from 2008 to now saw only half of the number of new establishment each year, as compared to the 2006-07 period. Most involved expansion of education services at existing colleges.

Representatives from some schools urged the timely passage of the Law on Tertiary Education, and called for a training coalition among schools and regions to limit unhealthy competitiveness, wastefulness and poor training quality.

Some also voiced concerns over the overlap in education management among ministries, other sectors and institutions, which resulted in obstacles to inspection work.

There should be a single agency responsible for tertiary education management, said participants.

Source: VNA