Decision No. 47/2001/QD-TTg on approving the "University and College Network Planning for the 2001-2010 Period"

Pursuant to …;

Regarding the approval of the "University and College Network Planning for the 2001-2010 Period"On the basis of the Government's Resolution No. 18/2000/NQ-CP dated November 30, 2000 at the regular meeting in November 2000;

____________________________

PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Government Organization Law dated September 30, 1992;

Pursuant to the Education Law dated December 2, 1998;

Considering the proposal of the Minister of Education and Training in the report No. 713/KHTC dated February 2, 2001 on the Project "University and College Network Planning for Vietnam for the 2001-2010 Period",

Approves the "University and College Network Planning for Vietnam for the 2001-2010 Period" with the following main contents:

DECISION:

Article 1. a) To build a network of universities and colleges that meets the demand for human resource training, aligns with the goals of economic and social development, strengthens national defense and security, and serves the cause of industrialization and modernization of the country;

1. Planning objectives:

b) To leverage the comprehensive strength of the university and college system and of the whole society; ensuring diversity, synchronization, and gradually improving the quality of human resource training;

c) To create favorable conditions for all strata of the people to have opportunities to access post-secondary education.

The development of the network of universities and colleges must:

2. Principles of planning:

a) Be consistent with the national economic and social development strategy, of each region and locality; ensuring a reasonable structure of industries, levels, and regions;

b) Be consistent with the state's investment capacity and the mobilization of social resources; linking training with scientific research, production, and services; gradually overcoming the scattered nature of the current system;

c) Focus investments on National Universities, key schools, critical fields, while ensuring the ability to connect between different types and levels of training;

d) Each step of implementation must be consistent with actual conditions, ensuring training quality and stability for development.

a) University and college system:

3. Content of the plan:

- The university and college system includes: National Universities, Regional Universities, Key Universities, Academies, Universities, Colleges, Open Universities, and Community Colleges.

- Reasonably develop public-private partnership universities, private universities, and foreign-funded universities. Study converting some public schools to public-private partnership or private schools. Strive to reach about 30% of total students studying in non-public universities by 2010.

- Establish an open university and college system with forms of collaboration between units within schools and between universities and colleges to enhance training quality and ensure high training efficiency.

b) Scale of training:

- Based on the need for human resource development and the training capacity of the national education system, the initial training scale will increase by about 5% annually on average. Strive to reach approximately 200 students per 10,000 people in higher education by 2010. Prioritize increasing the scale of training in information technology and other key engineering and technology fields to meet strategic requirements.

c) Structure of training fields:

- Adjust training fields towards increasing the proportion of engineering and technology, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, medicine, culture, arts, sports training; ensuring a reasonable proportion of natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, law, economics, finance, and business management training. Timely adjust the structure of training fields to meet economic and social development needs;

- Prioritize training high-quality human resources in technology fields such as information, biotechnology, new materials, machinery manufacturing, automation, and some fields serving agricultural industrialization and rural development. Prioritize training experts, senior civil servants, and excellent economic managers at regional level in economics, finance, banking, and management science. Pay attention to reforming teaching contents in social sciences and humanities;

- Continue to strengthen teacher training institutions and technical teacher training institutions to train sufficient teachers with high quality. Increase the scale and improve the quality of training health staff for grassroots levels and cultural and sports staff at localities.

d) Structure of training levels:

- Build and standardize the structure of training levels; implement measures to ensure the ability to connect between different training levels;

- By 2010, the proportion of workers trained at various levels should reach about 40%. Gradually adjust the structure of training levels so that 6% of workers have university or college degrees, 8% have vocational school degrees, and 26% have technical worker qualifications;

- Prioritize training highly skilled technical workers and college-level technicians.

e) Distribution of schools by region:

- For Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City: Focus on investing in building and developing the Hanoi National University, the Ho Chi Minh City National University, two key teacher training universities, and some other key universities. Consolidate and upgrade existing universities and colleges. Establish new universities and colleges in key fields to serve the requirements of national industrialization and modernization and fit the city's development planning.

Universities and colleges in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City need to lead the process of integration with higher education systems in the region and internationally, diversify domestic and foreign investments, collaborate with reputable universities worldwide to enhance training quality.

- For the Mekong Delta region: Consolidate and develop existing universities and colleges, continue preparing to establish additional universities and colleges when conditions permit, aiming to increase the number of students per 10,000 people in the region.

- For the Mekong Delta region: Consolidate and develop existing universities and colleges, continue preparing to establish additional universities and colleges when conditions are met, with the aim of increasing the number of students per ten thousand people in the region.

- For the Northwest and Central Highlands regions: Focus on investing to develop the West Highland University and the Northwest University to enhance their capacity to enroll students and assume a leading role in training high-level human resources and supporting research and technological development institutions in the region.

- For other regions: Upgrade the physical infrastructure and modernize equipment at existing universities and colleges to improve the quality of education; establish additional universities and colleges in densely populated areas with high educational demands but currently lacking such institutions to meet regional human resource needs.

- For high-tech zones and key economic regions: Establish several universities and colleges specializing in technology within or near high-tech zones and key economic regions to enhance the effectiveness of training, integrate teaching with research and technology application, and directly meet the human resource needs of these zones and regions.

The establishment of new schools must comply with the national and regional industry structure, training levels, and human resource requirements; all conditions for establishing schools as prescribed must be met to ensure training quality.

g) Regarding the faculty:

- In terms of quantity: Develop appropriate plans and mechanisms to rapidly increase the number and improve the quality of faculty members at universities and colleges; strive to achieve the student-to-faculty ratio as follows by 2010:

+ From 5 to 10 students per faculty member for talent training programs;

+ From 10 to 15 students per faculty member for science, engineering, and technology training programs;

+ From 20 to 25 students per faculty member for social sciences, humanities, and business administration training programs.

- In terms of professional qualifications: At least 50% of faculty members should have master's or doctoral degrees. Mobilize scientists and managers who meet the criteria to participate in university and college teaching.

h) Regarding physical facilities and technical infrastructure:

- Concentrate investment in building two new national universities at approved locations by the Prime Minister. Enhance the physical facilities for the two key teacher training universities and other key universities.

- Mobilize all resources to upgrade the physical and technical infrastructure of the entire higher education system. Strive to reach an average of 6 square meters of study space per student by 2010; upgrade, modernize, and update laboratory, workshop, and practical training equipment; gradually apply new teaching technologies in universities and colleges.² - Upgrade existing dormitories and build new ones for students, particularly those in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Strive to achieve an average living space of about 3 square meters per student by 2010.

- Strengthen library capabilities and improve service quality; form an electronic library system connecting between schools, gradually linking with the library systems of universities in the region and around the world. Open direct internet access for the higher education system.².

i) Scientific and technological activities in universities and colleges:

- Establish some national laboratories in National Universities, key universities, and specialized colleges in certain vocational colleges.

- Gradually form strong research institutes and centers in universities; study to merge some basic and specialized research institutes into universities, key universities, and academies.

k) Administrative division management:

- Promote the reform of state management over the higher education system; implement decentralized management according to the provisions stipulated in the Education Law.

4. Regarding solutions and implementation steps for planning:

a) Main solutions:

Develop and promulgate legal documents on: standards and regulations for universities and colleges; organizational and operational rules for various types of schools; criteria, conditions, and procedures for establishing new, splitting, merging, or upgrading schools to university or college status; criteria, conditions, and basic tasks of key universities and community colleges; criteria, conditions, and procedures for establishing foreign training institutions in Vietnam.

- Regarding organization:

Maintain the current model of regional universities in Hue, Da Nang, and Thai Nguyen. Reorganize so that universities and colleges without distant branch campuses or secondary campuses. Rename training institutions to comply with the Education Law.

Consolidate the 61 provincial and municipal teacher training colleges nationwide, ensuring a solid mission of teacher training and development. When conditions permit, open additional vocational training programs at higher or lower levels in some places to meet local human resource needs, mobilizing community resources; study opening some programs to transfer to universities to increase rural students' opportunities for higher education.

Expanding the range of training fields for universities and developing open and distance learning methods must be based on overall planning for the training field structure and having sufficient conditions to ensure training quality.

Encourage forms of integration between training and research and application in large economic organizations.

- Regarding physical facilities and technical infrastructure:

Increase investment from the state budget, foreign non-repayable loans, social fundraising, and other resources for universities and colleges to meet training requirements. Focus state investment on building new facilities for the two National Universities at approved locations by the Prime Minister; invest in priority training fields at key universities.

Increase investment in universities and colleges from the state budget, foreign non-repayable aid, social fundraising, and other resources to meet training requirements. Focus state investment on building new facilities for the two National Universities at locations approved by the Prime Minister; invest in training programs in priority fields at key institutions.

Enhance investment in material infrastructure for scientific research and technology activities at universities. Increase the level of investment in scientific research and technology, particularly basic sciences, for universities in accordance with their training tasks and strengths in scientific research and technology work.

Gradually implement land planning, construction of campuses, classrooms, modern laboratories, student dormitories, cultural and sports areas, and service facilities according to national standards to meet current requirements and create conditions for future development.

Create mechanisms for all schools to have the conditions to renew technical infrastructure and equipment.

- Regarding educational reform:

The Ministry of Education and Training must have a general plan and direct schools to have specific orientations and plans to:

Reform and modernize the content and curriculum of education; establish mechanisms and policies for compiling programs, writing and publishing textbooks based on the modernized curriculum and regularly updated; ensure sufficient textbooks and learning materials for students;

Reform teaching methods and learning methods at the university and college levels;

Fundamentally reform the evaluation of academic performance and examinations;

Implement flexible training processes; gradually shift from the annual system to the credit-based system. Develop transition programs and regulations on inter-level and inter-institutional connections to create equal opportunities for learning or career changes for all social strata.

Establish common regulations on practical internships for students; on this basis, schools develop specific programs and plans and organize effective practical internships for students during their studies. Encourage various forms of collaboration between educational institutions and production and business establishments, state agencies, and localities to facilitate the implementation of practical internships for students.

Establish a system of criteria and standards for training for different types of schools and training formats. Implement quality assessment of training throughout the entire system of universities and colleges.

- Regarding the development of faculty:

The Ministry of Education and Training and schools need to urgently develop plans for the development of faculty, training and enhancing the qualifications of lecturers to meet immediate and long-term needs;

Prioritize training high-level lecturers in national programs sending people abroad for training; establish and promulgate recruitment policies, contractual systems, guest lectures, part-time teaching, and support mechanisms for training and enhancing the qualifications of lecturers in various types of universities and colleges.

- Regarding management:

Firmly and urgently reform the management mechanism of higher education and college education. Particularly focus on improving the capacity, quality, and effectiveness of state management: developing strategies and plans for industry development; establishing mechanisms, policies, and regulations for managing the content and quality of training; organizing inspections, audits, and evaluations.

Strengthen the capacity for planning; conduct forecasts on the scale, structure, and level of training of the workforce to meet societal human resource needs; implement the role of state regulation through reforms in quota allocation, funding, and salary fund contracting for schools to create a reasonable relationship between scale, quality, and training outcomes.

Strengthen the autonomy and accountability of schools.

Train and enhance the quality of the cadre of educational managers at the state level and in universities and colleges.

b) Steps:

1. Stage one, from 2001 to 2003:

- The focus of this stage is to reasonably expand the range of training fields at existing universities. Only establish new universities when necessary and under appropriate conditions and in line with regional planning. Establish new technical and technological colleges in key economic regions and community colleges in localities based on maximizing domestic and foreign resources.

- Concentrate on implementing management, organizational training, faculty development, and strengthening technical infrastructure to significantly improve the quality of training.

- Summarize, identify, and rectify unreasonable aspects in the university and college system. Rectify management and organizational training at private universities, open universities, and part-time training systems. Implement decentralization management for schools.

- Organize experiences in state management of universities and colleges to clarify the functions of the Ministry of Education and Training, relevant ministries, and local authorities. In principle, do not transfer schools from the Ministry of Education and Training to other ministries and sectors. The Government will only consider and decide on transfers when truly necessary.

- Forecast needs and prepare conditions to continue building new universities and colleges.

- Summarize, draw lessons, and propose necessary adjustments to the content of planning and solutions for the second stage.

2. Stage two, from 2004 to 2010.

- Continue implementing the objectives of the network planning of universities and colleges and make adjustments to the content of planning and solutions based on the practical implementation of the first stage.

Article 2. Organize the implementation of the project:

Based on this decision, the Ministry of Education and Training, related ministries and sectors, central cities and provinces, universities, and colleges complete detailed planning. The Ministry of Education and Training develops and promulgates guiding documents; compile and develop annual implementation plans, report to the Prime Minister before implementation.

Article 3. This Decision takes effect fifteen days after the date of signature.

Article 4. Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies, Heads of agencies under the Government, Chairpersons of People's Committees of provinces and centrally governed cities are responsible for implementing this Decision.