Vietnam to Set up 288 More Universities, Colleges by 2020

Vietnam plans to establish an additional 288 universities and colleges by 2020 aiming to expand the scale of higher education and the network of universities and colleges.

 

The Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) is compiling a development outline plan to submit to the government for approval later this month.

 

Speaking at a seminar in Hanoi on November 10, Deputy Minister of Education and Training Banh Tien Long revealed that the draft plan identified the goal of raising the enrollment capacity of universities and colleges from the present 250,000 students to 420,000 by 2010, 600,000 by 2015 and 1.2 million by 2020.  

 

Thus, the tertiary training scale will grow 5.3 times by 2020, Long added. 

 

MoET aims for an average ratio of 200 students per 10,000 residents by 2010, 300/10,000 by 2015 and 450/10,000 by 2020. Of that number, 70-80 per cent will follow application training programs and 20-30 per cent, research programs.

 

However, Deputy Minister Banh Tien Long said that the ministry would gradually reduce the percent of students in university from 78.4 per cent at present to 56 per cent by 2020 while raising the percent of college students from 21.6 per cent to 44 per cent. At the same time, the ministry will establish more technical secondary schools and implement technical training programs within colleges. 

 

The official commented that the target of having 40 per cent of all students trained at non-public universities by 2010, set previously, was unfeasible so the ministry defined a lower goal: 30-40 per cent by 2020. 

 

Vietnam is expected to have 225 universities and 475 colleges by 2020. 

 

Specifically, the northwestern region will have 10 new universities and colleges, the northeastern region, 37, the Red River delta, 21, the northern part of the central region, 8, and there will be up to 60 new institutions in the coastal area of the central southern region.