A conference of tertiary rectors was held in Hanoi on May 10 with the participation of Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem and more than 350 rectors from universities and colleges throughout the country.

The two-day conference aimed to evaluate the real education situation in Vietnam in the 2001-2005 period and work out orientations, tasks and solutions for educational development between 2006 and 2020.
Vietnam now has 311 universities and colleges, which are training 160,420 students, making up 12 percent of the total number of students in the country.

The number of students from non-public schools was only 12 percent in 2005 while the target for 2010 is 40 percent of university and college students.

During the past few years, the Vietnamese education and training system has made significant progress, greatly contributing to the cause of national construction and development. However, tertiary education has not kept pace with the regional and international integration process in terms of knowledge and science and technology levels.

Therefore, rectors discussed solutions to effectively implement the Government resolution, considering it a key target for the education sector to renew itself and catch up with educational development in the region and the world.

To successfully implement the above-mentioned resolution, rectors of universities have assigned concrete tasks for tertiary education reform, including completing the nationwide education department network, ensuring suitable sectorial structures, increasing training quality, and developing staff with professional skills.

Speaking at the conference, Deputy PM Pham Gia Khiem noted that after 20 years of Doi Moi (Renovation) process and five years of implementation of education development strategy from 2001 to 2010, the education sector has obtained important achievements, particularly improvements in tertiary and post-graduate training quality. Training programmes at universities have improved remarkably. More social sources have been moblised. However, he said these achievements are not sustainable and have not yet met the requirements for the national industrialisation and modernisation and international integration process. Training quality is not on par with the region. The number of students enrolled in universities and colleges in the north-western, Central Highlands and Mekong Delta regions has increased slowly.

To boost the tertiary education reform process towards sustainable trends and fulfill the Government resolution on tertiary education reform in the 2006-2020 period, the Deputy PM urged universities and colleges not to rely on State subsidies and to take an active role in balancing their income sources in order to serve their activities. Moreover, universities and colleges should focus on increasing the quality of training activities in terms of professional skills, scientific research ability and foreign language skills to help students meet job requirements after graduation. It is also essential to improve teaching methods so as to gradually catch up with other prestigious universities in the region and the world.