A new policy for the setting of tuition fees for undergraduates is about to go to the Government.
Students at the Ha Noi University of Technology create experiments during class.The policy would take into account the basic education fee and estimated private investment for tertiary institutions, Finance Ministry Administration department director Nguyen Viet Hong told an inter-ministerial meeting in Hanoi earlier this week.
The finance ministry official conceded that the current tuition-fee policies, set about 10 years ago, were no longer suitable.
The basic fees did not compensate for the cost of education and training and limited the possibility of mobilising money from students prepared to pay for higher-quality education, he said.
Measures to ensure the effective and fair use of State moneys and ways to encourage investment for undergraduate education topped the meeting’s agenda.
Co-organised by the Finance and Education and Training ministries, the meeting recommended policies for both education funding and more democracy in tertiary institutions.
The policies are intended to ensure education targets are met and improve domestic training to first regional and then international standards.
The Education and Training Ministry says that although the State’s allocation for undergraduate training has regularly increased, most of the money has been used to pay salaries.
The allocation for education and training had increased 2.4 fold between 2002 to 2006 – a high figure when compared with regional countries, Deputy Finance Minister Do Hoang Anh Tuan told the meeting. But university and college representatives said that despite the increases they were unable to raise funds for themselves or use their money in the way they thought best.
Ha Noi University of Technology Deputy Rector Nguyen Canh Luong said that although his university had four sources of funds, the prevailing management system made it difficult to invest in strategic activities.
The sources were allocations from the State budget; tuition fees; fees from technology transfer and business and corporate research.
Ha Noi National University Deputy Rector Pham Quang Hung said the current policies for setting tuition fees did not encourage the university’s colleges to use fees for higher-quality education.
Proposed measures
The meeting agreed that changes in the setting of tuition fees should accord with both basic education charges and social welfare policies.
Ha Noi National University Deputy Rector Hung suggested a tuition-fee policy that allowed for different payments for different courses.
Fees should also take into account the locality of universities - urban or rural.
The deputy rector said that money from the State should be poured into personnel training programmes and financial aid for social-welfare beneficiaries.
Education and Training Ministry Finance Department deputy director Tran Duy Tao said the establishment of high-quality private colleges would be encouraged to meet the demand of students from high-income households.
The new policy might also eradicate the different tax policies for public and private colleges.
The ministry was building a policy that would have all public and private tertiary institutions identify their education programmes, training resources and funding management.
It would also gradually stop allocating money to tertiary institutions and instead provide it directly to students.
The new policy might also allocate money according to vocational demand rather than student numbers.
The deputy director said the ministry wanted more democracy for colleges and universities so that their administrators could decide their financial management, admissions, tuition fees and the building of a suitable curricula based on an approved national model.
Institutions that meet the State’s criteria and requirements for education training would be eligible to bid for State funds as part of a finance ministry proposal for the more effective use of money for education.
The mobilisation of money from society and international loans to supplement education funding should also be strongly encouraged.
The finance ministry also wanted it made compulsory for localities with plans for economic zones and industrial parks to reserve land for education institutions.
Students at the Ha Noi University of Technology create experiments during class.The policy would take into account the basic education fee and estimated private investment for tertiary institutions, Finance Ministry Administration department director Nguyen Viet Hong told an inter-ministerial meeting in Hanoi earlier this week.
The finance ministry official conceded that the current tuition-fee policies, set about 10 years ago, were no longer suitable.
The basic fees did not compensate for the cost of education and training and limited the possibility of mobilising money from students prepared to pay for higher-quality education, he said.
Measures to ensure the effective and fair use of State moneys and ways to encourage investment for undergraduate education topped the meeting’s agenda.
Co-organised by the Finance and Education and Training ministries, the meeting recommended policies for both education funding and more democracy in tertiary institutions.
The policies are intended to ensure education targets are met and improve domestic training to first regional and then international standards.
The Education and Training Ministry says that although the State’s allocation for undergraduate training has regularly increased, most of the money has been used to pay salaries.
The allocation for education and training had increased 2.4 fold between 2002 to 2006 – a high figure when compared with regional countries, Deputy Finance Minister Do Hoang Anh Tuan told the meeting. But university and college representatives said that despite the increases they were unable to raise funds for themselves or use their money in the way they thought best.
Ha Noi University of Technology Deputy Rector Nguyen Canh Luong said that although his university had four sources of funds, the prevailing management system made it difficult to invest in strategic activities.
The sources were allocations from the State budget; tuition fees; fees from technology transfer and business and corporate research.
Ha Noi National University Deputy Rector Pham Quang Hung said the current policies for setting tuition fees did not encourage the university’s colleges to use fees for higher-quality education.
Proposed measures
The meeting agreed that changes in the setting of tuition fees should accord with both basic education charges and social welfare policies.
Ha Noi National University Deputy Rector Hung suggested a tuition-fee policy that allowed for different payments for different courses.
Fees should also take into account the locality of universities - urban or rural.
The deputy rector said that money from the State should be poured into personnel training programmes and financial aid for social-welfare beneficiaries.
Education and Training Ministry Finance Department deputy director Tran Duy Tao said the establishment of high-quality private colleges would be encouraged to meet the demand of students from high-income households.
The new policy might also eradicate the different tax policies for public and private colleges.
The ministry was building a policy that would have all public and private tertiary institutions identify their education programmes, training resources and funding management.
It would also gradually stop allocating money to tertiary institutions and instead provide it directly to students.
The new policy might also allocate money according to vocational demand rather than student numbers.
The deputy director said the ministry wanted more democracy for colleges and universities so that their administrators could decide their financial management, admissions, tuition fees and the building of a suitable curricula based on an approved national model.
Institutions that meet the State’s criteria and requirements for education training would be eligible to bid for State funds as part of a finance ministry proposal for the more effective use of money for education.
The mobilisation of money from society and international loans to supplement education funding should also be strongly encouraged.
The finance ministry also wanted it made compulsory for localities with plans for economic zones and industrial parks to reserve land for education institutions.
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