What is the solution to end the situation of university president vacancy?

One of the proposed solutions to address the situation of principal vacancy is that the direct management agency decides to delegate authority to the principal or person in charge in necessary situations.

MORE THAN 5 YEARS WITHOUT AN OFFICIAL PRINCIPAL

The vacancy of the principal position is a reality in many universities today. In some schools, although the old principal has been out of management for many years, the process of appointing a new principal has not been completed yet. This has a significant impact on the school's operations.

By this May, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technical Education officially entered the third year without a principal since the old principal expired in May 2021. At that time, the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technical Education Council had a resolution requesting the Ministry of Education and Training to recognize a dean as principal for the 2020-2025 term. However, the Ministry did not recognize the above resolution. Accordingly, the Ministry requested the University Council to consider the responsibility of the Chairman of the University Council for signing a notice but not based on the resolution of the University Council, not in accordance with the provisions of Clause 10, Article 1, Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on University Education.

Due to the vacancy of the principal position, students at some universities cannot receive their diplomas on time.

Since May 2022, this university currently has only one vice-rector in charge and another vice-rector participating in the management of the school's board of directors.

Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy is in a similar situation. Since July 2020, the Ministry of Health has decided to recognize the University Council of this university. After the old principal became Chairman of the University Council, this university began to enter a period without an official principal. At that time, a vice principal was assigned the authority to exercise the principal's powers. The University Council continued to announce the decision to appoint two more vice principals but then had to revoke them due to not complying with the regulations on organization and operation issued by the university. After a long time, the university only had one vice principal in charge, in August 2022 the university had another vice principal. In mid-April this year, the university continued to change the person in charge of the university, rotating between two vice principals but continued to perfect the principal position.

Notably, at the end of April, Ho Chi Minh City University of Law continued to change its leadership but has not yet decided to appoint an official principal. The school has a new vice principal in charge, replacing the previous principal who has passed the age limit. This situation has lasted for more than 5 years since the old principal passed the age limit in March 2018. In addition to the person in charge, the school's board of directors currently has only one other vice principal.

Since the old principal retired, Ho Chi Minh City University of Agriculture and Forestry has been without a principal since the beginning of 2021. According to the resolution of the University Council, 1 of the 3 vice principals is assigned the position of principal until a decision is made on the principal's personnel.

In addition, many other universities before having an official principal also experienced a similar situation such as: Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport, Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine, Ho Chi Minh City University of Education, Ho Chi Minh City University of Food Industry...

In some schools, the absence of principals directly affects students. For example, more than 4,000 students at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technical Education were eligible to graduate but could not receive their diplomas after more than a year of waiting. At the end of 2020, thousands of students at Ton Duc Thang University were also unable to graduate because there was no one to sign their diplomas...

By this May, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technical Education officially entered the third year without a principal since the old principal expired in May 2021.

WHY?

A vice principal in charge of a university said that the reason for the long-term absence of principals in some schools was due to the failure to successfully organize the Party Congress. The congress failed to elect a new Party committee, so there was no Party leadership in personnel work, which affected personnel planning and selection. These factors directly affected the issue of perfecting the school council and then the personnel of the principal.

Professor, Dr. Bui Van Ga, former Deputy Minister of Education and Training, also recognized that the important reason lies in the planning and preparation of the next generation of schools. According to Decree 115 of the Government on recruitment, use and management of civil servants, at least 90 days before the end of the term, the unit must carry out the process of appointing/reappointing the principal. However, this work in schools has not been done well, leading to many difficulties in carrying out the process of appointing a new principal after the old principal retires.

"If schools complete the process 3 months in advance, this situation will not happen," Mr. Ga added.

DIRECT MANAGEMENT AGENCY DECISIONS ON PRINCIPAL?

Faced with the current situation where many universities have been in organizational crisis and have been without a principal for many years, the Ministry of Education and Training has proposed to amend the decree, in which the most notable content is related to the role of the direct management agency. Accordingly, the Ministry proposed to amend Decree 99 in the direction that the direct management agency performs the role of "the competent authority to appoint and recognize". Specifically, the direct management agency decides to assign the principal or assign responsibility for the school in the following two cases: for newly established universities; for universities that have been without a principal for more than 6 months and have not yet submitted a request for recognition of the principal to the direct management agency.

Professor Tran Diep Tuan, Chairman of the University Council of Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy, said he agreed with the above proposed amendment if the principal or person in charge of the school in two cases is based on the proposal of the university council.

According to Mr. Bui Van Ga, the principal is an important person of the university, the person responsible for the main operations of the school, the account holder, the person who signs the graduation certificates... Without a principal, the school cannot operate effectively. Therefore, according to Mr. Ga, in unavoidable situations, it is necessary for the direct management agency to decide to assign the principal or assign the responsibility of the school. "However, this only handles unexpected situations and the person assigned the authority will only wait for a certain period of time to become an official staff member," Mr. Ga added.

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