School Board Members: How to Choose?

Experts say there should be specific criteria for school board members...

A meeting of the University Council of Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (Vietnam National University) in May 2024. Illustration photo: HCMUT

Recently, many university board members in the South have been dismissed, most of whom are outsiders, due to violations of the law, and have even been prosecuted and detained. In fact, many outsiders often have an “insignificant” role in the university board. Therefore, experts say that there should be specific criteria for university board members.

Should not be... "canvas"

MSc. Pham Thai Son - Director of the Admissions and Communications Center, Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade (HUIT) assessed that the role of the University Council members is very important. At Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade, the members of the University Council work responsibly.

“The school board plays a particularly important role. Any proposal related to policy must be approved by the school board before it can be implemented. For example, the planned enrollment plan for this year must be approved by the school board before it can be implemented,” said Mr. Son, adding that in reality, many people think differently and join the school board “just for fun.” The role of supervision and guidance is very vague.

"Most of the businessmen today, when elected to the university council, only have the reputation of working at this or that university council, but do not have any opinions at the university council meetings," Mr. Son shared.

The Vice Principal of a university in Ho Chi Minh City (who requested anonymity) said that in many universities today, most of the members outside the university are famous businessmen. Therefore, they are busy with their own work and often absent from regular meetings. In addition, there are few people who have a deep understanding of university education, so they rarely give comments on the university's work.

Although there is a regulation that non-school members are elected by the university representative conference, right at the introduction step, the school leaders have pre-selected non-school candidates who have close relationships with the board of directors to have the majority of votes in selecting personnel. From there, from a subjective point of view, it is clear that this has been "structured", so many times the selection of important school board members has become... "just for show".

“I think that the recent dismissal of many university council members in Ho Chi Minh City is due to the fact that they do not truly represent the school. However, the fact that a council member is found to have committed fraud or even violated the law is the responsibility of both the council and the school. In this case, the school council needs to seriously review the nomination of members outside the school,” the expert shared.

According to the expert, there should be specific regulations for school board members. For example, the school board only meets a few times a year to discuss core issues and school strategies, so members cannot be absent for any reason. For members who are absent from meetings, the school board needs to reconsider whether to continue to let them be members or not.

Students of Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology during class. Illustration photo: QH

Who to choose?

MSc. Pham Thai Son said that there are opinions that it should be clearly regulated that school board members must attend at least 80% of the meetings; the number of non-school members should be reduced to 20%. Non-school members must have experience and knowledge of higher education, so it is necessary to include famous education management experts in the non-school members... This opinion is not good, especially the requirement that school board members must have knowledge of education.

“In my opinion, the main thing is to force the school board members to be responsible for their work, to supervise and guide the school’s development. If it is possible to introduce successful alumni of the school, that would be best. Especially if the alumni are lecturers, that would be even better. They will have opinions on the school’s management and learning methods. Moreover, speaking frankly and honestly is a suitable factor for the position of school board member,” Mr. Son expressed.

Dr. Tran Manh Thanh - Principal of Bach Viet College in Ho Chi Minh City noted that there are 2 forms of school councils with 2 different regulations. At universities, the school council follows the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training and at colleges, this organization follows the regulations of the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs.

However, with the vocational education system, due to its small scale, the role of the school board and the board of directors is relatively clearly defined. It is equivalent to the board of directors for non-public schools and the functions and tasks of the board of directors regarding major orientations and issues such as personnel, finance, etc. for the board of directors to implement are clearly defined.

“To put it simply, in colleges, the board of directors are actually the ones who invest capital, of course there are other members according to regulations. As for the school board at public universities, because the school is owned by the State, it not only invests capital but also has policies and directions for development in science, training, human resources, etc.

Therefore, although there are legal documents, in reality, in many schools today, the implementation of functions and tasks is very difficult, with back and forth. For example, the Principal becomes Chairman of the School Council, or the Chairman of the School Council becomes Principal for each term... Even though the positions are reversed, in reality, they are the same people, so development is often not groundbreaking and lacks creativity," said Mr. Thanh.

This education expert also recommends that the roles of members representing each field should be defined, and that they should have opinions on which fields. It is not possible for business representatives to give opinions on educational development, as this will not be as good as those specializing in education and training.

On the contrary, educators certainly cannot have a good business eye like business people. “It is best to have a ratio between businesses and scientists and educators; next, we should clearly define the functions and tasks when referring to which field, only then will there be no conflicts,” said Dr. Tran Manh Thanh.

Specifically, according to this expert, if the school board still requires members such as business people, it is necessary to be specific about the ratio and participation in 2 areas. The first area is investment funding and the second area is where the school's training products are used.

“When businessmen in the role of school board members and simultaneously use the school’s training products, they will see what else the training program needs and what we need. From there, it will contribute to further orienting the activities of an educational training institution,” Mr. Thanh shared.

Regarding the fact that many university council members are famous businessmen, is it effective, Dr. Tran Manh Thanh said that investment and training are different, so the goals are different. Businesses aim for profit, while educators must bring the principles and processes of education... so they will not be compatible. Many places have broken up school councils because of this.

Source: https://danviet.vn/thanh-vien-hoi-dong-truong-chon-the-nao-2024110106363478.htm