No one opposes the process of university autonomy because the global education system is moving towards this autonomy. However, in Vietnam, the process of university autonomy has given rise to many problems and requires a specific roadmap.
The two most important areas
Currently, the two most important areas for the people are healthcare and education. Developed countries have different approaches and policies regarding these two areas. There is educational autonomy, but there is also educational subsidy, which comes from the state budget. Subsidies aren't always bad, as the decision to subsidize depends on the specific sector. For example, Cuba subsidizes both education and healthcare. Nordic countries and Germany, on the other hand, subsidize more than half of these areas.
Subsidizing healthcare and education is also part of the "socialist orientation" that Vietnam has always affirmed as its goal.
Many students who are admitted to university face a significant financial burden due to high tuition fees.
Healthcare and education have the greatest impact on people's lives. Therefore, the superiority of the socialist system must be demonstrated most clearly, extensively, prioritized, and concretely in these two areas.
People only need to look at healthcare and education to see the state's concern. Despite Cuba being a socialist country under a US embargo for many years and facing numerous economic difficulties, its citizens still enjoy free education and healthcare. Cuban children do not have to pay tuition fees, and patients receive free treatment. Furthermore, the Cuban healthcare system is highly developed with many achievements in research and application.
The question is: why, in such difficult circumstances, has Cuba still achieved outstanding successes in healthcare and education, earning recognition and admiration from around the world? Because of its people, it wholeheartedly serves its people.
'A Challenge of Belief'
Higher education in Vietnam faces "trust challenges," not only among teachers but also among the vast majority of the population. Many families' children are now admitted to universities, but tuition fees are high compared to the income of the majority. Meanwhile, universities struggle to increase tuition fees because they are required to be "financially autonomous," yet this is still insufficient to fund research within the institution or to truly upgrade the qualifications of faculty members.
Furthermore, genuine upgrading does not mean "upgrading qualifications," but rather genuinely upgrading the professional competence of teaching staff, not simply seeking to publish numerous articles called "scientific research" in foreign journals, many of which are "fake" journals where publication is possible simply by paying a fee.
Students in a class at a financially autonomous university in Ho Chi Minh City, right from its early days.
Therefore, to regain the trust of the people, teachers, and university lecturers, the best way is for the state to have a clear educational program, requiring universities to have some autonomy, while the state "subsidizes" and funds some of it. The state must have a tiered tuition fee system, setting different rates for the well-off and wealthy, and different rates for the poor and disadvantaged, avoiding a uniform tuition fee for everyone.
Furthermore, the government needs to encourage billionaires and millionaires to donate money to highly effective research programs at universities so that the universities have the necessary research funding, enabling researchers to fully dedicate themselves to studying topics that serve higher-level education.
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