University trend to promote autonomy

Previously, in early 2024, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a document on the arrangement of public service units under the Ministry of Education and Training. Accordingly, the Ministry of Home Affairs requested the Ministry of Education and Training to develop a plan for the university education network and submit it to the Prime Minister according to regulations. This includes a plan to arrange and increase the level of financial autonomy for public service units. Specifically, the Ministry of Home Affairs requested the Ministry of Education and Training to direct public service units to develop and implement a roadmap for financial autonomy.

Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics, one of the schools implementing financial autonomy

PHOTO: DAO NGOC THACH

According to the plan to reorganize public service units under the Ministry of Education and Training, by the end of 2025, 24 higher education institutions will need to implement a roadmap to increase their level of financial autonomy, from the level of ensuring regular expenditures and above. Also under the Ministry of Education and Training, 11 other higher education institutions will continue to maintain the type of autonomous schools. According to this plan, by the end of 2025, higher education institutions under the Ministry of Education and Training will simultaneously implement a roadmap to increase their level of financial autonomy.

The transition to an autonomous model has a strong impact on all university activities. Notably, along with promoting university autonomy is the limitation of financial dependence on the state budget. For example, by 2024, Ho Chi Minh City National University will have 24/36 financially autonomous units in group 2 (accounting for 66%) and 12/36 financially autonomous units in group 3 (accounting for 34%); reducing 27% of regular expenditure (VND 178 billion) from the state budget compared to 2021. Only counting the number of civil servants receiving salaries from the state budget, in 2024 this university will have only 1,154 people (out of a total of 6,400 civil servants, accounting for 18%). This rate has decreased sharply compared to 2015, when the number of civil servants receiving salaries from the budget reached 3,502/5,603 people (accounting for 62.5%).

On the learner side, the biggest impact when universities move to autonomy is the tuition policy. Currently, the Government's Decree stipulates the tuition fee ceiling applicable to public universities according to the following levels: schools that do not cover regular expenses, schools that cover regular expenses, schools that cover regular expenses and investment expenses, and schools that self-determine tuition fees for programs that meet quality accreditation standards according to economic and technical norms issued by the school. Accordingly, tuition fees for autonomous schools are at least twice as high as those for non-autonomous schools in the same training sector. For example, for the same type of public school and the same health sector, tuition fees for schools in 2024 range from over 27 to over 80 million VND/year, depending on the sector. While the tuition gap between programs in public schools is large, the gap between tuition fees in public and private schools is increasingly narrowing.

With the trend of educational institutions simultaneously ensuring autonomy in regular spending, university tuition fees will no longer be as low as they are now. The issue of financial support for students with difficulties to be able to attend university needs to be taken into account through policies on scholarships, study credits, etc.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/xu-huong-dai-hoc-day-manh-tu-chu-185241229230907873.htm