On 13 December, 2019, Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City (IUH) hosted the seminar on “Financial Autonomy at Universities: International Experience and Application to Higher Education in Vietnam” in collaboration with World Bank (WB) and the Project Management Unit (PMU) of Support for Autonomous Higher Education Project (SAHEP). Participants were senior education specialists from WB, members of PMUs of SAHEP, and members of different Board of Directors from project partners.
In the seminar, Mr Le Trong Hung - PMU’s Director of SAHEP delivered his orientation speech and Ms Tran My An – Project Manager of WB shared information on convenience and difficulties to project implementation in term of general autonomy, generally speaking, and financial autonomy, particularly speaking at universities in Vietnam.
Mr Le Trong Hung is delivering his speech
Attended in the seminar, Mr Alessandro Pellacani – CEO of The University of Trento from Italia shared experience on financial autonomy at University of Trento in which support from local government’s support, completion of university organization, improvement of human quality, and social distribution with interest paid on sustainable development. He also indicated some benefits obtained from autonomy at universities in Europe and confirmed that autonomy at universities is becoming an inevitable global trend.
Mr Alessandro Pellacani is delivering his speech
Mr Kurt Larsen - senior education specialists from WB showed out current challenges in building sustainably financial mechanism. Ông affirmed that, in Vietnam, higher education expense is not only high but increasing also, however, financial supporting for students and poor families is not only low but limited also. Therefore, he suggested an increase on public donation percentage for higher education in Vietnam, establishing scholarships for students of ethnicity; government should consider allowing private bond issuance; universities should seek ways of diversifying income sources by seeking business donation, providing consultancy service, renting facilities, or transferring innovation panels instead of focusing on increasing study fee.
Ông Kurt Larsen is delivering his speech
There were many opinions shown and experiences shared in the seminar among participants such as experience of credit and loan policy application for students under government supervision in Australian universities, project implementation at Hanoi University of Science and Technology (HUST), National Economics University (NEU), Vietnam National University of Agriculture (VNUA) and Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City IUH.
Different opinions are discussed in the seminar
Participants also pointed out some issues in policies and regulations when implementing financial autonomy at the moment. According to Professor. Dr. Tran Tho Dat – Chairman of NEU’s University Council, Director of PMU at NEU), the bond issuance for fund collection seems not feasible currently; another issue is borrowing loans from commercial banks always requesting pledges, however, almost universities assets are public-owned. Associate Prof. Dr. Tran Van Top – Vice President of HUST, on the other hand, raised an issue as a new challenge in calculating training cost per student as well as an increasing in public debt percentage if there is a continuous public donation for education.
Associate Prof. Dr. Tran Van Top is delivering his speech
There were some conclusions at the end of the discussion in the afternoon including suggestions on internal agreement and maximum support from line Ministry; making and mastering university financial regulations; having a synchronization in state policies; enhancing role of University Council at the ones who are implementing the autonomy project in order to promote financial autonomy at universities in Vietnam.
As stated by Dr Phan Hong Hai – IUH’s Vice President, university autonomy is very important; to have a successful implementation, it needs a positive cooperation from different stakeholders, in which, each university also needs making a clear and specific strategy itself. He expressed his hope university partners could find useful benefits from opinions and experiences shared in the seminar for their effective solutions in term of financial autonomy applied at their organization.
Dr. Phan Hong Hai is delivering closing speech
Some photos at the seminar:
Participants at the seminar
Mrs Tran Thi My An – Project Manager of WB
Mr Pham Hung Hiep – Director of Edlab Asia Education Joint Stock Company
Professor. Dr. Tran Tho Dat – Chairman of NEU’s University Council, Director of PMU at NEU
Keynote speakers are receiving bunches of flowers from IUH
Participants are taking group photo
