Citing Malaysian education, Mr Quan said seven years ago, they were at the same level as Vietnam. But now, have developed a comprehensive and successful system, while Vietnam hasn’t.

Malaysia has 500 privately owned and only 20 State-owned universities, a clear demonstration that they have successfully socialized education.

Malaysia used the ‘education import’ method; it encourages its universities to cooperate with foreign institutions or utilize international education technology sharing. After developing modern education technologies from foreign universities, the country began ‘exporting education’. Laos, Cambodia and African countries all have students studying in Malaysia. 200 of the 500 Malaysian universities and colleges are allowed to enroll foreign students. Every year, the country brings in several billion dollars from education export.

Do you think that Vietnam should follow in Malaysia’s steps?

We think that we need to import education, like Malaysia has. Of course, it is more complicated than it seems; we do not have enough staff who can speak good enough English, but still, we know we will succeed if we try our best. The Association of Non-state Universities and Colleges will meet in some days to exchange views on how to access foreign university education. We will also submit a plan to the Government that aims to educate 5,000 people to a Masters degree level or higher.

Do you believe Vietnam has investors willing to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to improve universities?

I do. The Corporation for Financing and Promoting Technologies, for example, has set up FPT University, while Ha Nam-based Ha Hoa Tien Group has spent $200mil on Ha Hoa Tien University; the Vietnam Textile and Garment Group has built Nguyen Tat Thanh College and equipped it with 900 high-grade computers.

What is delaying education socialization, then?

The education socialization process has been delayed due to the ‘ask-and-grant’ mechanism. It sometimes takes investors half a year to be granted permission from state management agencies.

State management authorities need to change the way they think about this process and about education in general. They should create optimum conditions for investors to set up schools, provided the institutions can meet strict quality requirements.

Currently, State management authorities can intervene at all levels of universities’ operations; from entrance exams, enrollment to curriculum. I think universities should be given more autonomy.

What do you think is biggest challenge to improving education quality?

It is no longer a problem to raise funds for building universities. The biggest problem now is the lack of capable lecturers. In order to apply new foreign education programs, we need lecturers who can speak English well; which can be solved by better policies.

Source: Tien phong