VIETNAM: Parliament uncovers problems in universities

Numerous problems have been uncovered by a national assembly standing committee during working sessions with 40 universities, reports VietNamNet. The problems were found in procedures to establish schools, open new study branches, decide the number of students to be enrolled and, especially, in network development.

In many localities, schools had been set up spontaneously without consideration for socio-economic development or local demand.

According to Le Minh Hong, Deputy Chairman of the national assembly's committee for culture, education, youth and children, one of the biggest challenges for universities is a lack of lecturers. The problem especially serious at non-state universities, where there are few permanent lecturers and most of them are visiting lecturers. Also, physical facilities at the universities remain very poor.

Universities have complained that they do not have funding to invest in physical resources or land to build campuses.
Full report on the VietNamNet site