Hanoi (VNA) - After three years ofimplementing autonomous management, the higher education sector has witnessed severalpositive changes. However, obstacles remain which need to be addressed beforethe mechanism can be applied more widely.

Before shifting to a policy of autonomous universities, Vietnam had contributedzero names to the list of the 1000 best universities worldwide.

However, two local universities have now made it onto the world list, whilemany others are now on the list of the 300 best universities in Asia. Some Vietnameseuniversities are even able to compete equally with world-class institutions incertain fields.

“The greatest achievements are that we have improved people’s access to highereducation, as well as the fact that more students are now more satisfied by thelabour market demand,“ Assoc. Prof., Dr. Bui Anh Tuan, Rector of Foreign Trade University.

Apart from positive changes, shortcomings still remain. Specifically,regulations and definitions regarding university autonomy are still inadequate.Moreover, this mechanism’s approach is currently only limited to self-financing,while management capacity and human resources should also be taken intoaccount.

Nguyen Van Phuc, Deputy Minister of Education and Training, said in order toensure the success of the mechanism, it is needed to change from baselineaspects, including teachers and school managers, toward creating an encouraginglearning environment and also improving their competitive edge.

Experts also suggested that clearer regulations and guidelines should beprovided in order to ensure equality among higher education institution.-VNA