In recent years, the number of both public and private higher education institutions has remarkably increased. The total number of students at higher education institutions in 2009 was 1.7 million. In Viet Nam, higher education is provided by universities, polytechnics, teacher training colleges and colleges. Higher education programmes consist of short-cycle programmes of 3 to 3.5 year’s duration, offered by colleges. In addition, there are long-cycle bachelor degree programmes offered by universities and postgraduate programmes at master and doctoral levels (UNESCO 2009).
Currently, the TVET system includes over 300 technical and vocational colleges and schools training technicians and workers in areas such as agriculture, industry, health care, tourism, construction and transportation. Vocational training is provided by various types of institutions: vocational colleges, vocational secondary schools, and vocational training centres. According to revised Education Law, there are 3 levels of vocational training: Elementary level, vocational secondary level and vocational college level. The elementary level lasts for 3 months up to less than 1 year and students are trained to be semi-skilled workers with a certificate. Vocational secondary level ranges from 1 year to less than 2 years aiming to train students to be skilled workers with a vocational secondary diploma. Vocational college level ranges from 2 to 3 years and it trains students to be highly skilled workers in creative and technological profession, awarding students a vocational diploma (UNESCO 2009, MoET 2006).
Recently, the number of vocational schools has remarkably increased; however, the average number of teachers per vocational school has barely changed during the same period. In addition, gender segregation is evident and there is no encouragement for boys and girls to study unconventional professions.
In the last few decades, the higher education sub-sector has seen significant improvements; however, there is still a crucial lack of opportunities for and support to poor students, girls and ethnic minorities in higher education (UNESCO 2006, 2009).
Despite the increased number TVET institutions, there is still a lack of linkages between TVET education and the labour market. A contributing factor is that the quality of vocational training has largely been constrained by unqualified teachers and the low quality of teaching. Teacher’s professional skills have not been upgraded and updated regularly, and their salaries remain low. In addition, the curriculums are out of date, limited and irrelevant to the skill requirement of the labour market.
Regarding higher education, a number of Vietnamese universities has mobilized international funding sources and established hi-tech and scientific centres to improve training and research quality by focusing on biology technology, new materials, information technology and automation. However, higher education is also facing constraints such as uncertain academic standards, slow curriculum renewal, inflexible traditional teaching methods, constrained professional capacity of the academic staff and insufficient salaries. Furthermore, in rural areas, especially in mountainous and highland areas, only a small portion of students have access to higher education and professional training (UNESCO 2006, 2009).
Higher education institutions are under the authority of line ministries such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Transportation, and the Ministry of Health; however, the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) is administering the majority. MoET is particularly responsible for academic matters such as improvement of teaching methods, curriculum, and collabouration among universities. Meanwhile, the provincial authorities control and administer colleges in the provinces. Professional secondary education is under the responsibility of MoET and vocational training schools are largely managed by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) at the central level, and locally by the local authorities (UNESCO 2009).
A series of national strategies for TVET and higher education are included in the 5 Year Socio-Economic Development Plan (SEDP) 2006-2010. Some of the stated goals for TVET are to increase the enrolment rate and to improve training quality as to fulfill the requirement of human resource standards and to create competitiveness in domestic and international markets.
The overall policy for higher education is to bring fundamental changes in quality and quantity in order to create the human resource base required for development. According to the SEDP 2001-10, the overall goals for higher education and TVET are to increase the number of students, to improve quality control, to introduce new curricula, to improve teaching method and staffing, and to increase financing from a number of sources. In addition, the government is aiming at the expansion of the number of students and the increase of foreign students in the country (UNESCO 2006).
