Education Reform in Vietnam: Everyone Being Left Behind

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 HANOI 000032 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OEXC KPAO PGOV VM SUBJECT: Education Reform in Vietnam: Everyone Being Left Behind REF: A: 07 HANOI 222; B: 07 HANOI 2068; C: 08 HANOI 463 D: 10 HANOI 1274 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY AND COMMENT: This cable is the first of two reports on Vietnam's stalled education reform. Education reform is key to Vietnam's political and economic development, yet three years after Deputy Prime Minister Nhan announced his intent to overhaul the education system, little real progress has occurred. Two key elements critical to real reform of tertiary education -- greater autonomy for universities and a truly independent accreditation system (free from the Ministry of Education and Training's, or MOET, control) to ensure their quality - will be extremely difficult to foster in the conservative political climate leading up to the 2011 Party Congress. The lack of movement in the education sector is leading to increasingly vocal public dissatisfaction with the system, especially in southern Vietnam. The Mission continues to work toward the goal of eventual change in the Vietnamese educational system through a number of initiatives, including the third annual Education Conference in Hanoi January 14-15 and other State, USAID and Foreign Commercial Service programs that demonstrate to the Vietnamese that this is a priority area for Vietnam's future in the globalized world and for the bilateral relationship. End summary AND COMMENT. ¶2. (SBU) The Vietnamese educational system is widely regarded as being in crisis at all levels (Ref A). The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) two years ago announced its Vision 2020 Strategic Education Development Plan, which outlined plans to diversify, standardize and modernize the country's educational system at all levels to produce the educated managers and skilled workforce that Vietnam's economy needs. Specific goals articulated at the time included establishing more schools, community colleges and public and private universities; improving curricula, textbooks, teacher training, teaching methods, physical facilities, university administration; and promoting English language skills. Other goals included granting greater autonomy to universities, establishing a national accreditation system, and training 20,000 Ph.D.s. to teach in the universities. More recently, MOET launched an effort to establish four "world class" universities funded in part by loans from the World Bank/Asian Development Bank and partly by four partner countries - the U.S., France, Germany and Japan -- each of which theoretically providing administrators and faculty at one university for up to ten years. PACE OF REFORM SLOW IN ALL AREAS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶3. (SBU) MOET's implementation of reforms has been slow and limited at all levels, according to many American and Vietnamese educators. Teaching methods remain too passive, with students having little chance to interact with the teacher, discuss issues, or ask questions. One recent study found that 83 percent of students graduate lacking soft skills such as analytic and problem solving abilities, and teamwork and managerial skills. Another study showed that only 10 percent of students meet foreign language standards for graduates. Participants at recent educational conferences identified a variety of other problems, including vocational school teachers who have little practical work or teaching experience, poorly equipped classrooms, and little interaction between schools and potential employers through internships or job fairs. In addition, the MOET-mandated move to the credit based system (similar to the general education requirements at U.S. universities) has stalled because of limited understanding among the universities of how to make the transition and insufficient information given to students. Community colleges are popular with provincial governments, which set them up to provide technical training in many fields; however, their future remains uncertain because MOET has taken control of them from the provinces, but still views them as experimental and has not yet granted them permanent status. HANOI 00000032 002 OF 004 ¶4. (SBU) In spite of these problems, demand for higher education remains high from students, families, and investors and companies that increasingly want to hire those with bachelor's degrees. As a result of this demand, the number of universities in Vietnam has increased rapidly, with Vietnam creating 87 universities since 1998 (including 55 that were upgraded from colleges),bringing the nationwide total to 149. This rapid expansion has added to deficiencies in the quality of administration and teaching. A recent examination of 20 top universities by the Illinois-based National Council for Education Quality Verification (NCEQV) found many shortcomings at all universities it examined, with only three out of the twenty meeting more than half the requirements. Common deficiencies include unqualified instructors and administrators, inadequate facilities, laboratories and computers, too few lecturers, poor development of curriculums, poor English language proficiency among both lecturers and students, and a lack of innovative teaching and learning methods. In spite of these deficiencies, NCEQV certified all 20 universities as having sufficiently met education quality criteria and granted all education quality verification certificates. OVERLY CENTRALIZED CONTROL TO BLAME - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶5. (SBU) The core problem at Vietnamese universities, according to wide variety of Mission contacts as well as a Harvard University Report released in November, 2009, is heavy-handed central control. Many senior Vietnamese university administrators and professors agree, and are becoming more critical in public settings about central MOET control over major university operations, including tuition and fees, hiring and promotion of faculty and administrators, degrees and courses offered, and enrollment quotas. They are becoming more vocal in their requests for greater autonomy in these and other areas, especially their efforts to launch new initiatives or foreign partnerships. Autonomy and academic freedom are also critical issues for the foreign partners, especially American academics wanting to establish programs at existing universities or to establish new private universities, who see requirements to include courses in Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought in their curriculum as inappropriate. (Note: Other GVN initiatives in the lead up to the 2011 Communist Party of Vietnam Party Congress threaten to undermine what little autonomy and academic freedom currently exist. See Ref D. End Note.) ¶6. (SBU) MOET says it recognizes the need for greater autonomy at universities, but insists it cannot grant that autonomy until a nationwide accreditation system is in place to guarantee the quality of the universities. Although it recently ordered universities to make public details on education quality, facilities, fees, tuition and finance for 2009-10, and to announce how many graduates have found jobs, MOET has not established standards or set up a permanent system to gauge the quality of universities. Although it issued new regulations about training, recruitment and scientific research (see Ref D),professors complain that these steps were taken without consulting prestigious scientists and teachers from universities or education institutes. Experts have been critical of these steps, calling them unnecessary and unfeasible, and seeing in them steps toward greater central control rather than greater autonomy. As one American educator who has worked in the Vietnamese system for several years put it to us, "How is it that this country is not politically able or intellectually capable of implementing the very best practices it professes to want to adopt?" ¶7. (SBU) An effort to establish an accreditation system based on the American model, led by the Centers for Quality Assurance and Research Development (CEQARD) at Vietnam National University is underway. In November 2009, 20 officials from CEQARD visited the U.S. for a two week program that included a week of training with the New England Accreditation Board and visits to two universities to learn more about steps universities take to prepare for accreditation reviews. However, the GVN has not allowed universities to begin to set up their own system of accreditation. HANOI 00000032 003 OF 004 AND PERSONNEL, AND POLITICAL FACTORS PLAY A ROLE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶8. (SBU) Several factors account for the slow pace of MOET's reform effort. One is practical. In addition, the position of Standing Vice Minister, a key position in the day to day running of the Ministry since the Minister serves concurrently as Deputy Prime Minister, was unfilled from May, 2009 when the previous incumbent retired, until early January, 2010, when Vice Minister Pham Vu Luan was promoted into the position. A strong Standing Vice Minister is essential for reforms to take place, given the disagreement between various factions within MOET about which goals and reforms are most appropriate and how best to implement them. Luan, however, is not known for bold or innovative thinking. Another factor is that the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, and the Ministry of Public Security, and the Prime Minister's Office and the National Assembly are all deeply involved in decisions that affect education. Finally, many educators speculate that Education Minister Nhan, lobbying for a higher political position at the next Party Congress to be held in January, 2011, is unwilling to undertake reforms that will necessarily be disruptive to the educational system during the coming year. ¶9. (SBU) Public dissatisfaction with the slow pace of educational reform is rising, with students, parents and teachers complaining about specific shortfalls in the system and with newspapers airing their complaints with increasing frequency. Recent articles have cited complaints about the poor quality of instruction and corruption. One recent article highlighted a school charging 23 separate fees, including a tree care fee, at a supposedly tuition-free public school. Another article focused on a teacher asking seven-year old students on the first day of school what type of car their parents drive in order to gauge how much more in "contributions" to hit parents up for in addition to the 16 million dong ($900) already paid under the table for their children to enter the government tuition-free primary school. Complaints are also being aired in the National Assembly, which recently blamed MOET for the growing number of Vietnamese "educational refugees" going abroad for education. In addition, academics complain about the "internal brain drain" as graduates choose to work for foreign companies rather than for Vietnamese universities. Other complaints have focused on the difference in quality between schools for gifted children and those for others. Recent interviews by PAS staff for the Global Undergrad program revealed an astonishing difference in confidence, outlook, grades, and English level between students from the two types of schools. Educators in Vietnam only recognize 20 high schools as "elite" schools that can provide high-quality education. MISSION VIETNAM TRIES TO FILL THE VOID - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶10. (SBU) Ambassador Michalak will host an Education Conference in Hanoi January 14-15, 2010. The Conference is designed to provide a forum for discussion between American and Vietnamese educators about key issues such as improving programs based on American curricula at Vietnamese universities, establishing an American-style university, improving the quality of English language instruction, supporting greater autonomy of Vietnamese universities, and streamlining the process for American universities and educational organizations to set up branch campuses or offices in Vietnam. MOET officials have confirmed that they will conduct a session on those procedures at the Conference, which will be followed by several sessions at which American educational institutions describe the difficulties they have encountered in seeking MOET authorization for their programs. Other sessions will provide the opportunity for American and Vietnamese educators to express their concerns about autonomy, academic freedom and accreditation. MOET officials will be present at all sessions, and will thus hear their concerns as well as those of 500 American and Vietnamese educators actively involved in joint American-Vietnamese educational projects. (Septels will define these problems and report on conference deliberations.) HANOI 00000032 004 OF 004 ¶11. (SBU) The Mission is engaged in a number of other ongoing activities to reach key education goals. The Fulbright Program continues to send 25 students and 10 professors to the U.S. for professional development programs each year, and brings another 15 American professors, researchers and English teachers to Vietnam, where they teach classes, train faculty, engage in curriculum revision and new course development projects to strengthen university English teaching programs. The Fulbright program also brings more than a dozen Senior Specialists to Vietnam to conduct special conferences for senior university administrators and faculty. The Public Affairs Sections in Hanoi and HCMC run a variety of other programs designed to increase American influence on the Vietnamese educational system, including the Global Undergraduate Program, in addition to a wide variety of other programs to promote the professional development of English teachers. ¶12. (SBU) Legislation is before Congress to house the Vietnam Education Foundation (VEF) within State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, where it will be managed in a manner similar to the Fulbright Program. Currently, VEF is an independent agency funded by Congress at $5 million a year to provide scholarships to Vietnamese students for Ph.D. study in the hard sciences in the U.S. Although its future operations will be determined by a Board of Advisors, it is likely that VEF will continue to provide scholarships for Ph.D. study in the U.S., but perhaps in a broader range of fields and levels, including masters programs in Vietnam. EdUSA Student Advising Centers, which have been operated by IIE under a grant from ECA to promote study in the U.S., will soon be housed within the Embassy's and Consulate's Public Affairs Sections (PAS),which will give the USG greater control over the Centers' activities and ensure that they continue to provide objective and comprehensive advice to students interested in studying in the U.S. free of charge. The move from IIE to PAS will reduce annual operating expenses from $400,000 to $160,000. ¶13. (SBU) USAID is working to develop an alliance with and leverage additional resources from the U.S. private sector and U.S. university partners to work with a Vietnamese educational institution(s) to improve the quality and relevance of engineering education. This alliance building process is currently underway and should be in place later this calendar year. It has the potential to generate additional resources from private sector sources that have long term investment goals and want to help develop an educated/skilled labor supply in-country that meets industry standards. ¶14. (SBU) Comment: The lack of reform in the areas of autonomy and accreditation have slowed MOET's efforts to create a public American-style university, and MOET's tight control over many aspects of the educational system have hampered Vietnamese and American efforts to create private American-style universities, branch campuses or educational offices - subjects to be covered in more detail septel. With systemic problems in Vietnam's education system so numerous and deep, and with political as well as practical obstacles to reform so severe, USG programs to help Vietnam revamp its education system will probably not bear major fruit in the near future. Nevertheless, by bringing large numbers of Vietnamese educators and officials together, the Education Conference will help ensure that MOET officials are focused on the right issues and remain aware of concerns by educators most involved in joint programs. Although reform of Vietnam's educational system ultimately depends on the Vietnamese themselves, the Education Conference will help generate the pressure needed to move MOET in the right direction. Reform of the system will in the long term be the single greatest factor in the success of Vietnam's continued economic development and political reform. End comment. Michalak