5 typical events of the Education sector in 2018

1. QThe National Assembly passed the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Higher Education with many new points.

The Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Higher Education was passed by the 14th National Assembly at the 6th session with many new points to promote the development of higher education such as:

Clearly define the system of higher education institutions, ensuring that it is close to international practices, consistent with the reality in Vietnam but does not cause disruption in the current system of higher education institutions; create equality between public and private higher education institutions, promote the development of private higher education institutions; create a clear legal basis for the autonomy and accountability of higher education institutions.

The Law also enhances autonomy for higher education institutions; innovates the financial and asset management mechanism to ensure transparency and efficiency, suitable for each type of higher education institution to create conditions for higher education institutions to exercise autonomy; innovates university governance, determines the organizational structure model and governance mechanism suitable for the nature of each type of public and private higher education institution to effectively manage universities;

Delegate real power to the School Council to become an effective governance body in line with international practices; innovate training management to ensure quality, efficiency and approach international standards... The Law takes effect from July 1, 2019.

2.Vietnam's educational innovation results are highly appreciated by international organizations.

According to a report published by the World Bank on March 15, 2018, 7 out of the top 10 education systems in the world are located in the East Asia - Pacific region, with truly impressive development belonging to the education systems of Vietnam and China.

The report stated that the East Asia-Pacific region has about 331 million school-age children, accounting for about a quarter of the world's total school-age children.

40% of them are studying in schools in education systems that perform above the OECD average. These schools are not only in wealthy countries such as Singapore, South Korea and Japan, but also in middle-income countries such as China and Vietnam.

Furthermore, the report highlights that student performance does not necessarily correlate with a country’s income level. For example, by age 10, the average Vietnamese student outperforms most top students in India, Peru and Ethiopia.

3. For the first time, Vietnam has universities ranked in the top of the continent and the world.

In 2018, for the first time, two Vietnamese universities were ranked in the top 1,000 universities in the world according to the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS World University Rankings). They are Vietnam National University, Hanoi and Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City.

Also according to Quacquarelli Symonds, the ranking of the 505 best universities in Asia in 2018-2019, there are 7 Vietnamese universities in the Ranking, including: Hanoi National University (ranked 124), Ho Chi Minh City National University (144), Hanoi University of Science and Technology (group 261-270), Ton Duc Thang University (group 291-300), Can Tho University (group 351-400), Hue University and Danang University (group 451-500).

4.Vietnamese excellent students achieve the best results ever

Along with the improvement of the quality of general education, in the 2018 International and Regional Olympic Competitions, Vietnamese students won 13 Gold Medals; 14 Silver Medals and 11 Bronze Medals.

Vietnamese student groupsbrought home excellent achievements when all participating delegations had contestants winning Gold Medals and 100% of the students competing won Medals.,leaving a good impression in the hearts of friends around the world, highly appreciated by public opinion.

Besides, at the Intel ISEF 2018 in the United States, the Vietnamese student delegation was one of 43 countries with projects winning prizes at the competition.

Also at the International Junior Science Competition(IJSO) all 6/6 students won medals with 4 gold medals and 2 silver medals, this is the highest achievement after 9 years of participating in this exam of Vietnamese students.

5.Ho Chi Minh CitygiLower secondary school tuition fees from 2019

At the 12th session in early December, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council approved the proposal of the City People's Committee to adjust the tuition fees for secondary schools and kindergartens at public schools. Accordingly, secondary school and supplementary secondary school tuition fees will be reduced from VND100,000 per month to VND60,000, applicable to students in 19 districts.

In the five districts of Binh Chanh, Hoc Mon, Cu Chi, Can Gio, Nha Be, tuition fees have been reduced from VND85,000 to VND30,000. At the preschool level, students in 19 districts will still receive the current level of VND200,000 per month, while children in five districts will receive a reduction from VND140,000 to VND120,000. The above tuition fees will be applied from January 1, 2019./.