Expected 10 criteria for universities to meet national standards

The Ministry of Education and Training has just announced a draft Circular regulating national standards for higher education.

Accordingly, there are 10 criteria for universities that meet national standards. The criteria include mission and objectives, organization and management, facilities and equipment, teaching staff and researchers, training activities, science and technology activities, financial autonomy, education quality assessment results, ranking results, student and employer satisfaction.

Student satisfaction with the training program is a mandatory criterion for recognizing a university as meeting national standards. Photo: Vietnam+

In particular, regarding the organizational and management criteria, in addition to having a suitable organizational structure according to regulations, the recruitment of school managers, lecturers, civil servants and public employees must ensure transparency and publicity.

Regarding the criteria for facilities, the school must have a minimum land area of ​​25m2/student, an average construction area of ​​at least 9m2/student, of which the area for studying is at least 6m2/student. This will probably be a rather difficult criterion for schools in big cities like Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City.

Regarding the criteria for lecturers and researchers, the school must have a permanent teaching staff responsible for teaching at least 75% of the training program's knowledge. The student/permanent lecturer ratio must ensure a maximum of 8 students/lecturer for the art and sports groups. This ratio for the medical and pharmaceutical groups is 10 students/lecturer, and for other majors it is 20 students/lecturer.

The proportion of lecturers and researchers with doctoral degrees must account for at least 25% of the total number of lecturers and researchers at an applied university and 50% at a research university. The proportion of lecturers with professor and associate professor degrees must reach at least 10% at a practice-oriented university and 20% at a research-oriented university.

Regarding training activities, the school must train according to the credit system, and the number of students with jobs suitable to their training field one year after graduation must reach at least 75% of the total number of graduates of that course.

Regarding the criteria for educational quality assessment results, the school must be assessed for quality according to the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training with at least 90% of the criteria meeting the requirements, and at least 20% of the training program must be assessed by an independent assessment organization recognized by the Ministry.

The school must have at least 75% of students and alumni surveyed satisfied with the training program with a minimum sample size equal to the number of students in a training course. In addition, at least 80% of employers surveyed must be satisfied with the quality of graduates with a minimum sample size of 200 employers.

In addition, the school must be in the top 3 ranks of the ranking framework of higher education institutions as prescribed at the time of application for recognition of national standards.

A university that meets national standards must meet 10 criteria. The national standard certificate will be valid for 5 years from the date of issue.

In addition to the draft of 10 criteria, the Ministry of Education and Training also has two options for recognizing national standard higher education institutions: assigning an independent organization to evaluate and recognize or being recognized by the Ministry of Education and Training.

According to the leaders of the Ministry of Education and Training, the issuance of regulations on universities meeting national standards is in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Higher Education. This aims to help training institutions build goals to strive towards integration with countries in the region and the world in the field of higher education.

Currently, the Ministry of Education and Training is seeking public opinions to further perfect the draft circular before officially issuing it.

According to Vietnam+