Vietnam spends $700 per year on one student.

At the 2018 Education Conference organized by the Committee for Culture, Education, Youth and Children, Associate Professor Thai Ba Can, President of Hong Bang University, affirmed that finance plays an important role in ensuring the quality of schools. In recent years, the level of university spending through the investment rate index per student per year has increased significantly but is still low compared to other countries.

Illustration photo.

In 2009, Vietnam spent an average of VND9.24 million per student per academic year. By 2017, the figure had increased to VND16.2 million (nearly USD700). Meanwhile, in the OECD group, the average cost per student per year, based on 2014 data, was over USD16,000. The larger the school, the higher the training cost.

The state budget expenditure for a student in Vietnam in 2013 was VND14.1 million, equivalent to 35% of GDP per capita. Mr. Can said that the expenditure could be increased to 50% (Malaysia is over 60%). At that time, the proposed tuition fee would be VND10.6 million/year, higher than the current tuition fee of public schools that are not financially autonomous. However, the increase in tuition fees must be adjusted in relation to the economic capacity of the people and must be accompanied by an increase in quality.

Mr. Can added that the current number of public students accounts for 87% of the total. If the number of students is reduced by 20%, the budget expenditure on higher education will reach 50% of GDP per capita. Therefore, in case it is not possible to increase the absolute level of state budget expenditure on higher education, the expenditure calculated on GDP per capita can still be increased by reducing the number of public students that the state budget has to pay for.

Universities need to diversify their revenue sources.

Ms. Dang Thi Thanh Huyen (Academy of Educational Management) said that to increase investment for students, it is necessary to diversify revenue sources. While the revenue sources of higher education institutions in the world come from state budget, research budget, tuition, fees, scientific research contracts, technology transfer, consulting services, copyrights, campus services or donations and sponsorships, in Vietnam, the budget and tuition fees account for more than 90% of the total revenue of public schools.

Sharing the same view, Professor Nguyen Trong Hoai (Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics) said that depending on one source of finance will hinder the development of universities. In developing countries, university revenue can come from other economic sectors such as the financial and real estate markets. Many Asian countries such as China and Japan have issued policies that both cut state budget spending on universities and allow schools to proactively seek new sources of income.

In Vietnam, in order for schools to have good financial autonomy to invest more in students, thereby improving the quality of education, Mr. Hoai said that the Government needs to loosen financial regulations, allowing schools to operate like a business.

“This is the premise for universities to be able to borrow financial resources from the financial market or buy and sell real estate, or use real estate to conduct business services associated with training and research capacity to increase revenue, serving the school's activities,” said Mr. Hoai.

According to Mr. Hoai, the Government needs to encourage schools to operate in a business spirit, while creating a favorable policy corridor for universities to move towards financial autonomy through improving existing revenue sources and proactively seeking new revenue sources.