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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