Top 10 Most Notable Education Events in Vietnam in 2016

In 2016, after the first university admission round, many universities, whether top-tier, mid-tier, or lower-tier, were still short of hundreds to thousands of students. Specifically, Hanoi Medical University lacked 206 slots; the Academy of Journalism and Communication had to supplement 500 slots; Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry (Thai Nguyen University) had only 233 admitted students out of a total of 1,370 slots; Vietnam National University of Agriculture had to supplement 1,554 students out of a total enrollment quota of 5,300; Hong Duc University was even short of 50% of its students, and many other universities faced similar situations. Explaining the phenomenon of still being short of thousands of slots even after the registration deadline for the first round, the leaders of many universities stated that it was due to the high rate of ghost applicants. In the first admission round, candidates could submit up to 4 preferences for 2 universities, so universities had to accept a ghost applicant rate of up to 50%. This situation has led universities to focus on improving the quality of education to attract students, rather than expanding their scale. Many universities have not allocated the necessary manpower for scientific and technological development in a sustainable direction. The quality of education at many universities is still low compared to society's basic requirements, so students are not truly enthusiastic about university education.

On the morning of April 9th, the National Assembly officially approved the cabinet members of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. Mr. Phung Xuan Nha, currently the Director of Hanoi National University, has become the Minister of Education and Training. Upon taking office, he expressed his view “education is not a battle, education is about humanity”. The new minister believed that only when society has faith in education can it succeed; without faith, it will still fail. According to him, education has many aspects that need innovation, shifting from the method of knowledge cramming to competency-based learning. Additionally, experts identify issues such as declining training quality, increasing unemployment rates, lack of quality teaching staff, and low level of internationalization as significant challenges for Minister Phung Xuan Nha in his current role as the head of the education sector.

On the afternoon of September 28th, the Ministry of Education and Training officially announced the plan for the 2017 National High School Graduation Exam, with not many changes compared to the previously released draft. Among them, the most concerning issue was the format of the exam: 3 separate tests and 2 combined tests. Specifically, instead of taking 8 subjects as in the previous year, candidates would have to take 5 tests, including 3 independent tests in Mathematics, Literature, and Foreign Languages, and two combined tests covering Natural Sciences (Physics, Chemistry, Biology) and Social Sciences (History, Geography, Civic Education for candidates of high school education system; History, Geography for candidates of regular education system). Except for the Literature subject, which would be a written test, the remaining 4 subjects would be multiple-choice tests. Minister of Education and Training, Phung Xuan Nha, emphasized that candidates cannot cheat or look at others' papers during the multiple-choice tests, as each candidate will have their own unique test code, ensuring that 80% of the questions will not be repeated. On October 5th, the Ministry of Education and Training released the illustrative test questions. Soon after, numerous multiple-choice test preparation centers emerged.

In May 2016, right after the completion of the VNEN project (New School Model in Vietnam), the question of whether to stop or continue this model was raised. This question has sparked much debate about the feasibility and effectiveness of the project. On August 18th, the Minister of Education and Training sent a document to localities regarding the VNEN model. He assessed that while VNEN has many positive points, its implementation still faces mechanical and rushed issues. According to Circular 30 regarding 'certificates of comprehensive achievement': The certificate awarding 'Comprehensive Student Award' has raised questions about whether Circular 30 has been accurately implemented or not. This circular has changed many aspects of evaluating primary school students. While Ho Chi Minh City has begun to expand the implementation of the VNEN model, parents and teachers in some other provinces such as Lam Dong, Nghe An, and Ha Tinh strongly oppose it, believing that it does not bring about effectiveness. Additionally, at the end of May and beginning of June, many parents and students were frustrated with confusing certificates and titles such as 'commendation of every aspect,' 'fulfilling missions.' Faced with this situation, at the end of September, the Ministry of Education and Training issued Circular 22 amending and supplementing some provisions of the Regulation on the assessment of primary school students issued with Circular 30. Specifically, teachers will assess students on three levels at the middle and end of each semester.

In April 2016, concerns about the quality of doctoral training in our country were once again raised as news about 'doctoral training mills' spread online. On average, every month, the Academy of Social Sciences under the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences produces nearly 20 doctoral graduates with many dissertations deemed unworthy. The English proficiency of these 'doctoral training mills' is also criticized as 'worse than Google Translate.' At the regular Government meeting on May 4, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc directed the Ministry of Education and Training to rectify doctoral training. On June 13, the Ministry of Education and Training officially sent a letter to training institutions regarding the review of conditions to ensure quality. In a seminar titled 'Enhancing the Quality of Doctoral Training' held on November 10, Deputy Minister of Education and Training Bui Van Ga admitted that the quality of doctoral training in our country is not consistent. According to him, the reasons lie with the students, supervisors, training institutions, and investment funds.

In 2016, the issue of university autonomy once again became 'hot.' In January 2016, the government allowed 12 universities to pilot autonomy from 2015 to 2017. University leaders believe that autonomy is an inevitable trend in our country's higher education. However, during the implementation process, many issues arose, such as universities opening numerous new majors without the approval of the Ministry of Education and Training, increasing tuition fees, and lack of transparency in fee structures. In 2016, shortening the duration of university education also garnered significant attention from the community. In November, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc approved the framework for restructuring the national education system. Specifically, the duration of university education will be shortened from 4-6 years to only 3-5 years. The duration of vocational education, instead of 3 years, will now be 2-3 years. This shortening is expected to provide students with more opportunities for early employment, reduce the overall training costs, and alleviate the curriculum by reducing some courses. However, this also raises the issue of how universities will adjust their programs to ensure the quality of outputs.

At the beginning of the 2016 academic year, developing a roadmap to make English the second language in Vietnam became the most notable task in the education sector. However, many people assessed this as an overly ambitious and difficult goal compared to Vietnam's current educational capacity.On September 17, the leaders of the Ministry of Education and Training announced that they had developed a high school education program for Chinese and Russian languages based on a 10-year curriculum and would also pilot teaching them as the first foreign languages in 2017. Japanese was also allowed to be included in the teaching roadmap to become the first foreign language. During the National Assembly's questioning session on November 16, when asked about this issue, Minister Phung Xuan Nha affirmed that by 2020, our country could not achieve the goals set out in the project. Before the National Assembly, the minister took responsibility for this issue. He admitted that the project needed to be realistically and feasibly built, closely aligned with its goals.

After meeting with the leaders of the Ministry of Education and Training, the Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, Mr. Dinh La Thang, directed the Director of the Department of Education and Training, Mr. Le Hong Son, to rectify and strictly prohibit the situation of extra classes and tutoring in the upcoming academic year. This directive immediately sparked a heated debate among the teaching staff and the community.Teachers in Ho Chi Minh City hoped the city would repeal this regulation because the current curriculum is still too heavy, and exams are still stressful, so extra classes and tutoring are necessary to ensure an adequate supply of knowledge for students. On September 29, at a press conference announcing information about the ban on extra classes and tutoring, the Chief of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Office, Mr. Vo Van Hoan, admitted that this regulation was somewhat hasty. He believed that the city needed to have a roadmap for implementation to avoid causing public outrage.

The issue of innovating textbooks has been raised since 2015. According to the roadmap, in the academic year 2018 - 2019, a comprehensive high school education program will see the widespread adoption of many textbook sets. Many teachers are concerned that the new textbooks will still be heavy in content and rely too much on the teaching efforts of individual teachers. In early February 2016, social media carried information that there would be separate textbooks for the North and South regions. Leaders of the Ministry of Education and Training and the Vietnam Education Publishing House all denied this information. Representatives of the Textbook Drafting and Innovation Committee have affirmed that the upcoming new high school textbook program will integrate and enhance many gender awareness and gender equality factors. In April, the Government directed the Ministry of Education and Training to review and ensure that all textbooks clearly depict and name the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos to affirm Vietnam's sovereignty over these islands.

2016 was considered a turbulent year for education as school violence remained a pressing issue for the education sector in particular and society in general. The situation became even more serious when, under the negative influence of social media, many students, especially girls, easily resorted to physical violence against their peers over trivial conflicts. They also engaged in psychological violence by bullying and posting videos on social media. Incidents where teachers hit or scolded students also outraged public opinion, casting doubt on the ethical integrity of those involved in educational activities. Moreover, school violence became more complex as some parents, unable to control their anger over teachers hitting their children, responded with violent behavior.