VietNamNet Bridge – A 3.5 billion USD contract recently signed between a Malaysian company and the Managing Board for the Northwestern Urban Region of Ho Chi Minh City to build an international university city has sparked the imagination of other foreign investors keen to throw money at education in the country.

Under the deal, Berjaya Land Berhad of Malaysia will build a separate area for tertiary education, an adjacent residential area, a services centre and a park for the future university city on an area of 880 ha.

The international-standard university area will include three universities, a library, a scientific research centre and information technology centre.

Other international groups also gave a strong indication of their interest in Vietnam’s education sector, not content to wait till January 2009, the deadline for the country’s WTO commitment to permit foreign universities to open branches.

Vietnam will open the door wide for educational services related to the fields of natural sciences and technology, business management, economy, accounting, international laws and linguistics under its WTO commitment. The country’s tertiary education is considered potentially for huge foreign investors because almost all of the country’s universities are woefully substandard.

“WTO accession will stimulate Vietnam to speed up educational reform in order to narrow the gap with the rest of the world,” said Prof. Le Ngoc Tra, former Head of Education Research Institute of the Ho Chi Minh City Pedagogy University.

According to Tra, the presence of universities which have capital to burn, modern management methods, and high quality teaching standards will force domestic universities to deliver better services.

The Ministry of Education and Training has for the 2006-07 school-year allowed nine universities to apply advanced curricula in several fields, hoping to improve on an education system severely lacking funding, quality teachers and direction.

The applied curricula are similar in content, training process, methods of assessment and management to those found in internationally recognised institutions.

The ministry will also plead with the Government to give some level of funding for universities to carry out the new programmes.

Three years ago, the Prime Minister approved a plan to develop Vietnamese tertiary education to at least reach regional standards by 2020.

The plan focuses on measures to ensure rampant cheating is done away with, education networks are established and vocational training is expanded.

The plan also supports the opening of tertiary educational establishments by corporations and the merging of educational establishments with scientific research centers in order to harmonise training with scientific research and production.

In addition, cooperation with foreign partners, the selective application of advanced curricula from foreign countries, and methods of training in foreign languages are other priorities.

Joining the efforts of the ministry, Ho Chi Minh City has already invested 113 billion VND to build an international university, which is expected to be completed by 2010.

Vietnam now has 322 universities and colleges, that have a combined roll of more than 1.5 million students.

(Source: VNA)