Hanoi (VNA) – Many legislators havevoiced their support for university autonomy while talking to the press on thesidelines of the sixth session of the 14th National Assembly.

On November 6, the parliament discussed some ofthe debatable issues of the draft law on revising and supplementing somearticles of the Law on Higher Education.

Deputy Hoang Van Cuong of Hanoi told the mediathat the draft stipulates that the governance responsibility of universities aretaken on by the schools themselves, which he said is one of the “biggestsuccesses” in help with the promotion of university autonomy.

Good autonomy will help develop a substantiveuniversity system which will no longer depend on the State budget to operate,he said.

Ho Thanh Binh, a lawmaker representing An Giangprovince, said that the regulations on university autonomy in the draft lawwill create chances for tertiary establishments to make breakthroughs. This isan inevitable trend that universities around the world have followed for years,and as such domestic universities should keep up with this trend to improvetheir competitiveness.

The State should help schools build theirautonomous capacity, he said, adding that competition is one of the most basicdriving forces for development. Although difficulties may arise in the initialstage, universities still support plans for autonomy, which will help thembuild up their capacity.

Regarding solutions for the schools to graduallybecome more autonomous, some deputies said the most important issue foruniversity autonomy is financial autonomy as it is the basis for universitiesto design their training modules and specify the number of students to berecruited, thereby helping to improve training quality.

Deputy Hoang Van Cuong of Hanoi said autonomydoesn’t mean the State does not invest in the training activities of autonomousuniversities. Instead, it keeps financial funding but not in the form ofcomplete subsidies as in the past. The State will no longer give the schoolsmoney to pay lecturers and for operating costs.

For example, for sectors that are high in labourdemand but in which learners are unwilling to pick up studies in, the Statewill pay universities to open courses and these schools will use that money forrecruitment and training, Cuong noted.

Meanwhile, Luu Binh Nhuong, a legislator of BenTre province, said the draft law needs to clearly stipulate what the Stateshall manage and what universities shall independently control.

He said State universities are established bythe State to provide tertiary educational services for society, so the Statestill has some responsibility for these tertiary establishments and can onlygrant partial autonomy to them. Their activities must not be separate from theeducational targets set by the State. –VNA