Private universities in Vietnam are facing multiple challenges on its development path when competition becomes ever-harsher. While public institutions are expanding steadily, regulations and policies imposed on private universities are getting increasingly complicated.

Currently, 88 of 436 universities and colleges in Vietnam are private, which accounts for 20 per cent. After 20 years of development, the system of private universities in Vietnam now trains around 12 per cent of students nationwide. With such a low proportion – the contribution of private universities in higher education in Vietnam is still modest.

Because of insufficient regulations on the establishment and operation of private universities, people lose interest in investing in private universities. Since the beginning of this year, more investors have been selling their universities. If policies for private universities are not amended soon, Vietnam will see the closure of more and more private universities by 2020.
Major problems of policies for private universities include an unclear mechanism of financial management and profit sharing which cause investors and share-holders gradually lose their ownership of the universities; and a loose quality assurance and control from the government.

Having said that, there are still a number of private universities who are doing successfully thanks to a clear ownership and transparent financial sources and concentration on both marketing and quality. For them, most difficulties lie in a fierce competition to recruit students in the context that the main source of students still relies on the redundant supply for public universities and colleges.

Hot debates on private universities over the past weeks also touched the matter of ‘for profit” or ‘not for profit” purposes of private univertisites. Currently the legislative framework for developing private universities on a non-profit basis in Vietnam is insufficient. However, according to Vietnamese education experts, the biggest difficulties for this kind of universities to operate in Vietnam is finding investors who meet two conditions: having the financial resources and the dedication to build an university for a real “not for profit” purpose. Because in Vietnam, few people want to invest in a university as a way of donation, but most consider the investment as an opportunity to make profits.

Read further on analysis from Vietnamese education experts on the above matters in the article “Experts discuss role of private universities” in Vietnam News.

And “Fierce competition among private universities” in The Saigon Times Weekly.

For further enquiries about private universities in Vietnam, please contact Lien Ta at lien.ta@britishcouncil.org.vn