Keep or abolish the member university council?

Many experts expressed concern that if the university councils at member universities of the National University and regional universities were abolished, it could affect the autonomy of these universities.

Associate Professor Dr. Phan Thanh Binh, former Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Education , noted a number of issues that need to be discussed during the council meeting of the University of Technology (Ho Chi Minh City National University) - Photo: NHU QUYNH

According to the second draft of the Law on Higher Education (amended), "The organizational structure of a higher education institution includes: University Council (including University Council, University Council, Academy Council); higher education institutions under the Ministry of National Defense, Ministry of Public Security and member universities of National Universities and regional universities do not organize a university council".

Many experts expressed concern that if the university councils at member universities of the National University and regional universities were abolished, it could affect the autonomy of these universities.

The draft revised Law on University Education needs to add a chapter to the law on national universities, while retaining the school council model at member schools of national universities to ensure effective governance.

Associate Professor, Dr. Phan Thanh Binh

Full autonomy is needed.

According to Associate Professor Dr. Le Tuan Loc - Chairman of the University Council of the University of Economics and Law (Ho Chi Minh City National University), in the process of university autonomy, the institution of the university council is extremely important.

Meanwhile, the draft Law on University Education (amended), which states that "member universities of National Universities and regional universities do not organize university councils", is not suitable to reality and needs to be reviewed and adjusted to be consistent with the principles of university autonomy and university governance institutions.

Firstly, member universities of the National University or Regional University are independent legal entities, operating similarly to a complete university. Each university offers multi-disciplinary and multi-field training and is quite large in scale.

Therefore, if there is no school council organization in these units, the autonomy and internal governance institutions of the school will be limited. Second, the model of national university and regional university has the specificity of being a combination of universities in a system. The concept of university in current universities includes single-disciplinary schools.

With this characteristic, there needs to be a separate operating mechanism, in which national universities and regional universities take on the role of regulation, general support orientation, and member universities need to be given full autonomy, in which the organization of a school council is necessary and key to ensuring the effectiveness of school governance.

"In reality, at Ho Chi Minh City National University, there are two levels: the national university council and the school council, but the coordination is not overlapping, creating great efficiency. The national university decides on general coordination and management issues in the system, while the member schools decide on issues related to the school's autonomy.

Therefore, it is recommended to allow the organization of university councils at member universities of national universities and regional universities to ensure real autonomy, increase flexibility and administrative efficiency, in line with the trend of international integration. It is necessary to summarize and objectively evaluate the current model, as a basis for changes, avoiding subjective decisions," Mr. Loc recommended.

Loss of strategic autonomy

Associate Professor Dr. Tran Thien Phuc, Vice Rector of the University of Technology (Ho Chi Minh City National University), expressed concern that the two-level university council model would no longer have the autonomy and flexibility of member universities. Meanwhile, the National University Council could not make timely decisions for member units.

"Ho Chi Minh City National University has eight member universities, each with tens of thousands of students. Currently, the university council of each member university has more than 20 people, deciding many important issues of the university (personnel, finance, investment policies...).

Meanwhile, the National University Council has 21 members. If we remove the councils of member universities, will the National University Council, which meets once every three months, be able to finish its work?", Mr. Phuc wondered.

Associate Professor Dr. Le Thi Ngoc Diep - Chairwoman of the University Council of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (Ho Chi Minh City National University) - also said that eliminating the institution of university council governance means that autonomy and accountability at member universities of the National University and regional universities will no longer exist.

"Thus, the autonomy of member universities through the university council will be concentrated at the national or regional university level and member universities will lose their strategic autonomy. This centralized governance model is also not popular in the strong autonomous multi-member university system in the world.

I recommend a thorough review to see the legal status of member schools and the university councils of member universities," said Ms. Diep.

Associate Professor Dr. Le Tuan Loc, Chairman of the University Council of the University of Economics and Law (Ho Chi Minh City National University), spoke at a discussion to gather opinions on the policy of building the Law on University Education (amended) in Ho Chi Minh City - Photo: CONG DINH

Need to clarify the relationship

Regarding the proposal not to include the content of "not establishing school councils at member universities" in this draft law, Ho Chi Minh City National University said that in terms of policy and orientation, the Party still requires having school councils in university educational institutions.

Maintaining the university council system in the organizational structure of member universities ensures that member universities are academically autonomous higher education institutions, developing a distinct organizational culture, in accordance with the principles of the university system model in the world.

Ho Chi Minh City National University proposed to amend and supplement a number of issues to overcome the shortcomings and inadequacies in current practice: it is necessary to clearly define the tasks, powers, establishment procedures and operations of the national university council, regional university council and university council.

According to the spirit of the current Law on Higher Education, the national university council, regional university council and university council are recognized equally. It is necessary to clarify the relationship between the national university council or regional university council and the council of member universities; ensure that the university council is a governance institution that helps ensure the principles of autonomy - responsibility - supervision in member universities; and the university council plays a decisive role in systemic decisions, especially when the national university or regional university is the unit that carries out national strategic tasks, regional development tasks, for example, planning system-level strategies; coordinating, regulating and sharing common resources...

Associate Professor Dr. Do Trung Hai, principal of the University of Industrial Technology (Thai Nguyen University), commented that the role of this university council with Thai Nguyen University is very good, the cooperation between the university council and the board of directors is also very good. Mr. Hai proposed to keep the university council of the member university of the regional university as it is now.

Why propose to abolish the council of member universities?

According to Deputy Minister of Education and Training Hoang Minh Son, when summarizing the implementation of the Law on University Education, the two-level school council model at national universities and regional universities is one of many problems and shortcomings.

The drafting committee's proposal to remove the school council at member universities also comes from the opinions of regional universities, national universities and the National Assembly's supervisory delegation.

"There are three options: one is to keep it as is, two is to increase the power of the university, three is to reduce the power of member universities. After analysis and consideration, the drafting committee proposed to remove the university councils at member universities.

We will continue to listen to this opinion to analyze further and ask for opinions from all parties. If we leave it as it is now, it will be very easy but it will not solve the existing problems," said Mr. Son.

Need to look at the whole picture

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Vu Quoc Huy, principal of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy (Hue University), said that in fact, the school's board has always coordinated very closely with the Hue University board.

The current school board, together with the comprehensive leadership of the school's Party Committee, plays a good role in managing a structure that both trains theory and practices in medical examination and treatment for people.

He suggested that there should be a comprehensive view of the regional university member councils and that what has been done well should not be erased.

TRAN NGOC QUY

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bo-hay-giu-hoi-dong-truong-dai-hoc-thanh-vien-20250702223452925.htm