Minister of Education and Training answers the question of who is the head of the university

In the event where the Minister of Education and Training met with cadres, lecturers and staff of the university education sector this afternoon, August 15, both in person and online, the question of who is the head of the university was once again raised. The person who asked this question was Associate Professor Nguyen Ngoc Minh, Head of the Personnel Department of Hanoi Medical University.

On the afternoon of August 15, the Minister of Education and Training met with cadres, lecturers and staff of the university education sector in person and online.

Associate Professor Minh said that Hanoi Medical University is currently autonomous at level 2. In the process of implementing autonomy, the school encountered some difficulties because the content of Decree 99/2019/ND-CP of the Government (detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Amendments and Supplements to a number of articles of the Law on University Education) did not cover all situations that universities encountered in reality.

"A simple example like this, who is the head of the university? We discussed a lot with each other, even sent documents to the Ministry of Home Affairs , but no one answered us, so we could determine specifically. Because there were meetings, there were documents stating who was the head," Associate Professor Minh said.

In response to Associate Professor Minh’s concerns, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son said that it is true that the Ministry of Home Affairs has not yet issued an official document answering this question. However, in last year’s university autonomy conference, he had explained it quite thoroughly.

Minister Nguyen Kim Son said: "If we talk about an individual responsible before the law, that individual is none other than the principal. When we need to call a university to work, we will call the principal, that is natural. The principal is responsible before the law, is the person who keeps the seal and is in charge of the account."

Regarding the position of the school board chairman, Minister Kim Son explained: "The school board is the highest authority organization, the chairman is a member who runs the board. The power of the board is collective power, the chairman is a vote in that collective mechanism. But the board is the organization with the highest authority, deciding to choose the principal. Once selected, recognized by the superior agency, then the principal, in terms of personal responsibility, is the highest before the law, for all activities of the school. The way the school board chairman and the principal sign documents is different. The principal signs as the principal; the school board chairman signs on behalf of the school board."

According to Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son, if considered from a personal perspective, the principal is the head of the university.

Mr. Nguyen Kim Son said that in fact, in recent times, since the establishment of the school council mechanism in addition to the board of directors, in some schools there has been a phenomenon of the two sides "looking at each other", even having conflicts, if not wanting to use a word stronger than the word conflict.

It is important that the council and the board of directors play their roles properly. Each side has a function and a task. The council resolves work through resolutions. The council collectively operates periodically, handling work submitted by the board of directors. The role of the school council and the board of directors is similar to that of the People's Council and People's Committee at all levels. If this is clearly understood, each person will do their own work.

Minister Nguyen Kim Son added: "Saying so does not mean that the chairman of the university council has a small role. The chairman of the university council is the person who organizes the council to make decisions and give extremely important opinions and choices. But in terms of personal decisions, he must be responsible before the law. Whoever holds the seal and whoever is in charge of the account is the person with the highest responsibility in a university."

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