Private medical universities: Need to review and evaluate objectively

Whether public or private, health training must meet strict accreditation standards to create a quality medical team, according to Associate Professor, Dr. Luong Minh Cu.

Health students at Cuu Long University in a class - Photo: NT

The health sector is very special because it is directly related to human life. Not only private schools but also public schools, training in the health sector always sets very high requirements for professional knowledge, practical skills and professional ethics.

Associate Professor Dr. Luong Minh Cu, principal of Cuu Long University, affirmed this in an interview with Tuoi Tre about the school's training activities, especially in the health sector.

Great demand for human resources

* Cuu Long University has just opened a medical major and some health majors. These are special majors, requiring many strict conditions. Is the school opening this group of majors to diversify the professions, to open "hot" majors to attract candidates?

- According to the Ministry of Health , Vietnam is still facing a shortage of medical human resources, especially at the grassroots level and in remote areas. In the Mekong Delta alone, it is forecasted that by 2030, 33,277 doctors and 57,796 nurses will be needed.

Compared to 2025, the Mekong Delta will have to triple the number of doctors. The fact that Cuu Long University has just opened a medical major and some majors in the health sector stems from the main goal of providing high-quality medical resources to serve society.

Currently, many candidates still favor majors with stable career opportunities and high social value, including health majors. Therefore, the school opening more health majors can contribute to diversifying the choices for candidates, thereby increasing competitiveness in enrollment.

To meet this, the school constantly invests in facilities, highly qualified lecturers, and at the same time strengthens international cooperation in the field of health training.

During the period 2015-2025, the school organized and co-organized 47 scientific conferences with the participation of scientists from many countries in many fields of education, health sciences, economics , science and technology. Many conferences have contributed to enhancing scientific value, affirming the brand and reputation of the school.

* Public opinion has repeatedly raised the issue of the quality of health sector training, including medical training at private universities. What is your assessment of this?

- It is inevitable that public opinion expresses concern about the quality of training in health sectors, including medicine, at private universities. Because this is a special field of study, directly related to human life.

Not only private schools but also public schools. Training in health sectors always places very high demands on professional knowledge, practical skills and professional ethics.

Due to the open mechanism, private schools have not hesitated and have invested heavily in facilities, teaching staff, and international cooperation to improve training quality; closely coordinating with major medical facilities to ensure students have full practice and improve their skills.

With Cuu Long University, we have signed cooperation agreements with major hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City, Vinh Long and provinces in the Mekong Delta region to serve as practice facilities for health students.

Whether it is a public or private school, the control of input and output quality, especially for the health sector, must always be strict and ensure compliance with regulations. The important issue here is the work of training quality assessment and state management.

Regardless of whether it is a public or private school, if it meets strict accreditation standards, has a suitable training program, qualified teaching staff and ensures practice conditions for students, it is completely possible to train quality medical human resources.

Currently, universities are focusing on the quality assessment of training programs. For example, Cuu Long University has achieved the quality assessment of educational institutions and has 19 training programs that have met the accreditation standards, including 3 programs in the health sciences sector.

International students come to study at Cuu Long University - Photo: NT

survival problem

* As the first non-public university in the Mekong Delta, how do you evaluate the development of non-public higher education here in general and the school in particular over the past 25 years?

- Non-public schools such as Cuu Long University are carrying out the mission of providing resources for the region, especially for remote and ethnic minority areas. Tens of thousands of engineers, bachelors, pharmacists, doctors... have served well for the socio-economic development of the region.

Most private schools have an open mechanism. From there, schools can be more flexible in innovating programs, cooperating with businesses, applying new technology, attracting teachers, and cooperating internationally. However, policies, finance, land, and support from the State are still major barriers for private schools.

The Mekong Delta region still has many disadvantaged areas with unsynchronized infrastructure, leading to difficulties in implementing high-quality programs, practice, and research for private universities.

* Private universities must solve the problem of increasing revenue through the number of new students recruited each year and spending on staff development and facilities to ensure quality. How does Cuu Long University balance the problem of student recruitment (revenue) and training quality?

- The issue of balancing enrollment (revenue) and training quality is a matter of survival for private universities such as Cuu Long University. To solve this problem, the school has implemented many synchronous solutions: ensuring revenue through enrollment; expanding training programs to suit fluctuating market demand; diversifying enrollment methods...

In the past five years, the school has spent over 300 billion VND to develop its facilities. Investors have contributed tens of billions of VND/year in additional capital; borrowed from banks with preferential interest rates to build facilities and develop a team of highly qualified lecturers.

The first private university in the Mekong Delta

Cuu Long University was established in 2000, the first private university in the Mekong Delta. When it was first established, the school had 5 faculties, 12 undergraduate training majors with about 1,200 students.

After 25 years of formation and development, the school now has 38 university majors, training over 90 multi-disciplinary majors from economics, engineering, medicine - pharmacy, social sciences - humanities, information technology, languages, high-tech agriculture...

Regarding postgraduate training, the school has 11 master's majors, 3 first-level specialized majors, and 4 doctoral majors. The training scale is over 35,000 students. The teaching staff consists of nearly 1,200 teachers with academic titles and degrees, including over 70 professors, associate professors, 241 doctors, 447 masters, nearly 300 doctors, first-level and second-level specialists...

In the past five years, the school has provided an average of tens of billions of dong each year for lecturers and students to participate in scientific research. The school has cooperated with nearly 200 institutes, universities, associations, businesses... from countries and territories such as Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Canada, Germany, Australia, Cambodia, Laos, India...

In the field of cooperation in sending students for internships, the school has nearly 70 students majoring in nursing, mechanical engineering technology, law, construction engineering technology, agronomy... participating in internships, working and experiencing in Japan and Germany.

Need to review and evaluate objectively

To evaluate the quality of training in health sectors at universities, including private schools, it is necessary to have an objective view, with comparisons and contrasts from many different perspectives.

At the same time, state management agencies also need to tighten inspection, testing, and information transparency so that society has a basis to properly evaluate the training quality at schools, thereby creating peace of mind for learners and society.

Associate Professor, Dr. Luong Minh Cu

LECTURE

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/dai-hoc-tu-dao-tao-y-khoa-can-ra-soat-danh-gia-khach-quan-20251018074457377.htm