University merger: Must sacrifice personal interests, accept pain once

(Dan Tri) - Prof. Dr. Hoang Minh Son - former Deputy Minister of Education and Training, Director of Hanoi National University - commented that the arrangement of universities will reduce many leadership positions, some people will have to sacrifice personal interests.

Resolution 71 of the Politburo on breakthroughs in education and training development sets out the task of modernizing and upgrading higher education, creating breakthroughs in developing highly qualified human resources and talents, and leading research and innovation.

In which, arranging, restructuring and merging higher education institutions is one of the key solutions.

At the 2025 Higher Education Conference, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son affirmed that this major restructuring of educational institutions is an order.

This is the opportunity, the time, the moment for higher education to make a breakthrough. "If we do not seize the opportunity, seize the power, it means we are at fault," the head of the education sector emphasized.

Before the revolution in university arrangement and merger, Dan Tri Newspaper organized a series of articles with the theme: "The great arrangement of universities: A strategic turning point for breakthrough development".

The series of articles is a panoramic picture of the orientation of arranging, restructuring and merging universities in Vietnam, in which leading experts will participate in debating and clarifying breakthrough development opportunities for higher education and challenges that need to be jointly resolved so that the higher education revolution can reach its destination in accordance with the spirit of Resolution 71.

The issue of rearranging higher education institutions was actually raised in February this year, in Decision 452 of the Prime Minister on approving the planning of the network of higher education and pedagogical institutions for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision to 2050.

Six months later, Resolution 71 of the Politburo was issued, making the issue of university arrangement an urgent task. It was a drumbeat of command, it must be implemented, it cannot be delayed.

According to Prof. Dr. Hoang Minh Son - former Deputy Minister of Education and Training, Director of Hanoi National University, this university reorganization is an opportunity and a mission. Because many schools in the current education system are fragmented in terms of scale, profession and facilities, without reorganization, quality cannot be improved.

In addition, Resolution 71 dramatically increased investment in education. The problem is where to invest and how to invest to achieve the highest efficiency. Solving this problem must start from optimizing the system, not spreading investment.

“It is necessary to arrange and optimize the system. This is something that must be done. Only then will the investment gain the trust of society and meet expectations,” the former Deputy Minister of Education and Training affirmed.

Strong schools must support weak schools, weak schools must strive to be better.

Sharing the same view with many experts, Professor Hoang Minh Son said that the arrangement of universities needs to carefully consider the schools being merged together, while optimizing resources, both in terms of staff, technology and facilities.

In particular, the former Deputy Minister of Education and Training emphasized the need to consider the harmony of many aspects: from training professions to training quality and training reputation. Because the ultimate goal of arrangement and merger is not only to reduce the number but also to improve the efficiency of investment in using state resources, helping educational institutions operate better than before.

Prof. Dr. Hoang Minh Son - former Deputy Minister of Education and Training, Director of Hanoi National University (Photo: Nguyen Manh).

“Currently, some schools have very small professional scales, very few majors and very poor competitiveness in the market. When they are arranged into multi-disciplinary universities, the competitiveness of the schools will be better.

Initially, the merged schools may have difficulty in managing human resources, culture, quality management, personnel, finance, etc. But in the end, the greatest benefit is to create a combined strength and efficiency in the operations of the entire university education system," said Prof. Dr. Hoang Minh Son.

Regarding the personnel issue after the merger, Prof. Dr. Hoang Minh Son said that leadership positions will certainly be significantly reduced and some people will have to sacrifice personal interests. Those personal sacrifices are all for the common goal, for overall strength. The former Deputy Minister emphasized that "there is no other way, it must be done".

“Each higher education institution must also look beyond its own interests, for the sake of the whole. Strong schools must support weaker schools a little bit, and weaker schools must strive to be better. If a school is very weak and does not operate effectively, it must definitely be reorganized and reviewed.

This is not the right of an individual or a group of schools, but the right of the whole system. Looking at the whole picture and for the whole picture, that is the mission of the schools in this reorganization", affirmed Prof. Dr. Hoang Minh Son.

Prof. Dr. Hoang Minh Son said that the arrangement will help higher education institutions grow, creating opportunities to attract talent as the goal set out in Resolution 71, by 2030 attracting 2,000 excellent lecturers from abroad to return to Vietnam.

Currently, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Hanoi National University and Ho Chi Minh City National University have all announced the number of lecturers they will attract from abroad.

“These solutions aim to internationalize and modernize education in a focused way, focusing on creating locomotives (high-class universities) to lead the system instead of spreading it out,” Mr. Hoang Minh Son shared.

Accept the pain once and for all

Mr. Pham Thai Son, Director of Admissions at Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade, stated his opinion: In the story of university mergers, we must accept "the pain once and for all".

According to Mr. Pham Thai Son, for a long time, investment resources for public university education have been divided too small, leading to difficulty in improving quality and students being disadvantaged.

Arrangement is an urgent task to change the operating model, not at all mechanically combining and "pressing" the strong field down.

Mr. Pham Thai Son, Director of Admissions, Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade (Photo: Provided by the character).

This expert mentioned the concept of “active bankruptcy”. Accordingly, restructuring takes place selectively, daring to “kill” schools that are weak in enrollment, staff, and scientific research, and that can no longer fulfill their social responsibilities and missions. At the same time, they gather necessary resources to focus on development in large and strong higher education institutions.

Only then can we achieve the major goals in higher education regarding rankings, staff development, scientific research, etc. set out in Resolution 71.

Mr. Pham Thai Son compared the merger of universities to the image of cleaning a garden. Rotten trees must be cut down, small trees with potential must be grafted onto larger trees to grow together. Trees that block the light must be pruned to create space for other trees to grow evenly, and the whole garden will be healthy.

From a challenging perspective, according to Mr. Pham Thai Son, the dissolution and rearrangement of universities will pose three major issues that need to be resolved: One is how to arrange study places for students at dissolved and merged schools; two is whether there is a risk of creating an “educational desert” in remote areas; three is what policy will support lecturers if they cannot “move” to another school?

MSc. Pham Thai Son also predicted difficulties and challenges when merging faculty, staff and students of different schools, and inevitable differences in organizational culture, working processes and teaching quality.

In addition, another risk is that it may lose the uniqueness of the training programs that schools have built and left their mark on.

These challenges require solutions and scenarios for integrating organizational culture and unifying issued regulations and rules.

“If our school merges with other schools, especially schools in the Central or Northern regions, we will have to change the management mechanism between schools to build a collective culture. Otherwise, it can cause discomfort and make it very difficult to work,” said Mr. Pham Thai Son.

Schools with low input and easy output must re-evaluate their quality.

Prof. Dr. Chu Duc Trinh, Principal of the University of Technology (Hanoi National University) affirmed: This arrangement is an opportunity for small schools to change their quality. Schools with low input and easy output must re-evaluate whether their training is substantial or not, and whether the students from these schools meet job demands after graduation.

“This is not a new issue. In previous meetings with the Ministry of Education and Training, we have repeatedly suggested that schools must solve the problem of improving quality, and university admissions must have a strong impact on the output standards of high schools.

If we do not closely link the needs of university admissions with the output of high school, it will be extremely dangerous, because it will erode the quality of high school.

If everything is too easy, there will be no more effort, the general quality of the domestic labor market will not be high, affecting the entire labor system, industry, and social system behind, creating hundreds of years of consequences for the country," said Professor Chu Duc Trinh.

According to him, this university reorganization is urgent and must be done. To improve the quality of university education, the important solution is to re-plan universities. Each school must rebuild its training program well, linked to output standards, build a new culture of learning and research, and apply digital technology in administration...

Prof. Dr. Chu Duc Trinh, Principal of University of Technology, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (Photo: Provided by the character).

“In the upcoming reorganization, in the short term, many units may not like it, but in the long term, it is for the common benefit. When a small unit merges with a large unit, they must integrate with the management rules of the large unit and must renew themselves.

The lower the schools are, the more they have to transform themselves in terms of quality and management in this period to be successful," said Professor Chu Duc Trinh.

Mr. Chu Duc Trinh also cited: “Without Hanoi National University, there would be no University of Technology as it is today. Therefore, I think this is a mission set by history and needs to be carried out.”

Part 1: University arrangement is an order and strategy for breakthrough

Part 2: University arrangements must ensure no interruption in students' studies

Part 3: University mergers: Ending the consequences of "hot" development, opportunities for private schools

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/sap-nhap-dai-hoc-phai-hy-sinh-loi-ich-ca-nhan-chap-nhan-dau-mot-lan-20250925215942679.htm