Associate Professor Dr. Vu Hai Quan, Director of Vietnam National University – HCMC was speaking at a working session of the HCMC delegation of National Assembly (NA) deputies on the implementation of the socio-economic development and state budget plans for 2023 and the first four months of 2024, the thrift practice and anti-wastefulness work, and the outcomes of the implementation of the national strategy on gender equality in 2023 on May 23.
According to Mr. Quan, the state budget allocation for Vietnam National University – HCMC reaches hundreds of billion dong every year, even trillion in some years. However, the funds could not be disbursed due to mechanism obstacles. In addition, universities’ reliance on tuition fees without investment cannot sustainably develop, he said.
The Director of Vietnam National University – HCMC proposed the Government promptly issue solutions to support the education sector in terms of investment, particularly in public investment.
According to the Sai Gon Giai Phong (SGGP) Newspaper, the Government issued Decree No. 97/ND-CP amending and supplementing some articles of Decree No. 81/2021/ND-CP dated August 27, 2021, on mechanism for tuition fee collection and management at educational institutions under the national education system and policies on tuition fee exemptions, reductions, and support for learning costs; and service prices in the education sector, including adjustments to the tuition fees at public universities.
According to Decree 97, educational institutions maintain the stable tuition fees of the 2023-2024 academic year calendar equal to the tuition fees of the academic year 2021-2022 and delay the implementation of the school fee increase schedule at public universities and vocational educational units outlined in Decree 81 by one year to alleviate the financial burden on parents. The tuition fees for the academic year 2023-2024 see an increase from VND300,000 (US$11.8) to VND10.2 million (US$400) per year compared to the 2022-2023 academic calendar, but it is lower than the schedule specified in Decree 81.
The maximum tuition fees at the public autonomous universities that are members of the Vietnam National University – HCMC, including the HCMC University of Finance-Marketing, the HCMC University of Technology and Education, the HCMC University of Medicine and Pharmacy are two times of the tuition fees at public non-autonomous universities.
