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Students are working at the Stem Cell Institute of the University of Natural Sciences under the Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City (Photo: SGGP) |
Many higher education institutions in Vietnam have been rated in the continental and world rankings conducted by prestigious organizations.
Most recently, the Vietnam University Rankings (VNUR - https://vnur.vn/) announced 100/237 ranked higher education institutions, having attracted much attention.
According to Director of the National University of Ho Chi Minh City’s center for testing and evaluation of training quality Nguyen Quoc Chinh, the university rankings assess three important missions of a university including training, research and engagement in community service. Data for ranking are collected from many different reliable sources; they might be provided by higher education institutions, extracted from third parties (especially data on scientific research), extracted from national data or the website of the higher education institution, through the opinions of stakeholders.
Education experts said that the presence of university rankings is an inevitable trend when many countries invest a lot in key projects to put their higher education institutions in the top position of global rankings.
For example, Russia has the Project 5-100 aiming to bring its top 5 universities into the list of 100 best universities in the world. Elsewhere in the globe, Germany and France invested millions of EUR to attract world elites to study in the two countries in order to break into the global rankings. China established C9 - equivalent to the Ivy League of the US - including the country's top universities to get investment resources. Meanwhile, Korea, Japan, Singapore, and Malaysia are countries with clear strategies for promoting universities to participate and improve their position in the rankings.
Head of the Van Lang University’s Research Group on Scientific Measurement and Research Policy Le Van Ut said that university ranking is inevitable and is of great interest in the world. But Vietnam should give attention to only reputable university ranking systems to avoid falsifying the academic value of universities.
Currently, according to the announcement of IREG Observatory on Academic Ranking and Excellence - an international institutional non-profit association of ranking organizations, universities and other bodies interested in university rankings and academic excellence set up by a group of international experts on world university rankings, there has been nearly 100 rankings for higher education institutions with different levels, including 31 international rankings, 9 regional rankings and 57 national rankings.
After 10 years, dozens of other universities in Vietnam are listed in the rankings of the continent and the world in addition to the two national universities. The rankings of schools have improved continuously in recent years.
In 2017-2018, the Quacquarelli Symonds Education Organization (QS-United Kingdom) announced the results of the 2018 QS Asia rankings for the top 400 universities in Asia. Vietnam has 5 universities including Hanoi-based Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City-based Vietnam National University, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Can Tho University and Hue University.
Hanoi-based Vietnam National University was ranked 139, Ho Chi Minh City-based Vietnam National University 142, Hanoi University of Science and Technology in the group 291-300, Can Tho University in the group 301-350, and Hue University in the group 351-400.
In the QS Asia rankings in 2019, Vietnamese higher education institutions were in the group of 500 leading universities in Asia. As a result of QS Asia rankings in 2020, eight universities in Vietnam were ranked in the top 500 universities out of 13,578 universities and institutes throughout Asia. Especially, according to the results of the ranking of global universities in 2020 by Times Higher Education (UK), Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City is in the top 1,001+. This is the first time that a university in Vietnam has been listed in this ranking.
In 2022, Vietnam's higher education institutions continue to be ranked high and increase their ranks on international prestigious rankings. Moreover, five schools in Vietnam entered into the Time Higher Education Ranking (THE, five higher education institutions in the Best Global Universities Ranking 2022 (Best Global Universities), 10 establishments are in the Webometrics Leaderboard, 11 institutions in the Asian University Rankings (QS Asian University Rankings 2022) and seven institutions in THE Impact Rankings in 2022.
Especially, geoengineering and Petroleum Engineering faculty of the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology is ranked in the top 101-150 of the world's excellent higher education institutions, according to QS World University Rankings by Subject 2021.
