Many universities violate the law when they open majors autonomously.

The Inspectorate of the Ministry of Education and Training has just concluded its inspection of universities on autonomy in opening training majors.

The permanent lecturers are not guaranteed, majors are opened against regulations, and social needs are not fully surveyed, leading to the school not being able to enroll students and having to close the major.

Not yet guaranteed conditions for opening industry

Regarding Hoa Sen University, the Inspectorate of the Ministry of Education and Training concluded that at the time of opening the major, the 12 university-level majors that the university autonomously opened had lecturers in charge of organizing and implementing the training program without majors suitable for the majors planned to be opened.

Thu Dau Mot University (Binh Duong) also had similar violations regarding autonomy in opening majors. The school stopped enrolling students in 11 majors from 2022 and 2 majors from 2023.

In which, when opening the major, the school did not fully survey social needs, leading to no enrollment or very low enrollment since opening the major.

At the time of opening the major, 7/16 university-level majors that the autonomous school opened had lecturers in charge of organizing and implementing the training program that did not have a major suitable for the major planned to be opened.

At the time of opening the major, Hong Bang International University had 7/9 autonomous university-level majors with lecturers in charge of organizing and implementing the training program without majors suitable for the majors planned to be opened.

Meanwhile, the Ministry Inspectorate said that the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (Ho Chi Minh City National University)'s autonomy in opening majors when it did not meet the autonomy requirements was not in accordance with regulations.

The ministry inspectors assigned responsibility for these violations to the school's board of directors and Ho Chi Minh City National University.

In particular, by September 9, 2022, while the school has not yet met the conditions for autonomy according to the provisions of the Law on Higher Education, based on the document assigned by Ho Chi Minh City National University, the school issued a decision to open a major for each specific major.

The principal signed the decision to open three undergraduate majors, two master's majors and one doctoral major using the school's seal, which is not in accordance with regulations.

At the time the school issued the decision to open a master's degree program in Korean Studies, the school's undergraduate program in Korean Studies had not yet been recognized as meeting accreditation standards.

Ho Chi Minh City National University violated the law when it decided to assign member schools to open majors when they did not meet the conditions for autonomy.

The Agricultural Academy has a full-time faculty of law, but has not yet ensured that it has at least three PhDs in the field of law.

Survey one thing, reality another

In addition to shortcomings and violations of the law and teaching staff when schools autonomously open majors, the Ministry Inspectorate also pointed out that the survey of human resource needs of the industry when schools open majors has not been fully implemented.

This leads to schools opening majors but having to stop enrolling students, schools not being able to enroll students or enrolling students with very low numbers since opening majors.

Of which, Hoa Sen University will not organize enrollment or cannot enroll 6 majors from 2021 - 2022, Japanese Studies from the 2022 - 2023 school year and temporarily suspend enrollment for 4 majors.

The cause of this situation, according to the Ministry Inspectorate, is that when opening a major, the school did not conduct a complete survey of social needs, leading to no enrollment or very low enrollment since opening the major.

In 2023 alone, the university reported that the ministry proposed to temporarily suspend enrollment in the following majors: film, American studies, real estate, insurance, Japanese studies, and international law.

In which, the international law major was opened by Hoa Sen University in 2021, but in February 2023, an official dispatch was sent to the Ministry of Education and Training to temporarily suspend enrollment.

In the project to open an international law major in 2021, this school conducted surveys of many different subjects and held seminars. The results of these surveys and seminars showed that the demand for learners and human resources was very high. Opening an international law major is necessary because this is a real demand in the labor market.

Hong Bang International University also temporarily suspended enrollment in 7 majors for the same reason. The school sent a document to the Ministry of Education and Training to suspend enrollment in the following majors: physical education, fashion design, industrial management, construction engineering, Chinese studies, Korean studies, and Japanese studies.

Also due to the reason of incomplete survey of social needs when opening majors, in just two years 2022 and 2023, Thu Dau Mot University temporarily stopped enrolling up to 13 majors. Of which, in 2022, enrollment was temporarily suspended for 11 majors: history, literature, cultural studies, economic mathematics, political science, geography, international studies, applied biology, physics, quality assurance and food safety, urban management. The two majors that temporarily stopped enrolling in 2023 were cultural management and public management.

Of the 13 majors that have stopped enrolling, 4 majors no longer have students enrolled.

It is worth mentioning that many majors that have suspended enrollment will only be opened in 2020-2022. Of which, the public management major will open in 2022. In the application to open the major in 2022, the school surveyed 46 companies about recruitment needs in the next 4 years and confirmed that there is recruitment demand.

In another argument, the school believes that human resources in the field of public management are lacking in Binh Duong province. In the application for opening a major, there is no survey on the demand for studying public management for students.