Below is a selection of five highlights of Vietnamese education in 2018.

1. Revisions to Law on Higher Education approved

The National Assembly approves revisions to the Law on Higher Education.

Amendments to the Law on Higher Education were approved at the 6th plenary meeting of the 14th National Assembly, with new provisions aiming to promote tertiary education, such as increasing the autonomy of institutions and establishing equality between public and private institutions. The updated law comes into effect from July 1, 2019.

2. Vietnam’s education system recognised internationally

According to a World Bank report, the East Asia and Pacific region has 7 of the top 10 performing education systems in the world, with schools in Vietnam showing significant progress. It added that student performance isn’t necessarily tied to a country’s income level, citing Vietnam as an example as by age 10 the average Vietnamese student outperforms all but the top students in India, Peru and Ethiopia.

3. Vietnamese universities make it to QS rankings for the first time

Vietnam’s two national universities (VNU) in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have been included in the QS rankings of 1,000 top universities for the first time. In addition, seven Vietnamese universities appear among the 500 top universities in Asia, namely VNU-Hanoi, VNU-Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Ton Duc Thang University, Can Tho University, Hue University and Da Nang University.

4. Vietnamese students score high performance at science contests

Vietnamese students at the International Mathematics Olympiad

Vietnamese students bagged 13 gold, 14 silver and 11 bronze medals at international and regional Olympiads in 2018. Projects by Vietnamese students were also honoured at Intel ISEF 2018 in the US, while Vietnamese students won four golds and two silvers at the International Junior Science Olympiad.

5. Ho Chi Minh City reduces tuition fees for secondary students

The People’s Council of Ho Chi Minh City approved a proposal to reduce the tuition fees for lower secondary school students from VND100,000 to VND60,000 a month in 19 urban districts and from VND85,000 to VND30,000 a month in five rural districts. The new policy comes into force from January 1, 2019.

Nhan Dan