A debate on the rise of university leaders with ‘non-traditional backgrounds’ began following an article in a local newspaper citing a report that more than half of colleges in the US now have leaders who are not from academia, but are former businesspeople or officials.

Pham Hiep, an education analyst, said that non-traditional university leaders have been hired and this will be more common in the future because of the commercialization and privatization of tertiary education.

In most universities in Vietnam, leaders are those who were either prestigious lecturers with high academic titles in the past or high ranking state officials. However, more and more high-ranking university leaders have come from business.

Nguyen Thanh Nam, for example, who was CEO of the FPT Group, one of 13 founding members of the largest information technology corporation, is now holding the post of vice rector of FPT University, and founder & rector of Funix University, an online university. 

The university organized by FPT Education had the entrance ceremony for its first 50 students coming from 6 nations including Vietnam, US, Japan, France, Australia, and the Philippines in November 2015.

Dam Bich Thuy, who is fouding president of Fulbright University, was a renowned CEO in the banking sector in the past. 

Thuy served as CEO of Vietnam and Indochina at  ANZ banking group, as CEO of Greater Mekong Region of ANZ. Thuy holds an MBA from Wharton School of Business.

Mid-level management officers also include those who are not from academia. 

In another case, an information technology engineer became the chief secretariat of a university 10 years ago. 

Though he has master’s degree and can satisfy requirements to become a lecturer, he has stayed in the post. 

These trends reflect the growing specialization between administration and teaching/research fields in Vietnam.

In 2005, the government began officially recognizing and legalizing the private university model. This paved the way for the establishment of many universities with capital contributions from private corporations, such as FPT, Nguyen Hoang, Tan Tao, Thanh Thanh Cong and Vingroup.

The restructuring process at state-owned schools has also been a factor. As financial support from the state budget is getting smaller, the schools have to seek different sources of income to maintain their operation. 

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