Ranking of Vietnam universities by specialists stirs controversy

The most reputable economics schools ranked below average on a list of 49 schools surveyed by a group of six specialists from Vietnamese and foreign institutions.



The ranking, announced on September 6, showed that some young schools, which are less prestigious in Vietnamese eyes, were in a high position, while the older schools which set high requirements on incoming students, were ranked below average, or at the bottom of the list.

Ton Duc Thang University ranks second and Duy Tan University ninth, while Hanoi Economics University ranks 30th, the Finance Academy 40th and Banking Academy 47th.

The specialists assessed schools based on three criteria: scientific research, education quality, and infrastructure and management, with the first two accounting for 80 percent of the scores.

Hanoi National University is in the first position. Da Nang University ranks fourth and HCMC National University ranks fifth.

The country’s leading medical schools in HCMC and Hanoi are in the 18th and 20th positions, though they are well known as schools which select only the best students.

According to Le Truong Tung, president of FPT University, a good school must have good training, research and internationalization, and a high employment rate of graduates.

He commented that the surveyors mostly considered the first two criteria, or ‘classic criteria’, while neglecting the other criteria, which are important in the globalization era.

He also said it is difficult to believe that Hue University ranks third on the list, while one of its member schools – the pedagogical school – set surprisingly low required exam scores in the 2017 enrollment season.

Ta Hai Tung from the Hanoi University of Science & Technology has doubts about the sources of materials the specialists used to analyse the ranking.

He cannot understand why his school ranks 25th in terms of facilities and management, as “everyone could see that the campus, libraries and the items serving training in the school are much better than that the schools in high positions”.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Huu Duc, deputy director of the Hanoi National University, pointed out three shortcomings. First, there are no opinions from independent scientists. Foreign ranking organizations would appreciate opinions from scientists. For example, to assess a school with physics training, they would contact physicists to learn if the school has any famous professors or PhDs in the field.

Second, as there are multidisciplinary and single-training major schools, it is necessary to set up criteria for different groups of schools. Third, there are no opinions from employers.

Mai Thanh / vietnamnet