Vietnam's Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) has proposed an annual increase of 12.5% in tuition at public universities from the 2021-2022 school year, Kinh te & Do thi reported.

The proposal is based on 7.5% economic growth projected by the General Statistics Office for the period 2021-2025, 4-5% inflation projections, and rising average income per capita over the years.

The MoET has proposed an annual increase of 12.5% in tuition at public universities for the 2021-2022 school year. Photo: Kinhtedothi.vn

The ministry said that the tuition rise is based on the current survey on education costs in the 2016-2019 period and the level of quality accreditation at 70 public higher education institutions nationwide.

Research by a National University expert group shows that in order for the autonomous schools to ensure their recurrent spending, their tuition must be 2.5 times the maximum tuition of those school which are not self-financed.

Besides, schools wanting to raise tuition must implement a quality accreditation roadmap corresponding to the progressive rise of tuition.

The ministry estimates that the proposed average increase of 12.5% in tuition is based on the calculation of university training costs by 2025 though it admits that raising tuition will have a certain impact on learners, especially students with difficult circumstances.

However, the draft decree stipulates the terms of tuition support, exemption and reduction for prioritized students, in order to ensure fair access to educational services.

For educatio institutions, the new tuition also provides an incentive for public higher education institutions to move towards financial autonomy and improve quality to meet educational quality accreditation standards.

The new policy also encourages universities to double the tuition if they pass the Vietnamese quality accreditation, or to increase it 2.5 times if they pass domestic inspection and are autonomous in recurrent expenditures and investment. 

Deputy Education Minister Pham Ngoc Thuong was quoted by local media late on November 13 that the ministry has proposed halting the tuition increase by one year due to impacts of Covid-19 and severe floods that have hurt locals' pocket.