WB funds 155 mln USD to support Vietnam’s autonomous higher education hinh anh 1Vietnamese students (Illustrative image. Source: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved a credit package worth 155 million USD to strengthen the research, teaching and institutional capacity of three autonomous universities and improve the management of Vietnam’s higher education system.

More than 150,000 students and 3,900 lecturers from the Vietnam's National University of Agriculture, Hanoi University of Science and Technology and Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry will benefit from the funding.

Some 600,000 students and 27,000 lecturers from other higher education institutions will also broaden their learning resources by gaining access to a digital library at National Economics University. 

“Vietnam's gains in higher education are evident in the numbers: 17 times more students enrolled since 1991”, says Ousmane Dione, the World Bank Country Director for Vietnam.

However, Vietnam needs stronger growth in labour productivity and further significant shifts of the workforce to more productive sectors, he added.

The project will support the financing of new facilities and equipment for teaching and research, in addition to the strengthening management systems. 

Science and technology universities and research-oriented institutions will benefit, so that lessons can be generalised to inform policies on autonomy and quality assurance for the universities

Additional objectives of the project include support for the strengthening of the key components of higher education - such as the national accreditation system - as well as efforts to share the lessons learned by the beneficiary universities. 

The project will also support policy analysis for sustainable financing and autonomy and the development of an information management system and a shared e-library system.-VNA
VNA