Two-thirds of universities and colleges had started making changes to meet the Government's tertiary education reform target by 2012, Tran Quang Quy, Deputy Minister of Education and Training told an online conference on May 17.

The HCM City University of Technical Education, for example, will reduce the number of credits for four-year courses to 140-150 from the current 185.

Associate Professor Dr Thai Ba Can, the university rector, said the credit point reduction would bring the university in line with international practices.

Over the next three years, the university would adopt policies to attract Ph.Ds and Overseas Vietnamese scientists and visiting professors from famous foreign universities, Can said.

The university's lecturers and management staff would be able to attend training programmes in Vietnam and abroad, he said.

Can said the university also aimed to improve its laboratories, libraries, and other facilities over the next three years.

Many universities and colleges throughout the country have set up standing boards responsible for drafting reforms in management, educational training and strategies for development until 2015.

Moreover, they have set up and announced output standards for students on their websites.

Students and experts have been invited to many seminars and workshops for their input on tertiary education reform by 2012.

Many commented on inefficient State spending on education, lowering tuition fees, poor and outdated facilities, a shortage of teaching curricula and lecturers and low salaries.

They said that the State should develop better investment policies, issue new tuition fees and set higher salaries for lecturers to give them better security and help them focus on teaching and research.

Moreover, the ministry should tighten up enrolment quotas, implement better monitoring of quotas and impose tougher punishments if quotas aren't followed.

Students at the seminars have called on universities and colleges to build more student dormitories, so they can be more secure and focus on learning.

According to Quy, the ministry has been co-operating with the Ministry of Construction, and the People's Committees of Hanoi and HCM City , where there are large numbers of students from provinces, to implement dormitory construction projects to house nearly 200,000 students by 2011 and ensure 60 per cent of students have accommodations by 2015.

Additionally, they have made a plan to build a network of universities and colleges for Hanoi and HCM City and areas around both cities by 2010, he said.

At the conference, the ministry also asked universities and colleges to boost their teaching curricula by 2012, Quy added./.