Opportunities to develop higher education in Dong Nai province

​(News Portal – Dong Nai) - As an industrial province and an important traffic hub, together with the soon-to-be-completed Long Thanh international airport, Dong Nai needs a lot of high-quality human resources... These opportunities show that the province still has many room for developing higher education.

Dr. Le Anh Duc, Rector of Dong Nai University, spoke at the meeting between Party Central Committee Member, Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Hong Linh and leaders of universities, colleges, and intermediate schools in the province. 

* Struggling to find applicants
According to statistics from the Ministry of Education and Training, each year Dong Nai has more than 30 thousand students graduating from high school, but only about 3 thousand of them choose to study at universities in Dong Nai, the rest choose to study at universities in Ho Chi Minh city.

Clarifying the enrollment situation of universities in the province, Associate Professor-Dr. Pham Van Song, Rector of Mien Dong Innovative Technology University said: "5 universities in Dong Nai can only recruit 3,000 students from the province (equivalent to 10% of total candidates). Meanwhile, there are private universities in Ho Chi Minh City that enroll 13-15 thousand candidates/year. One of the reasons why the enrollment process is not effective is because the schools do not collaborate with each other in counseling and career guidance events. Instead of being competitors, universities should sit down to work and cooperate with each other."

Not only do they cannot attract candidates, universities in the province also face the risk of "brain drain" when lecturers change schools.

According to Dr. Mai Hai Chau, Deputy Director of Viet Nam University of Forestry 2 (in Trang Bom District), the school has 2 lecturers with the title of associate professor who have transferred to other universities in Ho Chi Minh City.

Similarly, Dr. Le Anh Duc, Rector of Dong Nai University said: "Dong Nai University is only about 10km from Thu Duc university village, so many lecturers tend to move to work in Ho Chi Minh City. Faced with the need for high-quality human resources, Dong Nai University hopes to have a capacity of 20,000 students by 2030. To do so, in addition to investing in facilities, the school must have a team of qualified lecturers."

Meanwhile, Dong Nai University currently has a low rate of PhDs and masters. Therefore, school leaders proposed that the province has appropriate policies to train, support, and attract lecturers. 

Each year, Dong Nai has about 30,000 students graduating from high school, but only about 3,000 of them choose to study at universities in the province. 

* Room for development

Currently, there are 6 higher education institutions in the province, including: 1 public university under the province's guidance, 1 public university under the Ministry of National Defense, 1 public university under the Ministry of Agriculture and Development rural areas, and 3 private universities. In addition, higher education institutions outside the province have organized joint teaching of university degrees with vocational education institutions and continuing education centers, contributing to the training of human resources for the province. 

In addition, the Party Civil Affairs Committee of the Provincial People's Committee assigned the Provincial People's Committee to direct departments and sectors to coordinate and advise on the establishment of a campus of Ho Chi Minh City Open University in Long Binh Tan Ward (Bien Hoa City). The province also has plans to open 2 university villages in Nhon Trach district and Long Khanh City.

In the future, when Long Thanh International Airport comes into operation, combined with the industrial development, Dong Nai will need a large number of skilled and highly trained workforce... All of these are favorable factors for Dong Nai's higher education to grow.  

Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Hong Linh affirmed that preparing human resources to meet the development's requirement is very important, therefore, it is necessary to put every effort in training. The Provincial Party Secretary requested the Provincial Party Committee Propaganda Department, together with the Department of Education and Training, the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs to promote communication and career guidance for students, attracting candidates and parents to universities in the province.