Abstract
Vietnam has been experiencing dramatic changes over the past few decades in almost all its political, social, and economic spheres. This has had a strong influence on the evolution of the academic system. Historically, the academic institutions (research institutes and universities) date back to the French regime. The first modern Vietnamese university (specializing mainly in the medical and pharmaceutical fields) was established in Hanoi. In addition, some research institutes operating in the fields of medicine, pharmacology, or biomedicine, such as the Pasteur Institute, were established by the French. Furthermore, during the war, academic institutions were developed both in the North (under the Soviet academic model, e.g., Hanoi Polytechnic) and the South Vietnam (more like the Western style, e.g., Can Tho University). They had a strong imprint on the war-time activities with missions that focused more on training and provision of problem-solving methods to serve military needs.
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Notes
- 1.
1 These are known as Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST) and Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VASS).
- 2.
2 Many OECD countries and China spend around 1.5% of their GDP on R&D.
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- 4.
4 An invention is a technical solution that is a world-wide novelty, involves an inventive step, and is applicable to various social and economic fields (Art. 782, the Civil Code). The protection title is valid for 20 years.
- 5.
5 An industrial design is a product’s shape which is formed by lines, three-dimensional form, and coloes or a combination thereof, and which is a world-wide novelty and is used as the pattern of industrial or handicraft products (Art. 784 the Civil Code). The protection title is valid for 5 years.
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6 One professor has to teach about 30 students, while in other countries this ratio is about 1:15.
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7 Data from Tsinghua University (China) show that it has some 45 academicians, 929 professors, and 1,230 associate professors to serve 30,000 undergraduate students, 5,900 graduates, and 2,600 postgraduate students. As such the ratio is only 1:9.
- 8.
8As a result, there have been demands for “Bayh-Dole Act” style regulations.
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9 Enacted by the National Assembly of Vietnam, regulated in Article 5, subarticle 3 on the Principles of Science and Technology activities.
- 10.
10 Resolution of PartyPlenum II on the Direction to develop S&T until 2010. Nhan Dan Newspaper.
- 11.
11 Chinese Tsinghua University is seen as a favorite model for Vietnam.
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Ca, T.N., Hung, N.V. (2011). Vietnam: Current Debates on the Transformation of Academic Institutions. In: Göransson, B., Brundenius, C. (eds) Universities in Transition. Insight and Innovation in International Development. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7509-6_7
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