Financial Management of Public Universities in Vietnam

systematic way, without a structure with specialized functions, tasked with ensuring training quality, policy forecasting, building systematic, scientific and professional plans and programs, and conducting internal consulting.

Second, given the global standardization and specialization that have become common practice in policy research as well as many other fields, from a systemic perspective, the mechanical patching together of data from different units, by departments lacking expertise in training policy, will lead to systematic biases in policy assessment, analysis, and forecasting.

A current limitation is that many projects, research programs, as well as instructions from macro-management levels have not been properly prepared to advise training institutions on how to implement content by building institutionalized functional structures as policy tools. Even research projects on training quality assurance only focus on presenting quality standards for assessment, forgetting that to implement, there must be a professionally and systematically organized and structured apparatus.

Thus, to ensure the quality of higher education, it is necessary to develop standards for objective assessment and integration into international education. After the Department of Training Quality Assessment and the Department of Testing and Quality Assessment have been established in Vietnam and may be a system of independent assessment organizations in the future, we still need to consider building institutions and structures to ensure quality within the university itself. The establishment of research units and the implementation of higher education policies will help form a network that both ensures good information and educational statistics and is a micro-policy tool to help schools cope well with challenges and be confident in meeting the needs of professional training capacity in the labor market.

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- Internal policy research content

In higher education institutions, the internal policy research organization is an important strategic advisory body to the President and the Board of Directors. It does not create any functional conflict with the President's advisory councils, nor with other organizations, centers, and programs that research education. The scientific and training councils, as well as other councils and organizations, continue to operate and provide advice, but it is the internal policy research organization that summarizes, analyzes those opinions, and treats them as an important source of policy advice. The difference is that while the Scientific Councils are convened only occasionally and although the standing councils may work at a

More often than the Council, the Internal Policy Research Unit is a permanent, specialised structure in research, evaluation, analysis, policy development and strategic advice, supporting the policy, strategy and planning decisions of the Rector.

Internal policy research units located in different universities and colleges, when connected together, form a network of policy organizations at the micro level and interact technically with each other as well as with the macro and meso levels of policy, accelerating policy integration processes in bottom-up, top-down approaches… and enhancing the credibility and implementation of policies.

- University micro policy areas

One of the bases for higher education institutions to establish a policy system is the needs of society expressed through the needs and expectations of subjects and partners related to the training institution, including: Students, trainees, their families; Teachers, staff, and employees within the training institution; Leaders of the training institution; Education management agencies at all levels; Local, regional, and national authorities; Enterprises and economic and social organizations; Professionals and technicians; Service providers; University training partners.

Based on the needs and demand relationships, the subjects, how many groups of needs can be built as many groups of goals to orient the response. These orientations are reorganized into goals with different priority levels , classified into goals according to the time axis: immediate, medium-term, long-term, concurrent, continuous, etc., including strategic goals.

Some brief summaries of policy areas in higher education are given below:

+ Training program; Student management; Team and human resource development; Facilities, equipment, technology; Finance; External relations

Classifying policy areas according to training technology approach, we have the following areas:

Policies on human resource management (internal training subjects of the training institution); Policies on technical and technological management; Policies on organizational and institutional management (organizational part); Policies on financial resource management (financial part); Policies on information management; Policies on interaction management with the economic, social, cultural, political environment... (environmental part).

+ Identify and forecast policy issues: research and select issues (assess needs, collect, analyze, process data, build sustainable information channels, build revenue sources)

collect, investigate information regularly); Policy formulation: identify policy objectives, arrange priorities, propose and select policy options, tools and solutions; Policy implementation planning: advise on implementation; Policy implementation consulting: with the participation of professional departments and other management support for the University Board of Directors; Evaluate policy impacts; Determine policy life cycle: end to transition to new policy or adaptive adjustment.

- Some reference models

Policy research units also have their own limitations in the scope of their activities. This organization cannot undertake all tasks and functions. Limitations in human resources, information, finance, status, and infrastructure do not allow this. The products of research are expressed through evaluation reports and policy advice. In many cases, consultants are not the ones who directly implement them. On the other hand, the areas of policy implementation are very broad, rich, and often intertwined.

First, research-policy consulting groups and working groups as the core for internal policy research units on higher education need to be established immediately in places where there is capacity. During the establishment process, units need to avoid administrative methods, many committees, too many council meetings but infrequent implementation or lack of priority selection in programs and action plans. After being established, the policy research unit can continue to use the project and program approach (dynamic approach), combined with the approach to stabilizing the functional organization (static approach), from which to establish working groups and topics. Collaboration work, coordination with staff of functional units, and other support staff in the school also need to be noted. This is also a way to expand and strengthen the policy-making team of an internal policy research unit in the future.

In some international universities, policies are classified, with a static organizational approach and with resources and conditions allowing, policy functions are immediately institutionalized: for example, the establishment of a quality assurance department as an autonomous department within the university, directly assisting the quality management and decisions on training and research policies of the rector, the head of the training institution or the board of directors. In Germany or the United States, in addition to the traditional and usual positions and vice-rectorships, depending on new needs, vice-rectors can be appointed to be in charge of new policy areas (of course this is only a reference because each system has its own specific organizational regulations, operating regulations, etc.). In France, a vice-rector can be appointed specifically to support the professional and social integration of students.

In essence, this is the bridge between training and employment. In some places, the vice-principal may be assigned to apply new pedagogical and management technologies or to be in charge of information, orientation and career guidance for students. Many universities in Europe and North America have established research and monitoring structures for student life in terms of: school entry, professional entry and socio-economics to ensure the quality of student life.

University career guidance is also an important policy area of education.

University, meeting a huge social need for choosing a career in university and college training.

Quality assurance of higher education is considered as one of the quality assurance functions that pursues the entire training process of students from input, during the training process to output. Although there have been initiated projects, the university system in Vietnam has not yet built a network of information-career centers with a team of professional staff and performing regular professional work.

Likewise, research on output information to adjust policies and training programs towards ensuring overall quality has not been implemented synchronously. In many places, people misunderstand this policy research field as simply research on student output.

Quality assurance in higher education is currently a top concern for the Vietnamese education sector. An organization in charge of quality accreditation within the Department of Universities under the Ministry of Education and Training has been initially established. However, an agency or organization with a larger position and stature, such as a Department of Quality Assurance, needs to be established soon in relation to the system of other quality accreditation agencies. Next, this macro-management agency needs to be supported by a system of quality assurance and internal policy research and consulting organizations, located within university and college training institutions as satellites. Finally, these internal policy research units have a high degree of autonomy within their training institutions, both performing internal consulting work, interacting with external policy and quality assurance structures, and being proactive in policy forecasting research.

CONCLUSION OF CHAPTER 3

Based on theoretical and practical analysis of the importance of financial management of public universities in Vietnam, research limitations and causes leading to limitations, the author has proposed a number of solutions to improve financial management for public universities in Vietnam, one of the bases for improving training quality.

The order of implementation of these solutions depends on the importance and conditions for implementation. In particular, according to the author, the solution to enhance financial autonomy of Vietnamese public universities (based on the mentioned establishment of conditions for financial autonomy of Vietnamese public universities) should be prioritized first, as a premise for successful application of the remaining solutions. The solution to apply financial management assessment indicators associated with output results in the implementation of the State's role should be implemented to have a basis for accurate, scientific and appropriate budget allocation, the solution to perfect tuition policy, support policy for students must also be prioritized to create a standard corridor for schools to implement. With the limitations and causes of the limitations that have been carefully analyzed in chapter 2, the author also proposes a group of micro-solutions (conditions for successful implementation of macro-solutions) to help the schools themselves enhance financial management of Vietnamese public universities.

If the above solutions are seriously deployed and implemented, financial management of Vietnamese public universities will be improved and achieve the ultimate goal of financial management, thereby creating a condition to improve the quality of higher education.

GENERAL CONCLUSION

Moving towards a knowledge-based economy is the goal of any country. In fact, any country that focuses on investing in education and training, especially university training, has achieved outstanding economic and social results. In recent years, in Vietnam, investment in university education to train highly qualified human resources for the country has been concentrated in public universities. However, in order for the investment to bring about commensurate efficiency, financial management for these units needs to be focused on. However, how to perfect financial management and at the same time evaluate its effectiveness on training quality is a matter of concern.

By applying research methods, the author focused on solving the following problems:

1. Analyze and reach a consensus on the concept of financial management of public universities. On that basis, clarify the role of financial management in improving the training quality of public universities.

2. Explanation of financial autonomy, concept of financial autonomy, building a scale to evaluate financial management of public universities in Vietnam

3. Analyze the current status of revenue and expenditure management, as well as analyze the current status of financial management towards financial autonomy of public universities - a method of financial management, the basis for increasing revenue and improving expenditure efficiency, sharing the burden with the State budget.

4. Analyze the theoretical basis of enhancing financial autonomy of public universities.

5. Analyze financial management of public universities in Vietnam based on closely following the goals set by the Party and the State for the education and training development roadmap, while closely combining with the current financial management status of public universities in recent years to propose a number of solutions to improve financial management for public universities associated with output quality towards financial sustainability.

Financial management of public universities is both a broad and complex issue. Although it is not too new in Vietnam, research to reach a consensus on financial management of public universities, or to establish conditions for autonomy and group schools with the ability to be fully autonomous in regular expenses or to build a system of indicators to evaluate financial management for public universities in Vietnam is a new issue in our country. Therefore, within the framework of a thesis, it is inevitable that there will be shortcomings in content, approach and handling of some specific issues. I look forward to receiving contributions from scientists and those interested in this issue.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

Although the researcher has tried very hard to address the "gap" related to "financial management" that the researcher has summarized. However, it would be more thorough if the research continued in the following direction:

Regarding the research object : it will be expanded to include planning, inspection and supervision process management.

Regarding the scope of the study: supplement the database of public universities in the research sample until 2011.

Regarding the research content: the system of financial management assessment indicators associated with output results in the role of the state and in the role of public universities will be applied to increase the persuasiveness of the classification of public universities with financial autonomy and public universities without financial autonomy.

Regarding research methods: using quantitative methods to measure the level of influence of each factor on financial management of universities through building a scale and building a questionnaire for investigation.

LIST OF PUBLISHED SCIENTIFIC WORKS OF THE AUTHOR

1. Vu Thi Thanh Thuy (2012), “Financial autonomy of public universities in Vietnam”. Development Economics, January 2012.

2. Vu Thi Thanh Thuy (2012), “Innovation of financial mechanism for public higher education”,

Financial Accounting Research , January 2012.

3. Vu Thi Thanh Thuy (2011), “Education, health and life: Achieving many new achievements”, State tax, 32-33(342+343), pp. 38-39.

4. Vu Thi Thanh Thuy (2011), “Education – the key to development momentum”, State Tax, 31(341), pp. 28-29.

5. Vu Thi Thanh Thuy (2010), “How are shareholders' rights understood?”, State Tax , 25(287), pp. 22-23.

6. Vu Thi Thanh Thuy (2010), “Real rights of current shareholders”, Proceedings of the scientific conference of the Faculty of Banking and Finance, National Economics University, June 2010, pp. 93-95.

7. Vu Thi Thanh Thuy (2007), Monetary Finance - Textbook, Participant in compilation, University of Labor and Social Affairs.

8. Vu Thi Thanh Thuy (2011), “Educational management to improve training quality”, Proceedings of the Faculty of Accounting, University of Labor and Social Affairs, May 2011.

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