Financial Management Perspectives of Public Universities in Vietnam

Almost unchanged, making it difficult to ensure regular expenditures of schools, affecting school operations. In many universities, in order to implement financial autonomy, they have adopted a policy of allocating expenditures to departments, first of all telephones, lighting and office space. Many units cannot pay for telephones according to the allocated quota, or have to limit contact, interrupt information or find different ways to settle payments, causing payments to be not in accordance with financial regulations.

Up to now, the level of investment in training 1 student in our country is still very low. Since the renovation, the level of investment in training is calculated from two sources. One is the budget allocated from the State budget for regular training expenses; Two is from the source of tuition and fees from students, these two sources have been equivalent for many years. However, if calculating the total tuition fee for the whole society in our country in general, it only reaches 2.8-3 million VND/1 student/1 school year.

Compared to the level of investment in some countries in the region, we see that our investment level is still low. According to the survey results of the project, the current tuition fee for university students is about 12 million VND/1 student/year. Thus, compared to Vietnam, the tuition fee for Chinese students is about 4 times higher. It should be added that currently the average income per capita of China is about 1,200 USD, which is about 2 times that of Vietnam, but the tuition fee is 4 times higher.

There are many issues that are still being debated about whether or not to increase tuition fees. There are many conflicting opinions. The Ministry of Education and Training has submitted many proposals to increase tuition fees but they have not been accepted. Recently, the Ministry of Education and Training continued to submit to the Government about increasing tuition fees but immediately received many responses. Some opinions compare, the US spends 7.2% of GDP on education every year while Vietnam spends 8.3% of GDP on education. Compared to China, the annual proportion of Vietnam's state budget spent on education is up to 6% of GDP while China's is 2.8%. Therefore, the opinion reflects that the source of investment from the state budget for education is high and at the same time the rate of mobilizing contributions from the people for education in Vietnam is also high. However, that opinion only compares the proportion of GDP spent on education but does not compare Vietnam's GDP when converted to purchasing power equivalent to US dollars.

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It should be emphasized that, in the current structure of non-state budget career investment, universities mainly collect tuition and fees from students, accounting for nearly 90% in the years 2001 - 2005. This figure decreased in the period 2006 - 2010 but remained at 86%. Other sources such as science and technology contracts and business contributions of 1.88% are insignificant (data in table 2.37).

There needs to be a financial mechanism to mobilize social investment resources for education and training in general, and for universities in particular.

Second, the compensation for labor costs through training is not adequate . Currently, we are facing the following vicious circle:

Level

low development

Low income

Quality

low training

Expense

low training

Thus, low training costs are a link in the vicious circle of underdevelopment in our country. Low training costs, schools are not able to improve teaching methods, provide adequate learning materials and updated information, do not have costs for teachers and students to have conditions for practice and practical experience, ... from which high training quality cannot be achieved. We are hoping for Vietnam's training system to have quality that integrates with the international and regional level, but to integrate, we must have conditions, in which training costs are an important issue. We must accept the view that "you get what you pay for" in education, if we want good quality, we must have adequate financial resources to fund it.

In fact, currently, non-state enterprises and employers can easily screen the quality of labor, while in the state sector: paying low salaries to graduates as at present is not implementing the market principle in the relationship of using training products. Therefore, reforming the salary regime is a pressing issue today. This issue is related to the state's policies. The slow fundamental reform of the salary regime and maintaining a low salary policy are increasingly becoming an obstacle to the socio-economic development of our country in general, and an obstacle to the development of the training sector in particular. However, it is also necessary to analyze further, the main cause still lies in the thinking of managers. We know that the above vicious circle is unlikely to have a way out due to the lack of breakthroughs in decision-making. The policy of regulating unreasonable revenue and expenditure levels is one of the causes leading to the consequence of falling into a vicious circle. In Vietnam, students studying at public universities pay an average tuition fee of 5 million VND/year, and can easily accept a salary of 2.5 million VND/month after graduation.

The State's management mechanism lacks consistency, is not linked to reality, and is rigid.

The State's legal system is still slow to innovate, and regulations related to financial management of public training institutions are still slow to be issued. Specifically, when the market has strong fluctuations in prices, the school's tuition revenue is the main source of income, the issuance of Decree 49

– Tuition fee regulations are time-delayed and not linked to the overall development of the economy. When building a system of legal documents, there is overlap, which can easily cause misunderstanding. Tuition policy and social policy for students are being confused.

Firstly, the management mechanism of training, scientific research, labor and finance in universities is not yet suitable for new trends.

Regulations on working regimes and labor norms for staff in general and teaching staff in particular have been established for a long time and are outdated compared to current practice, making it difficult to pay for teaching hours and calculate teaching staff norms.

In implementing the new regulations on increased salary funding sources, many schools have shown their ability to cover themselves when facing difficulties. The most important thing is that the tuition fee is too low, not enough for schools to increase salaries according to regulations. Therefore, nearly 80% of schools said that with the current tuition fee, schools can only increase the income of lecturers by 0.5-1 times. This is causing great difficulties in ensuring the lives of lecturers in public schools.

There is no consensus on the need for additional wages.

The current allocation of regular expenditure funds is not suitable for the new economic mechanism. The current regulation on funding per student is both subsidized and ineffective. It does not allow schools to meet the learning needs of many social classes.

The disparity in income levels does not regulate the demand for education between schools of different levels in the same industry nor does it regulate the demand for education between industries. The government is confusing tuition policy and social policy when it sets tuition fees for students. Therefore, the government needs to conduct research to have a financial mechanism for training that is suitable for the market economy.

In financial management, decentralization has not yet clearly defined the rights and obligations of budget units in the financial autonomy mechanism, especially for level 1 and 2 budget units so that autonomy goes hand in hand with self-responsibility.

For some units with many expenditure contents from different capital sources, the Ministry has not yet provided timely guidance on which source is according to Decree No. 10/2002/ND-CP, which source is still allocated as before. Therefore, some units have difficulty in transacting with the State Treasury.

Second, state regulations are not yet consistent and have not kept up with changes in the economic mechanism, so the implementation of financial autonomy has not been carried out in practice.

Looking back over the past years, the education and training sector has made many efforts to decentralize management to higher education institutions in the direction of increasing autonomy and social responsibility. However, in reality, there are still many shortcomings: The management of universities by the Ministry is still too rigid, all-encompassing and ineffective. The delegated authority is not enough, it is just a grant given in response to the demands of universities and social pressure. There has not been a mechanism created to adapt universities to the socialist-oriented market economy. The delegation of authority to higher education is still carried out in a piecemeal manner, lacking uniformity.

The ministry level still lacks supervision over the implementation process of schools and has not yet given basic instructions. There has been no step in implementing autonomy and social responsibility for universities, so there are spontaneous phenomena or "breaking the fence" leading to some disorders in direction and implementation.

There is also confusion between state management of education and management of university facilities. The implementation of Decree 10/2002/ND-CP dated January 16, 2002; Circular No. 25/2003/TTLB-BTC of the Ministry of Finance dated March 24, 2003; Circular 50/2003/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance dated May 22, 2003 on the development of internal spending regulations is very difficult because the allocated budget is very limited, and it is necessary to ensure autonomy in the additional salary fund according to Decree 03/2003/ND-CP dated January 15, 2003 of the Government. However, up to now, many units have completed the internal spending regulations according to Decision No. 915/QD - BGD & DT - KHTC dated February 28, 2003 and Decision No. 120/QD - BGD & DT - KHTC dated March 4, 2004 of the Minister of Education and Training, granting financial autonomy to public service units under the Ministry. Many units have reported difficulties and problems due to the unsynchronized management mechanism and requested to apply the current spending regime. On the other hand, the tuition fee framework has not been revised, causing difficulties for the financial autonomy mechanism to cover salaries according to Decree No. 10/2002/ND-CP and the financial source to cover salaries according to Decree No. 03/2003/ND-CP.

The Ministry of Education and Training is assigned to synthesize and direct the implementation of Decree No. 10/2002/ND-CP in the entire sector. The Ministry of Education and Training has sent an official dispatch to the Departments of Education and Training and the ministries and sectors in charge requesting reports on the situation of salary funding sources and classification of educational and training establishments. Up to now, many localities and sectors have not met the above requirements. According to the current decentralization, the Ministry of Education and Training is not allowed to manage the sector's budget finances, so there is no information on revenue and expenditure management and financial activities of the sector and there are not enough statistics to make general reports on investment resources for the entire sector. The Ministry only knows the units under the Ministry.

In short, the current management mechanism is still centralized and subsidized, and the autonomy of universities has not been implemented.

Third, the two-way information system between the Ministry and schools is still slow.

The Ministry has not yet organized inspections and provided timely and consistent guidance to units implementing Decree No. 10/2002/ND-CP and Decree No. 43/2006/ND-CP, especially for some units with many expenditure contents from different capital sources.

Reporting and information between units and ministries are still slow. Many units also face difficulties and confusion in exploiting revenue sources to offset mandatory expenditures such as additional salary compensation while not being compensated by the State budget.

In summary, all schools agree that the financial autonomy policy of the State and the Ministry of Education and Training, which gives the right to ensure 100% of regular expenditures to public universities, is correct. However, this is a major reform of the financial mechanism and management of universities, related to the general financial mechanism of the country. Therefore, for this policy to be successfully implemented, it will take time and appropriate steps.

The right to self-finance regular expenditures for public universities must be associated with the right to autonomy in enrollment and the right to decide on the collection and expenditure of funds mobilized by the school outside the state budget.

The scope of autonomy is still limited.

Financial activities in units govern the implementation of professional tasks, payroll, apparatus organization and labor. However, according to Decree No. 10/2002/ND-CP and related documents, revenue-generating units are only given financial autonomy but have not been specifically assigned the right and responsibility to be autonomous in organizing the implementation of tasks, payroll, and labor apparatus organization. Therefore, units have not yet promoted their real autonomy to develop career activities in accordance with the Party and State's policy of socializing education. Therefore, it is necessary to study and perfect the regulations on financial revenue and expenditure for universities.

The financial and accounting apparatus and staff of some universities have not met the requirements for transitioning to financial autonomy. Some legal documents related to financial autonomy for SNCT units (including universities) are no longer suitable but are slow to be revised and supplemented.

Thus, the theoretical and practical basis, financial activities and educational quality are closely related to the economic and technical standards and norms in the field of education and training. However, in reality, some economic and technical standards and norms in the field of education and training are no longer suitable and are slow to be revised and supplemented, such as the ratio of students/class, the ratio of teachers/students, annual university and college enrollment targets, standards on facilities serving teaching and learning... The shortcomings of the mechanism of collecting and using tuition fees such as the tuition fee framework, the responsibility for implementing the tuition fee exemption and reduction regime, the rate of

Tuition fees are used to invest in facilities and equipment... These shortcomings are one of the important reasons why the implementation of the financial autonomy mechanism has not fully promoted the autonomy and self-responsibility of universities in developing career activities in accordance with the policies and guidelines of the Party and the State.

Although granted financial autonomy, the State still plays a major role in supporting universities, both public and private. For public universities, the State budget needs to ensure that schools have facilities such as lecture halls, laboratories, libraries, offices, and equipment, and help schools train teachers.

In order for schools to be financially autonomous, it is necessary to innovate state management work in accordance with the new mechanism; At the same time, strengthen guidance and support for schools in professional expertise to implement and gradually perfect the state's financial autonomy policy for public universities.

CONCLUSION OF CHAPTER 2

Analyzing the current status of financial management of public universities in Vietnam in chapter 2, the author focused on solving the following issues:

- Present an overview of the system of public universities in Vietnam, classify the system of public universities in Vietnam according to a number of criteria such as: regional criteria, training industry criteria, scale criteria.

- Analyzing the current situation of revenue and expenditure management of public universities, it is found that the main source of revenue in public universities is still the State budget, the ability to exploit sources outside the budget of public universities is still limited, the budget allocation for higher education lacks practical basis, the separation of the responsibility for advising and planning the allocation of capital construction investment expenditure and regular expenditure into two different ministries (Ministry of Planning and Investment and Ministry of Finance) causes inadequacies in coordination, reducing the overall expenditure efficiency... The scientific nature in the allocation of expenditure sources is still low,...

- Analyze the current financial management status of public universities towards financial autonomy, based on the analysis of the database of 50 public universities, find out the factors that directly and indirectly affect the financial autonomy of public universities in Vietnam.

- Evaluate the achievements and limitations in financial management of public universities in Vietnam, and point out the causes of the limitations.

From the issues mentioned in chapter 2, according to the author, to perfect the financial management of Vietnamese universities, it is necessary to consider, propose detailed solutions and recommendations, and implement according to a roadmap suitable to the development conditions of Vietnam on the basis of inheriting international experience. The author will present this content in chapter 3.

CHAPTER 3:

COMPLETE SOLUTIONS FOR FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN VIETNAM

3.1. Financial management perspective of public universities in Vietnam

3.1.1. Development orientation of Vietnamese public universities

The basic viewpoints of the Party and the State have been expressed in the Constitution, the 2005 Education Law, the resolutions of the 4th Central Committee (Session VII), the 2nd Central Committee (Session VIII), the conclusions of the 6th Central Committee Conference (Session IX), and the Resolution of the 10th Party Congress. To meet the requirements for the education cause in the new period, it is necessary to continue to thoroughly grasp the basic viewpoints of the Party, and at the same time, it is necessary to concretize and supplement a number of contents of practical guiding significance as follows:

- Developing education with the aim of creating the foundation and driving force for industrialization and modernization of the country, while contributing to building an advanced culture in the context of globalization.

- Developing education of the people, by the people and for the people is the top national policy and the central task of the Party and State in the socialist-oriented market mechanism.

- International integration in education must be promoted on the basis of preserving and promoting national cultural identity, contributing to building a humane, advanced and modern education.

- Socialization of education is a method of developing education towards a learning society.

- Developing educational services and increasing competitiveness in the education system is one of the

motivation for educational development

- Education must ensure the best quality within limited budget conditions.

In response to the practical and oriented directions for public university training, we are as follows: Building a long-term training strategy towards standardizing training quality at all levels.

The training system aims to train highly qualified human resources in various fields for society. Diversify training types to meet the learning needs of all subjects and circumstances of learners. This is one of the important political tasks of all lecturers, cadres and civil servants in schools.

Continue to improve the content and effectiveness of inspection activities in schools, ensuring strict implementation of discipline in training activities.

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