Student outrage forces private university to cancel fee rise

Students of Hong Bang University in Ho Chi Minh City at a meeting with school officials on Wednesday.

A private university in Ho Chi Minh City has canceled a decision to increase its tuition fees following strong objections from the students.

Senior industrial arts student Xuan Anh said that on Sunday she and her friends had gone to pay their second semester’s tuition fee and were told it had gone up from VND2.94 million (US$168.14) to VND3.49 million ($199.60).

The VND500,000 ($28.59) across-the-board increase came out of the blue as there had been no prior announcement, the students said.

The students took their grievance to the press and pointed out that the new fee schedule coming into effect on March 14 meant that they would have to pay an extra VND1 million ($57.19) a year compared to the rates announced at the start of the academic year.

In response to the students’ opposition, the university held a meeting with them later that same day.

The students said the higher fees would cause many problems for them, and said the quality of education at Hong Bang University did not justify the extra money anyway.

They also complained about their class periods being cut short as many lecturers were starting class later and ending earlier than they were supposed to.

The university’s president, Nguyen Manh Hung, responded by saying that the fees would stay the same as announced at the beginning of the academic year, and that any students who had paid the higher fees would have the difference returned to them.

He attributed the messy situation to the school’s tardiness in informing students of the change.

Explaining the sudden fee increase, Hung said it had been done so that the lecturers could be paid more and so would be less likely to leave the university.

To fix the short period problem, he said, the university would monitor its lecturers better through surprise inspections and student feedback.

Hung then pointed out that the higher fee for industrial arts only applied to students of the fifth and sixth courses.

In fact, by reverting to the old fee schedule, he said, some courses in the industrial arts department were cheaper than others in the same department.

On Tuesday, Hung’s aide Trinh Huu Chung told Tuoi Tre that Hong Bang had wanted to introduce the higher fees at the start of this year.

Concern that the students might have trouble getting the money together had led the university to delay the fee hike, even though the extra funds were needed to improve the facilities and the quality of teaching.

Hung said that with the higher fees, Hong Bang University’s annual tuition fees would range from VND6.9 million ($395) to VND8.9 million ($509), depending on the course.

Do high fees make for better quality?

While Hong Bang University has provoked students with its sudden fee increase, most private institutions of higher learning are publicizing their tuition and other fees well before the university entrance exams are held in July, as required by law.

The fees have shocked parents and university students-to-be, in some cases increasing to $5,000 per year, a world away from the average VND1.4 million ($80) at any public university or college.

Since private schools do not receive government funds, they must charge a lot, explained Nguyen Hong Dao, vice director of Binh Duong University.

Some of the schools insist that their steep fees mean a far superior education.

Bui Tran Phuong, president of Hoa Sen University in HCMC, said although its new tuition fee of VND19.5 million ($1,115) a year was high compared to other schools, it was still well below the fees at schools involved in joint training programs with foreign universities.

Citing the high rate of Hoa Sen graduates who obtain jobs commensurate with their studies, Phuong said the education available at her school justified the high fees.

“Invest the proper amount and the quality of education will improve,” said a spokesman for Ton Duc Thang University in HCMC, which charges up to $1,200 a year.

At Huu Nghi Technology and Management Private University in Hanoi, it costs $5,000 a year to study business administration or software application.

Pham Thu Huong, who heads the school’s planning and development department, said the fee also covered English classes and accommodation, and added that Huu Nghi only employed the best Vietnamese and foreign teachers.

Whatever the private schools are charging their students, the education ministry says it will inspect them frequently to make sure that the students (or rather, their parents in most cases) are getting their money’s worth.

Source: TN, Agencies

Tags: Academic Year, And The Quality, At The Start, Bang University, Chi minh, Chi minh city, Department, Education, extra, Fee Hike, Fee Increase, Fee Schedule, High Fees, higher, Higher Fees, Higher Fees Would, Ho Chi, Ho Chi Minh, Ho Chi Minh City, Hoa Sen, Hong Bang, Hong Bang University, Huu Nghi, increase, Industrial, Industrial Arts, lecturers, million, Minh city, money, Of Hoa Sen, Of Hong Bang, Of Hong Bang University, Of The Academic, Of The Academic Year, Out That The, Pointed Out That, Pointed Out That The, Private, Private Schools, Private University, quality, school, schools, student, students, Students Said The, Sudden Fee, Sudden Fee Increase, That The Students, The Academic, The Academic Year, The education, The Extra, The Fee, The Fees, The Higher, The Higher Fees, The Higher Fees Would, The Quality, The school, The Start, The students, The Students Said, The Students Said The, The University, tuition, Tuition Fee, Tuition Fees, university

This entry was posted on March 20, 2009 at 1:45 pm and is filed under News, Social. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.