Lack of rector in universities causing serious inconvenience to stakeholders
Several major public universities in HCMC have lately faced a lack of a rector. Though these educational institutes are still operating normally, this prolonged lack has created grave problems for their plans and development strategies.
Since 2018, when Prof. Mai Hong Quy retired from her rector position, HCMC University of Law has not welcomed any new rector, and the university leader now is Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Hoang Hai, its Vice Rector. Facing a similar case is HCMC Nong Lam University, which has been under the management of its Acting Rector – Assoc. Prof. Dr. Huynh Thanh Hung since January 2021.
The situation in HCMC University of Technology and Education is even worse. In May 2021, Assoc. Prof. Dr Do Van Dung resigned from the rector position, and the University Board elected Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Truong Thinh into this position. However, the Education and Training Ministry did not approve the proposal; instead, it assigned Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Hieu Giang to take over the position until now.
Yet the most complicated case is the story of HCMC University of Medicine and Pharmacy. From the time former Rector Tran Diep Tuan was moved to the position of President of the University Board in July 2020, it had not had any rector but only a vice-rector as an administrator until 2022. In April 2021, two new vice-rectors were selected, namely Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ngo Quoc Dat and Dr. Ha Manh Tuan. Right after that the Health Ministry requested a withdrawal of this decision owing to certain mistakes. In August 2022, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ngo Quoc Dat was chosen again by the University Board into the vice-rector position. In April 2023, the Health Ministry delivered a decision to approve him as the vice-rector in charge of administration for the whole university.
According to the Higher Education Law 2018 and Decree No.99/ND-CP about instructions to implement that Law, a university board elects its rector and asks for approval from the governing body. In reality, due to various issues, the chosen rectors might not be accepted by the governing body, leading to various serious impacts on the university operation. The most obvious one would be a temporary halt of degree delivery to graduates since there is no one to sign those degrees. Another issue is a freeze of salary distribution or investment activities.
Such a lack of university rectors stems from many reasons, but the most prominent one is insufficient preparation of human resources. Then come problems during the voting process for a rector, and hence unreliable results that cannot be approved. Read More…
