Carly Zalenski decided to build a school for children in Vietnam. It took her two years. She was 12.

Carly Zalenski's eyes filled with tears as the dusty bus rattled down a dirt road in southern Vietnam. The 14-year-old and her family had traveled by plane from Canton, Ohio, to Ho Chi Minh City and then by bus deep into the Mekong Delta. Now, as they approached the village, hundreds of cheering schoolchildren lined the entrance to the Hoa Lac School, a two-story concrete building that Carly had raised money for.

“Vietnam, compared with other countries in the region, spends a lot of money on higher education,” said Ben Wilkinson, a representative of Harvard University’s Vietnam Program in Ho Chi Minh City.

“I would argue that money is not even the decisive factor [in establishing a world-class university.]”

While many university students complain about the high cost of textbooks, Tu Pham is thankful for the books lining the shelves of local bookstores and libraries.

Pham, a chemistry doctoral candidate at the University of Oklahoma, got her undergraduate degree in Vietnam, where she is from.

The ‘advanced syllabuses’ being implemented in 13 key universities in Vietnam are expected to become models for Vietnam’s education. However, students have said, after only three years, that they are disappointed with the project.

In northernmost Ha Giang Province just 30.26% of students complete the universal education programme.

In Cao Bang Province, the graduates total just 39.9%. Ethnic students accounted for only 18, 14 and 10% of all at primary, junior secondary and senior secondary schools in the 2006-2007 academic year, says Ethnic Affairs Committee deputy chairman Ha Hung.