October-02-2008
Thanh Nien News.com
Written by Huong Le

Vietnamese-American professor Vu Quang Phong says the difference between a credit-based university system and a rigid academic curriculum structure is similar to inviting guests to a restaurant or bringing them home for dinner.

“The same purpose – to feed quests – but by different methods,” said Phong, a faculty member of Ohio University’s Department of Mathematics in the US. “In a restaurant, guests can choose meals according to their preference while at home all must eat from the same [cooked dishes].”

The debate over when, how, and to what extent can Vietnamese universities adapt the American model of a credit-based system to revamp its higher education has been ongoing for years.

In America, the credit system was born in the 19th century, out of criticisms that the States’ higher education system lacked the flexibility to create well-rounded individuals.

Using time units, labeled as credit hours, the new system tracks students’ progress toward graduation by offering required and elective courses combining a general education curriculum with classes designed to fulfill specific majors.

Harvard University became the first institution to apply the model of a credit-based system and it soon spread to other American universities.

In early 1993, a group of Vietnam’s university presidents gathered at a conference in the central beach town of Nha Trang and the idea surfaced to implement a credit-based academic system.

At the time, only a few education institutions in the country’s southern provinces were considering to take on the experiment, like Can Tho and Da Lat universities. The rest of the country’s major universities were following the rigid curriculums similar to those of countries under the former Soviet Union – soon to be criticized for being too theoretical and too focused on science and mathematics.

In a paper titled “The American Credit System’s Pedagogical Objectives: Implications for Vietnam’s Higher Education Reform,” co-author Pham Thi Ly, director of the Institute for Education Research under the Ho Chi Minh City’s University of Education, wrote: “In theory students [in these universities] are permitted to select several electives, and credit hours are conditionally transferable among different universities… [But] these universities do not offer electives because teachers and resources have not been reallocated and credits are not readily transferred between different universities.”

Although the Ministry of Education and Training has required every university and college in Vietnam to switch to a credit-based academic system by 2010, those familiar with the process say the goal is far from reaching fruition.

Associate professor Doan Thi Minh Trinh, vice director of the Department of Academic Affairs at Vietnam National University-HCMC, was one of the experts who closely followed the University of Technology’s progress in switching to the credit-based system.

Trinh says even at the University of Technology, which is considered one of the country’s pioneers in trying out the model, course choice is still “awkwardly applied.” Moreover, there is a lack of coordination between Vietnamese universities, even among those under the Vietnam National University system.

“The change requires us to establish a fully standardized system – from having enough teachers and study resources to designing courses that allow students time for independent study,” Trinh said in an interview withThanh Nien Daily. “What we’ve accomplished thus far is to switch the system on paper only.”

According to Trinh, teaching and resources at a major university like the University of Technology are diluted by lack of funding, forcing professors to seek additional opportunities outside of school to earn money.

“We can’t offer broad course selection if we don’t have enough teachers,” she said. “The university often withdraws offering a particular course if only a few students sign up for it.”

Thus, at most Vietnamese universities that claim to have switched to the credit-based system, the number of elective courses only account for 30 percent of the students’ academic programs. “So it’s an elective on paper, but I call it a ‘required elective’ in reality,” Trinh said.

Vu Nguyen Minh Phuong, a recent English graduate of the HCMC University of Social Sciences and Humanities, said students were still subjected to rigid course choice under the current credit-based system, both in their general education and major requirements.

“I don’t think it has helped us graduating early in any way,” Phuong said.

However, no system is perfect, professor Phong emphasized. Even in America, some have argued that students take too many general education courses and too few specialized ones under the credit-based system.

For Vietnamese universities, the crucial factor in implementing a credit system hinges on allowing students to take different paths to secure a degree.

“Students can choose a path, and can change direction and speed,” Phong said. “But the paths cannot be arbitrary.”