Students work in the laboratory at the Hanoi University of Science and Technology.

At a conference on renewing financial mechanism in public universities, Headmaster of the University of Foreign Trade Hoang Van Chau said the university had operated its own financial self-control scheme since 2005 but still did not have real autonomy when it came to planning expenses.

When using a financial self-control scheme, universities needed to set suitable tuition fees to maintain and develop the quality of their education, Chau said. But in fact, they were still required to follow the same regulations as all State-owned universities.

Ngo The Chi, headmaster of the Academy of Finance, pointed out that his university had to spend money to improve its educational offerings but it was not allowed to collect it back.

For example, lecturers used projectors in their classes three times per day on average, meaning most started showing wear and tear within about one year. However, they weren't permitted to purchase new ones under current regulations.

The school did not have the autonomy of private universities and was dealing with State budget cuts for regular expenses, Chi said.

Vu Truong Giang, deputy director of the Ministry of Finance's Administrative Affairs Department agreed, saying that tuition remained low while many universities didn't have the funds to upgrade infrastructure and improve educational quality.

Many universities were forced to open new courses to attract additional funds. As a result, many lecturers didn't have time for professional development to improve their knowledge and teaching skills, he added.

To deal with the situation, Chau from the University of Foreign Trade said schools with financial self-control should have the right to raise tuition to improve quality and raise lecturers' salaries.

He also said that universities should have the power to decide how to enrol students, how much to pay lecturers and how to spend fees.

Deputy minister of Education and Training Bui Van Ga said the Government had allowed some universities to set their own tuition but the quality of education did not match the high fees.

The deputy minister also expressed his agreement to suggestions from representatives, but said universities needed to set up specific criteria to assure educational quality.