Deputy PM Vu Duc Dam has asked the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) to reconsider giving foreign names to universities.

Concerns raised over the English name of University of Social Science and Humanities

As a result, the MoET must direct relevant ministries, branches and agencies to scrutinise the plan.

New and foreign names for universities must be submitted to the Prime Minister for consideration in the first quarter of this year.

The move is aimed to ensure that foreign names of universities across the countries are in accordance with international rules and meet integration requirements.

Speaking at a recent meeting to review university and college operations over the past year, Deputy PM Dam said that there have remained many inappropriately named universities in Vietnam.

“In order to better integrate into the world, we must pay attention to all issues, including such minor things, such as names. When a university’s name is inappropriate, it may affects students there, especially when they want to continue their studies in foreign countries,” he emphasised.

He added that, in order to train future global citizens, it is essential to conduct basic renovations so as to ensure that training programmes, teaching methods and quality are up to international standards.

Currently, public concerns have been raised over the English name of the University of Social Science and Humanities which is under the Vietnam National University, Hanoi. In accordance to the international standards, the university should be labeled as college.

Several education experts said that many schools that are members of a university are not happy with being named “college”, as they feel that they are rated on a lower level than universities. This is the main reason why many such schools are still called universities. But this has confused foreigners, as in foreign countries there is no such thing as a university within a university.