In 2024, a series of public and private universities are expected to open 5 or more new majors such as Ho Chi Minh City Banking University (5 majors), National Economics University (6 majors), Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (7 majors), Phenikaa (8 majors and training programs)...

New majors are offered by schools in a wide range of fields, from Information Technology to Business and Management, Health.

Famous schools in economics such as National Economics University opened 6 new majors, 5 of which are in technology - engineering, such as Software Engineering, Information Systems, Artificial Intelligence, Information Security. Meanwhile, Phenikaa University is a private school strong in engineering majors, opening many more majors in the Health sector such as Medical Imaging Technology or Traditional Medicine.

In fact, since 2020, many schools have opened majors en masse. For example, Thuyloi University opened 14 majors in the three years 2021-2023. The University of Mining and Geology opened 20 majors in the two years 2021-2022, of which 12 majors will be in 2022 alone.

The fact that universities continuously open new majors and programs is considered inevitable but also causes many concerns about quality.

The 2018 Law on Higher Education allows schools to be autonomous in opening majors. Previously, most schools that wanted to open majors had to develop a program, prepare a profile for approval by the scientific council, the Department of Education and Training checked the actual conditions, then a professional council assessed and sent it to the Ministry of Education and Training for consideration and approval.

This change creates conditions for more and more new majors to be opened at schools. Statistics from the Ministry show that the number of new majors opened by schools from 2019 to August 2023 is nearly 1,200.

A university education expert in Hanoi said that the trend of opening majors to become multi-disciplinary and multi-field universities is inevitable and is part of the development strategy of many schools. This helps create competition and encourages schools to improve quality to attract students. Students also have more choices.

Furthermore, even though schools are autonomous in opening majors, the law also clearly stipulates conditions and standards. This must be based on the market's human resource needs; the school's internal strength (teacher system, facilities, training programs); social acceptance...

To meet this demand, schools often open new majors based on existing majors or specializations. For example, at Banking University of Ho Chi Minh City, the new Financial Technology major this year was developed from the Finance - Banking major, and the Data Science major was developed from Management Information and Business Analytics.

Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Duc Trung, Principal, said that the new majors are based on the core of business and management, integrating technology and digital transformation. This major was opened in 2019, after a period of accumulating resources including lecturers, textbooks, laboratories, and business connections, the school has just separated into an independent major.

"With 72 new PhDs and Masters recruited in the last two years, plus the existing staff, the school is confident in its ability to open five new majors at the same time," said Mr. Trung.

However, not all schools are cautious when opening majors. The Inspectorate of the Ministry of Education and Training said in August 2023 that there are schools that do not meet the conditions for autonomy but still open majors. Many schools open majors but do not ensure that they meet the conditions.

Master Pham Thai Son, Director of the Admissions and Communications Center, University of Industry and Trade, acknowledged that many schools follow "trends", racing to open hot majors to easily recruit students, because the current source of university revenue mainly comes from tuition fees.

"To meet the Ministry's requirements when opening a new major, schools compete to attract lecturers with doctoral degrees in the right major. But after opening a major, whether the school can maintain its training conditions and capacity is another matter," said Mr. Son.

The Ministry Inspectorate has punished a number of schools for not maintaining sufficient conditions after a period of opening a major. Some schools had to close the major and transfer the enrolled students to other schools.

According to experts, opening a major based on trends without careful preparation will lead to a number of consequences. For example, the quality of training is not guaranteed, the brand cannot be built to be competitive, leading to not enough students to study, wasting time, effort, and money of both the school and the learner.

Therefore, the Ministry of Education and Training needs to have tighter quality control in the autonomy of schools to open new majors.

From the perspective of state management, Deputy Minister of Education and Training Hoang Minh Son noted that when opening new majors, schools must determine whether they are majors that are suitable for current and future trends and social needs.

Another important point is that the school must have enough capacity to ensure quality. Schools must publicly and transparently disclose all admission data, from the teaching staff, facilities, programs, and admission methods, for candidates to choose.

"Currently, the Ministry manages enrollment and opening of majors of schools through this data, and at the same time strengthens inspection and examination work," said the Deputy Minister.

Talking about the trend of opening up industries, Mr. Nguyen Duc Trung commented that all industries integrate technological elements, the boundaries between specialized fields will gradually be erased, the trend of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary will become increasingly clear. That is the reason why gradually technical and technological schools will train more in economic and social fields and vice versa.

"It is not necessary to close traditional industries, because those job positions do not change but require new knowledge and skills. Schools must innovate training to keep up with labor market requirements," said Mr. Trung.

On the learners' side, Mr. Pham Thai Son advised candidates and parents to carefully research information about new majors and training strengths of schools, and not to choose a career just because of trends.

Duong Tam - Le Nguyen