Billionaire Universities

According to the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training, every year, higher education institutions must make a "3 public" report: facilities, training quality, and finance. At the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year, most universities will publish a "3 public" report according to the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training, including financial data for 2023. In terms of finance, this year continues to record many universities achieving total revenue of thousands of billions of VND.

For public universities, the group with the most revenue in the trillion dong group is led by Hanoi University of Science and Technology with total revenue of 2,137 billion dong; Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics is over 1,679 billion dong; National Economics University is over 1,408 billion dong; Ton Duc Thang University is over 1,157 billion dong; University of Science and Technology, Ho Chi Minh City National University is 1,003 billion dong.

For private universities, some schools are also in the top thousand billion VND and leading are FPT University with total revenue of nearly 2,920 billion VND; Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology 1,260 billion VND; Nguyen Tat Thanh University over 1,475 billion VND.

Analysis of public financial reports of universities shows that the proportion of revenue from scientific research and technology transfer is currently very low. Most of the revenue of universities is based on tuition fees, which means that the main source of revenue is from students.

Students of Hanoi University of Science and Technology go to flooded areas, apply science and technology to support people. Photo: Gia Han

In 2023, the National Economics University's revenue from scientific research and technology transfer was over 42 billion VND, reaching nearly 3%; revenue from tuition fees was over 1,014 billion VND, accounting for over 72%. Hanoi University of Science and Technology's revenue from scientific research and technology transfer was 18 billion VND, reaching over 0.8%; revenue from tuition fees was 1,340 billion VND, accounting for over 62%.

Revenue from scientific research and technology transfer of Ton Duc Thang University is over 53/1,157 billion VND; tuition is over 997/1,157 billion VND. At Nguyen Tat Thanh University, revenue from tuition is 1,454 billion VND, accounting for over 98% of total revenue; scientific research and technology transfer is over 11 billion VND, reaching 0.7%.

Difficult but possible

Some universities have revenue from scientific research and technology transfer reaching a relatively large proportion of total revenue. The University of Natural Sciences, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, has a total revenue of VND 286.4 billion in 2023, of which revenue from scientific research is VND 55.5 billion, reaching over 19%.

The Ministry of Education and Training has just issued a Circular on University Education Institution Standards. To meet the standards of a university education institution, in addition to the standards on lecturers, facilities, finance, enrollment - training..., universities that offer doctoral training must meet the requirement that the proportion of scientific and technological activities over total revenue calculated on average in the last 3 years is not lower than 5%.

Considering the current reality, it can be seen that the standard of revenue proportion from scientific research for current universities is very difficult to meet for schools with revenue of thousands of billions as above, the proportion from scientific research is also difficult to achieve. There are some other schools with lower revenue and the proportion of revenue from science and technology is at a level that barely meets the standards of the Ministry of Education and Training.

Ho Chi Minh City University of Information Technology's total revenue in 2023 is 259 billion VND, of which scientific research is 12.4 billion VND, reaching 4.7%. Hanoi University of Industry's revenue from science and technology is nearly 37.3 billion VND, reaching 4.2% of the total revenue of 878.1 billion VND in 2023. Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology's revenue from scientific research and technology transfer is more than 44 billion VND, accounting for 4.4%.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Phong Dien, Vice President of Hanoi University of Science and Technology, affirmed that the revenue from scientific research and technology transfer from 2021 to 2023 of this university has decreased dramatically compared to the years before COVID-19. The reason comes from the difficulties of businesses due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, this figure is still very low, only 7 billion VND.

Meanwhile, in 2020, the revenue from technology transfer and scientific research of Hanoi University of Science and Technology was 107 billion VND out of a total revenue of 1,141 billion VND. According to Mr. Dien, in 2024, the revenue from scientific research of the university has started to "warm up". The criterion that revenue from science must reach 5% of the total legal revenue of university facilities is not difficult and Hanoi University of Science and Technology can meet it.

Prof. Dr. Vu Hoang Linh, Rector of the University of Natural Sciences, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, explained that the reason scientific research accounts for a large proportion of the university's revenue is because the university has strengths in basic scientific research. Along with that, strong research groups are developed. The number of intellectual property patents of lecturers in the university increases every year. Vietnam National University, Hanoi also has mechanisms and policies to develop scientific research.

Mr. Linh shared that the university’s revenue from scientific research mainly comes from projects from the state, ministries, branches, national universities, and large corporations. There is some technology transfer, but not much. This is also an issue that Mr. Linh hopes that businesses will place orders with universities to promote technology transfer research.

NGHIEM HUE