Abstract
This paper is motivated by the ongoing debate on university reform in Vietnam. In particular, there is a need to quantify the level of governmental support for public universities and examine whether or not such a support is adequate. To this end, the present paper estimates training costs per student in different disciplines within the Vietnamese public university education system in 2010. The various estimates of unit costs are based on the definitional approach which defines unit cost as the ratio of total costs over output. In measuring total costs, private costs incurred by university students (apart from formal tuition fees) are excluded. Further, the opportunity cost method employed emphasizes implicit costs such as imputed land rent. The total output is based on weighted student numbers. Unit costs are then estimated using a variety of primary (from survey) and secondary data sources. The results obtained suggest that the unit costs of public university education in Vietnam vary considerably between disciplines. The results also support the presence of economies of scale and scope in higher education and a negative relationship between unit costs and teaching quality proxies. The overall unit cost of public universities in Vietnam is very low in absolute terms when comparing with other countries. However, unit cost relative to GDP per capita in Vietnam is more comparable with those of neighboring countries. Nevertheless, the findings of the paper imply that more resources need to be allocated to the public university sector as part of an urgently needed university reform in Vietnam.
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Source: MOET (2014a)
Source: MOET (2014a)
Source: MOET (2014a)
Source: OECD (2011, Chart B3.4, p. 239)
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Notes
ABC is a costing method that identifies all activities in an organization (a university in this case) and assigns the cost of each activity to all products and services (students in this case) according to the actual consumption by each activity.
Universities are educational institutions and not businesses although in some limited ways universities run like a business. In a competitive market, profit-maximizing firms sell a private good to many buyers who are willing and able to pay for the product. University education is not a usual private good. It is a process of human capital accumulation (analogous to physical capital investment). It has some properties of a public good, and it generates positive externalities. It is a service that students (direct buyers) do not decide for themselves, especially in the case of Vietnam. It is an intermediate good that the ultimate buyers are the consumers (or the population). The relationship between teachers and students is not the same as that between sellers and buyers in a competitive market. Universities aim to achieve specific non-commercial targets, not profit maximization. Public universities cannot freely set their fees and select their student numbers. Universities, whether public or private, do not allocate students to different programs by students’ willingness and ability to pay alone. The government also often intervenes in the university sector in many visible ways.
This assumption is essential to our empirical analysis of multidisciplinary universities. The assumption of cost ratio uniformity can be justified in the context of Vietnam’s public universities. The public university sector is tightly regulated by the Vietnamese government in terms of (uniform) staff/student ratio for each discipline, salaries, tuition fees, core subjects, etc. Further, public universities tend to employ highly similar combination of inputs in delivering their education programs.
MOF has conducted universities survey in 2011 to collect financial information of 60 public universities between 2009 and 2011. Among 60 surveyed universities, 24 universities are managed by MOET, 20 universities are from other ministries, four universities are national universities, and the other 12 universities are managed by Provincial People’s Committees. The data are categorized into four groups, namely staff and faculty group (number of teaching hours, number of publications and papers), student group (number of students per class, number of students per high-quality class), financial information group (revenues, expenditures, usage of state budget, tuition fee) and facilities information group (total land area, total floor space, number of computers).
In a well-cited, large-scale study on survey response rates, Baruch and Holtom (2008: 1140) found that ‘the average response rate for studies that utilized data collected from organizations was 35.7 percent with a standard deviation of 18.8.’
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This paper is derived from a capacity building project commissioned by the Higher Education Project 2 (HEP2) of Vietnam’s Ministry of Education and Training (MOET). The authors are grateful to many individuals and organizations for their valuable assistance in making this project possible. The authors would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers whose valuable comments result in vast improvement of the paper. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of any institutions with which they are affiliated.
Appendix: Survey instrument
Appendix: Survey instrument
Questionnaires
Note: Data collected for this questionnaire are the statistical data for the whole university (including in joint training activities in other locations managed by the university)
I. General information
-
1.
Name of university:…………………………………………………………………… …………………
-
2.
Governing organization/ministry:…………………………………………………… …………
-
3.
Is the university willing to participate in a direct interview?
$$ {\text{O}}\;{\text{ Yes}}\;\;\;\;\;\;{\text{ O}}\;{\text{ No}} $$ -
4.
Is the university willing to participate in the workshop for reporting survey results?
$$ {\text{O}}\;{\text{ Yes}}\;\;\;\;\;\;{\text{ O}}\;{\text{ No}} $$Please give information on university’s representatives who will participate in the workshop (priority to two senior officers from the university):
Representative 1
Representative 2
Full name
Position
Mobile
Email
-
5.
The starting year of bachelor’s degree student enrollment:………………………….
-
6.
The degree of financial autonomy of the university?
$$ {\text{O Autonomy 1}}00\% \, \;\;\;\;\;\;{\text{O Partial autonomy}} $$
-
7.
Please list information on land use rights by the university (excluding rent land) at 31/12/2010:
No.
Land area (m2)
Location (district, province)
Location 1
Location 2
Location 3
Location 4
…
Total
-
8.
Total area of university’s buildings by time period?
-
o
Building area before 1990:……………………………………………………… ………………. m2
-
o
Building area during 1991–2000:……………………………………………… ……………… m2
-
o
Building area after 2000:……………………………………………………… …………………. m2
-
9.
In 2010, number of computers for students?
By Faculty of Information Technology (if any) and other faculties:
Before 2008
2008–2010
Faculty of Information Technology (if any)
Other faculties
Total
-
10.
How many additional computers for students should the university equip to ensure educational quality? How much to purchase these additional computers?
Additional computers
Expected expense (mil. VND)
Faculty of Information Technology (if any)
Other faculties
-
11.
Total number of book titles in the university library in 2010 is………………….
With the number of students as in 2010, how many additional book titles should the university purchase to increase educational quality?………………….. book titles.
Estimated expense for purchasing these additional book titles is…………………. mil. VND
-
12.
Do students have rights to use international and internal electronic database for studying?
$$ {\text{O}}\;{\text{ Yes}}\;\;\;\;\;\;\;{\text{ O}}\;{\text{ No}} $$If yes, the number of these database sources in 2010 is……………………….. Total expense for purchasing the license of these sources in 2010 is ………………….. mil. VND.
-
13.
Number of articles published in scientific journals from full-time teachers and staff in the university in 2010:
-
o
National scientific journal: ……………..…………………………………………………
-
o
International scientific journal:.….….………………………………………………..
-
o
Patents: ….……….….…………………………………………………………… ………….
According to the university, at least how many articles published in scientific journals do each full-time teacher write to increase the educational quality?
-
o
Prof./Ass. Prof.:…………………………………………………………..articles/person/ year
-
o
Dr./Senior teacher:………………………………………………………articles/person/ year
-
o
Other teachers:…………………………………………………………….articles/person/ year
-
14.
If the university receives additional 5% (10%, 15%) of the state budget for formal undergraduate training expenditures in 2013, which areas will the university give priority to spending more on to improve the educational quality? Priorities are listed in descending order:
+ 5%
+ 10%
+ 15%
Priority 1
Priority 2
Priority 3
Priority 4
Priority 5
-
15.
If the university receives less than 5% (10%, 15%) of the state budget for formal undergraduate training expenditures in 2013, which areas will the university give priority to spending less? Priorities are listed in descending order:
+ 5%
+ 10%
+ 15%
Priority 1
Priority 2
Priority 3
Priority 4
Priority 5
-
16.
How many first year students and classes were there in 2010? (Differentiate by ‘regular’ and ‘high-quality’ programs, in which the latter means advanced/high quality/talented/taught in English or similar programs)Note: Fill all the available disciplines in 2010
-
17.
Total equivalent teaching hours
Note: Use the conversion rates which are in use by the university
2nd semester
2009–2010
1st semester
2010–2011
Permanent teachers
Guest teachers
II. FINANCIAL INFORMATION
-
18.
Total revenue in 2010:
No.
Revenue
Million dongs
1
State budget funding (including National Targeted Program)
In which:
1.1
Funding on recurrent expenditure
1.2
Funding on researches
1.3
Funding on capital expenditure
1.4
Funding for other state-assigned tasks (survey, environment protection tasks, marine-islands protection tasks, etc.)
2
Tuition and fees
3
Teaching support
4
Revenue from other education services (general education, entrance examination preparation, professional short courses, etc.)
5
Revenue from cooperation with foreigner programs
6
Other revenues
TOTAL REVENUE
-
19.
Total expenditure in 2010:
No.
Expenditure
Million dongs
1
Recurrent expenditure (from all sources mentioned in Question 177)
In which
1.1
Personnel expenditure (including salaries, wages, allowances, remunerations to local people and expatriates, bonuses, welfares, contributions, other payment to people, extra-teaching payments, thesis introduction, administrative management, etc.)
1.2
Scholarships to students
1.3
Professional expenditure (public service payment, stationeries, communication, seminars, per diems, rents, repairs, etc.)
1.4
Expenditure on large purchases and repairs of fixed assets such as automobile, equipment… (if any) from current expenditure funding
1.5
Research expenditure
1.6
Expenditure on other education services (if any) (general education, entrance examination preparation, professional short courses, etc.)
1.7
Other recurrent expenditure
2
Capital expenditure
3
Other expenditure
Total expenditure
-
20.
Depreciation of fixed assets calculated from 1/1/2010 to 31/12/2010 is………………… mil. VND.
-
21.
In 2010, what percentage of current expenditure for regular undergraduate students did revenue from tuition and fees of these students meet for?………………. percent.
-
22.
Total procurement of fixed assets (excluding building construction) during 2006–2010 (mil. VND)
-
23.
Total expenditure for research activities by full-time teachers and staff in the university in 2010:
-
o
National:……………………………………………………..mil. VND
-
o
International:….…………………………………………..mil. VND
-
24.
Estimated cost/revenue ratio of training services (e.g. secondary education, college exam preparation, professional training, short training…) in 2010 is:……….. percent.
-
25.
Does the university have building and internal roads over 50 years of age?
$$ {\text{O}}\;{\text{ Yes}}\;\;\;\;\;\;\;{\text{ O}}\;{\text{ No}} $$If yes, how much is estimated value of this construction?……………………….. mil. VND.
-
26.
About information on students, teaching staff, facilities and building, the university is recommended to offer period statistical reports for DPF-MOET in the schooling year of 2009–2010 and 2010–2011 (Tables 2, 5.1 and 6). Please send this questionnaire via postal mail, fax or email address xxxxx
The research team would like to thank you for your cooperation!
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Pham, V.T., Tran-Nam, B. Estimating unit cost of public university education in Vietnam. Educ Res Policy Prac 20, 279–305 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10671-020-09280-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10671-020-09280-8