The vision of the late Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet for a university city.

Professor Dao Trong Thi, former Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture, Education, Youth, and Children (Director of Hanoi National University from 2001-2007), said that in the late 20th century, large state-owned economic corporations were considered the "steel fists" of the economy, the driving force leading the economy and society as a whole forward.
And former Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet recognized that education also needed such "powerful forces," with Hanoi National University and Ho Chi Minh City National University being likened to two "steel fists" of the reformed education system.

According to Professor Vu Minh Giang, Chairman of the Science and Training Council of Hanoi National University, the establishment of the two national universities reflects the "breakthrough thinking" in the field of education of the late Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet.
Mr. Giang recalled that in the 1980s, the education system still followed the Soviet model, with universities mainly specializing in fields such as Electrical Engineering, Mining, Irrigation, and Agriculture. "Engineers and graduates were trained in specific fields, a system of education serving a labor-planned economy. Graduates were all listed and assigned jobs to the State Planning Committee (then the Ministry of Planning and Investment)," Mr. Giang said.
Since the reforms and the start of the socialist-oriented market economy, the old system has revealed many limitations due to its inability to allocate students according to quotas as before. Job placement has become passive and has failed to meet the demand for highly skilled human resources in economic establishments.
Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet at the time recognized the need to build a new, more advanced, and modern higher education institution that would keep pace with global trends.
In December 1993, he signed a decree establishing the National University of Hanoi, based on the merger of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, the Polytechnic University, the Faculty of Education, the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, etc. The Prime Minister determined that this would be a multidisciplinary center for training, research, and application of science and technology, the largest education system ever, on the scale of a "university city".
In 1995, Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet signed a decree establishing the National University of Ho Chi Minh City. In 1997, while working there, he directed: "Training must be closely linked to social needs, to the realities of production, to key economic regions, to local characteristics and the cause of industrialization and modernization of the country, as well as being closely linked to the preservation of national identity, the preservation of nature and the protection of the environment..."

Mr. Thi said that the national university model was new and very unfamiliar to Vietnam at that time. During the implementation process, there were many differing opinions, and even opposition "within the team of people implementing it".
But the late Prime Minister demonstrated decisiveness, and one prime example is his granting autonomy to the two national universities. Many experts liken this to a kind of "contracting out" system in higher education, the origin of the university autonomy policy that is widely implemented today.
Previously, universities were under direct supervision, having to implement decisions from above without the right to make independent decisions on important issues related to their development, including professional matters, management, and finance. However, Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet expressed absolute support for granting autonomy. As a result, Hanoi National University then had several distinctive characteristics. In terms of expertise, it was multidisciplinary and multi-field. In terms of mission, it focused on high-quality and advanced training and scientific research. In terms of investment, it received priority from the State in terms of facilities and personnel, and was granted an autonomous mechanism.
"At that time, our resources were very limited. If we invested broadly, it wouldn't be effective or strong enough to create a significant breakthrough. Therefore, national universities were prioritized for key investments in infrastructure and teaching staff," Mr. Thi recalled. Because they had the authority to make decisions in professional activities, management, recruitment, and staff placement, the two national universities avoided the cumbersome and complex administrative management mechanisms of other higher education institutions.
A symbolic gesture of this was Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet presenting the National University of Hanoi with a seal bearing the national emblem.
"The late Prime Minister studied many documents, then looked for regulations on the Prime Minister's powers and came to that decision. This was a controversial decision because the national emblem is only for state administrative agencies, not for universities," Mr. Thi said.
However, according to Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet, the seal bearing the national emblem represents autonomy, self-responsibility, and the role recognized and affirmed by the head of the government. Later, the National University of Ho Chi Minh City was also granted this seal.
Mr. Vu Minh Giang assessed that thanks to groundbreaking policies and regulations, the two national universities have boldly brought many new fields from around the world to research and teach, notably nanotechnology. The national universities also participate in international university organizations, becoming members of many prestigious research communities. From 1993 to the present, the two national universities have become the core of Vietnam's higher education system, fulfilling many important responsibilities for the country.
"These achievements are the result of the efforts of the two national universities, the attention of the Party and the State, but we cannot fail to mention the very strong imprint of Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet," Mr. Giang said.
After more than 10 years of operation, the late Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet concluded: "Any policy considered correct must be tested over time. The decision to establish the National Universities of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City has been in effect for more than 12 years. To date, generally speaking, we have sufficient grounds to affirm that it was a correct policy."
Vietnam's first "university city" in Hoa Lac today also bears the mark of the late Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet. According to Professor Nguyen Van Dao, former Director of Hanoi National University, one Sunday the Prime Minister inspected potential locations for the construction of Hanoi National University. However, upon arriving at one location, the gate was closed due to a lack of prior notice. The Prime Minister and his entourage climbed over the fence to observe the site. After many days of deliberation about the future of a large university, the Prime Minister decided to allocate a beautiful, one-thousand-hectare plot of land in Hoa Lac to Hanoi National University.
"At the time, some officials wondered why we had to move so far? But now everyone realizes the wisdom of choosing this location: the National University must have a spacious and airy environment, must meet the development needs of the next hundred years, and must be worthy of being a major university in the region and the world," quoted Professor Dao.
In his memoirs, Professor Nguyen Van Dao also stated that the policy of reorganizing the network of universities and colleges, and establishing a national university, had been proposed long ago and discussed many times at various levels, but for a long time it could not be implemented. Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet directly supervised the establishment of the national university with new ideas about a higher education system.
"The establishment of the two national universities marked a profound innovation in the structure of Vietnam's higher education system. This also represented the first time a type of multidisciplinary university with a high degree of autonomy appeared in Vietnam's higher education system," Professor Nguyen Van Dao wrote in his memoirs.