In the following section are brief, pointed observations by the U.S. experts in computer science, electrical engineering, and physics, who participated in the site-visit teams.

Computer Science Computer science faces two major issues that are specific to the discipline: a lack of qualified teachers and a lack of good internet capacity. On the first major issue, information technology is a significant driver of the economy, which creates a high demand from industry for individuals to be sophisticated with computers. This demand competes with the Vietnamese national need to upgrade and expand computer science education. If the Vietnam economy is ultimately to approach that of the U.S., Vietnam will be required to increase significantly the number of research-oriented universities. The population of Vietnam is 80 million compared to 240 million in the U.S. So, Vietnam is roughly one-third the population of the U.S. The U.S. has at least 200 research intensive universities, each with computer science departments with roughly 30 Ph.D. faculty. If Vietnam is to have the same educational level as the U.S., it would mean creating 60 research intensive universities, each with 30 Ph.D. faculty members in computer science. This will require producing 1,800 Ph.D.s in computer science to fill this need alone. The need of industry for highly educated individuals will be far greater. This means that the top institutions in Vietnam will be required to improve significantly the quality of their programs so that they can start producing the faculty needed by the other institutions to improve their output. The second major issue is that research in computer science requires high bandwidth network connectivity and modern computers. Vietnamese faculty will not be able to compete at the level of faculty at top universities in the world unless there is a major upgrade of networks and computers. Access to recent research in computer science has become electronic. The current network bandwidth is a serious handicap for Vietnamese researchers.

Electrical Engineering The electrical engineering (EE) curriculum appears on the surface to parallel EE curricula used at a majority of engineering schools in the U.S. However, there are some areas of concern. One of these is that some parts of the curriculum are significantly out of date. For example, two technical drawing courses are required during the first year of study. It is not clear what purpose these courses serve. Also, most of the curriculum for the first two years seems to be the same for all engineering students, regardless of major; and there are no engineering classes offered during the first year. Most engineering curricula in the U.S. today offer at least one engineering class during the first year. Finally, there does not seem to be many opportunities for students to select electives. The curriculum is fully loaded with prescribed courses, offering little in the way of flexibility and preventing students from tailoring the program to their own special interests. Furthermore, the first three semesters and part of the fourth semester in the engineering curriculum are apparently specified by MOET, which does not allow the individual universities to set their own curriculum. It might be beneficial if each university had greater autonomy to experiment with alternative curricula. There also seems to be significant duplication of courses. At one of the universities visited, there were multiple versions of the same course developed for different levels of students based on academic achievement. But course content seemed to be identical in each course. It was never made clear by either the faculty or the students interviewed what criteria were used to decide which course a student took or what was really achieved by offering multiple versions of the same course.

Physics This brief evaluation of physics education in Vietnam covers undergraduate and graduate physics. Most comments are general and at the end some distinction will be made between the various universities. The teaching faculty is very enthusiastic about their subject and the teaching of physics, and the same can be said of the students interviewed, who were mainly honor students. Physics is a mature field, and the theoretical and experimental education at an undergraduate level is quite standard internationally. Thus, a book that was written 20 or 30 years ago can be used as a text for students today. Standard subjects such as mechanics, electricity and magnetism, thermodynamics and statistical physics, waves and optics, and quantum mechanics are taught to the students at the Vietnamese universities visited. However, there are serious problems in that the experimental or practical laboratories for undergraduates, in general, are quite out of date, simplistic, or lacking in equipment. A good education in laboratory techniques should culminate with a more advanced laboratory, using modern measurement techniques (lock-in amplifiers, high speed oscilloscopes, charge coupled devices--CCDs, optical detectors laser spectroscopy, microwaves, low temperature, etc.) on modern experiments. Some of this laboratory experience would typically be found in top level universities around the world when students associate in experimental research groups in their third and fourth years; but then it is not general or broad, but rather very specific and focused. A very serious problem for the students, as evidenced from the broad range of interviews at the Vietnamese universities, is that they have a large number of requirements in the curriculum and very little elective choice. The curriculum could easily be reduced by a factor of two, and still provide the students with a solid core education. The students get little feedback on their performance during the academic year and many do not have time to do their homework assignments, which in many cases is not registered or graded by the teaching faculty. The teaching faculty are overworked in order to earn a living wage and thus do not have time for more contact with the students and for response on the students’ performance. At the graduate level, the advanced courses are at a minimal level and the laboratories are far below what would be found at top universities worldwide. Laboratories are inadequately equipped and space is lacking; in many instances, an experimental laboratory is the rear part of a student’s study desk. As a measure of the level, in the Vietnamese universities visited, low temperature physics is considered working with liquid nitrogen (77.3K) whereas on international levels (where liquid helium is available) low temperature physics begins with liquid helium (4.2 K and lower) and goes down to millikelvin or even microkelvin temperatures. Finally, it was found that there is a gradient in the level, equipment, and educational requirements, improving as one goes from the universities of natural sciences to the technical universities and improving as one goes from South to North. Efforts might be considered to equalize the educational opportunities.