In the press

81 per cent of young people in Vietnam said they have no or very little information on integrity and anti-corruption rules. The Youth Integrity Survey 2019 revealed that while most young people seem to understand the concept of integrity, a majority appear willing to compromise integrity to gain benefits for themselves and their families. The Vietnam Integrity School brings young people together across Vietnam to learn about anti-corruption, exchange ideas, and discuss how to design and implement initiatives to promote integrity in their school, community, and workplace.

The Court convicted officials of the Ministry of Education and Public Security for involvement in fraud over the 2018 high school national exams, where over 200 students from three northern provinces of Hoa Binh, had their results modified in the high school exam. Two other people were jailed for paying bribes to alter exam scores. After the fraud was exposed, dozens of students dropped out of top universities and others were expelled after their marks were corrected.

There is a massive fraud going on in Vietnam with education agents charging $5,000-10,000 upfront from the families for scholarships to US institutions. Larger agencies are more specialized in helping students gain admission to “highly selective colleges and universities”, with packages that include assistance with writing essays, completing them on behalf of students and other services, including creating extracurricular activities that their clients can add to their application.

Many senior educations officials have been arrested or disciplined for abuse of power for personal gain. Investigations revealed that the results of more than 200 students from the three provinces who took their exams had been modified. Dozens of students from the best universities were expelled or voluntarily dropped out of school after their results were corrected.

Most Vietnamese parents and students work with education agents when applying to the US and other foreign colleges and universities. The challenge for families is that these education agents charge exorbitant fees and misrepresent partner schools. They convince their clients of the need to ‘enhance’ an application using fraudulent documents, such as altered or fake transcripts and adviser-written statements of purpose.

Freshmen to universities with financial autonomy have called on the universities to publicise tuition fees so that they and their families can manage the sum actively. A local newspaper on Friday reported that some universities “forget” to publicise tuition fees, which made students and their families confused and worried about transparency at the universities. In the middle of last month, second-year students at the National Economics University were shocked when the university announced a 30 per cent increase in tuition fees in the coming academic year.

A member of the Association of Việt Nam’s Universities and Colleges, spoke about the fight against corruption in higher education. The professor questioned how Government officials’ can afford to send their children to study abroad, suggesting greater transparency is needed regarding their assets. He also condemns the practice of giving scholarships to children of high high-ranking Government officials who have not excelled academically, citing it as a sign of corruption.

With more universities and offices requiring English qualifications from graduates, students are turning to hiring other people to sit their English exams. The police in HCM City's Thu Duc District are investigating a case in which 34 students at the HCM City University of Agriculture and Forestry hired impersonators for their English exams. Last year, 10 impersonators were uncovered. Meanwhile, universities which require students take TOEFL, TOEIC or IELTS tests as English graduation exams have received a number of fake certificates.

In a recent survey the organization [Transparency International] found that 49% of Vietnamese respondents perceived their education sector to be "corrupt" or "highly corrupt". Corruption is plainly evident at elite Vietnamese schools. Yet it also exists on a smaller scale, in subtler forms...

The nation will make the battle against corruption part of the high school curriculum in the 2013-14 academic year, starting in September, after it was piloted for three years in accordance with a government decision issued in late 2009.