Part 2: Born late and ambition to lead

FPT Corporation has succeeded in investing in the field of education. Source: Internet.

"New investment generation"

First of all, FPT Corporation has spent 19 years working in the private sector. FPT Education is one of Vietnam's major education systems, including high school, college, university, postgraduate, vocational training, training for business etc., and nursery projects.

FPT Corporation is committed to the education system that is born in the heart of the enterprise, the business-oriented education and product is what society needs, businesses needs. FPT Education has nearly 1000 staff, lecturers, and nearly 15,000 students in all training systems. According to the consolidated financial statement of Q4/2017 of FPT Corporation, revenue from education and investment in 2017 reached over 1,044 billion VND, up 17.36% compared to 2016.

Another name that cannot be ignored is Vingroup. Starting in 2013, Vingroup is involved in the Vietnamese education market with the Vinschool brand. This education system is built on the model of inter-school from kindergarten through high school, with more than 6,700 pupils and nearly 1,000 teachers.

Following the success of Vinschool, Vingroup continues to invest in higher education. In early May, the corporation announced that it would establish VinUni University, a private non-profit private educational institution established in accordance with international standards.

The investment in education has also brought certain success for Vingroup. According to the consolidated financial statement of Q4/2017, the revenue from educational services and related services reached over 346 billion VND, an increase of 76.69% compared to Q4/2016.

Lastly, in 2017, TH True Milk Group has also launched TH School. This project applies the international standard curriculum, additional Vietnamese curriculum, and a well-studied school nutrition program between the National Institute of Nutrition and international nutritionists. TH School has an area of ​​nearly 20,000 m2 with training scale, including: Pre-school with 17 classes of primary schools, 25 classes for secondary schools, and 45 classes with high schools.

Dr. Le Truong Tung, Chairman of the Board of Management of FPT University said: Compared to agriculture and food, multi-sectoral corporations investing in education is still limited. Education, however, remains an area of ​​concern for many investors, as the state has a policy of socialization calling on private sector organizations to invest in education.

For example, when opening a university, businesses will be given priority to use a large area of land and bring value in the future. At the same time, many multinational corporations also invest in education as a profitable activity.

Tasting "bitter fruit"

Many enterprises, corporations, typically the above names, have gradually affirmed the right direction. However, the field of education has witnessed the "bitter fruit" of some names.

In 2007, Dang Le Hoa Group established Ha Hoa Tien University in Ha Nam, with the aim of building multi-disciplinary higher education institutions of various types and training, contributing to the supply of high quality human resources, conduct scientific activities.

However, Ha Hoa Tien University operated inefficiently, for many years it did not recruit students, which should have been transferred to the Ministry of Public Security, to train for human resources for the industry on 17th January, 2016.

Another name, during the first four years of operation, Tan Tao University, established by Tan Tao Group, continuously reported losses due to expenses, salary ... trainers, while the enrollment "struggled" because there were five schools that enrolled less than 100 students.

During the course of its activities, Tan Tao University and its students continued to be involved in complaints related to degrees, compensation for training costs. So far, the school is still “struggling" to attract students.

Take lessons to succeed

Investors are pouring money into education because of the great market potential as the middle class is growing fast. The demand for education and the expansion of world trade has increased sharply, while the majority of Vietnamese schools are backward. In this context, traditional education may suffer from competitive pressures and unpredictable educational models, such that, catching up with the trends of the times and the demands of the market they will inevitably be eliminated.

According to Dr. Le Truong Tung, there are some private schools such as Dong Do University, Thang Long University etc., are "blurred" with the universities of corporations. Firstly, the first generation of Vietnamese private schools operated on the principle of a public school replica, and were administered by public administrators and teachers.

Secondly, the schools operate under the self-financing mechanism because of the 90's demand for university education was very large, so when a school enrolled students, they would have the operating funds. Thirdly, the schools did not have a clearly defined strategy because funding is dependent on tuition. At the same time, private schools have overcome the weaknesses of the old people's school, made a difference and made the right investment to achieve certain successes.

Dang Le Hoa Group failed to invest in Ha Hoa Tien University because the school followed the model of the old private school. In particular, the school's faculty and leaders were retired public school principals. At the same time, the school was born at the time when there was no need to open a school to study, so they could not overcome the difficulties.

For Tan Tao University, although it has invested a lot of capital, but investors did not directly hold the "steering wheel", and the operators were the people of public schools. When school met difficulties, there was no acumen to solve the problem. According to Dr. Le Truong Tung, private schools need time, from 5-10 years to confirm if the brand has economic potential to maintain operations. At the same time, investment in the education sector requires a new and sensible management model to handle the problems that arise.

Explaining the reasons for the failure of previous university projects, Mr. Le Viet Khuyen, former Deputy Director of Higher Education Department (Ministry of Education and Training), said that some enterprises thought investing in education can be profitable overnight, but when faced with difficulties in capital, enrollment etc., they had to "abandon ship".

Some investors have great economic resources, but do not have clear development strategies, do not understand about education, so wrong rules lead to failure. "Investing in education takes time to assert the brand from which it can attract learners. At the same time, businesses need to have a mentor system that is experienced educators, creative education managers, and economic resources to keep the school operating in the first place", said Mr. Le Viet Khuyen.