1. WHEC, Macao 2008 Lao Higher Education By: Khamphone Xaysomphou
Deputy Director General, MOE, Lao PDR

2. Outline Introduction . Context of Education Development in Lao PDR.
HE institutions.
Programs offered in higher Institution in Lao PDR.
Path ways to HE.
Developing Research.
Accreditation & QA
Issues and Challenges.

3. 1.Introduction China Myanmar Lao PDR is bounded with:
Thailand: km
Vietnam: km
China: km
Myanma: km
Cambodia: 492 km
Total area: sq.km
Total population: 5,218,000 pers
Density: 22 pers/sqkm
Ethnic Minority: 48.
Vietnam
Thailand
Cambodia

4. 2. Context of Education Development
Education System of Lao PDR.
The Formal Education System of Lao PDR
is consisted of 5 Levels:
-Primary: 5 years
-Lower secondary education: 3(4) years
-Upper secondary education: 3 years
-Post - secondary education: 1-2 years
-Tertiary education: 3-7 years.

5. 3. Higher Education Development in Lao PDR from 1975 up to now
3. Higher Education Development in Lao PDR from up to now : 37 public institutions at post-secon dary education, in this, 10 were offering higher educations . These institutions belong to the different Ministries in The decree of Prime Minister one the Establishment of the National University by amalgamation of existing institutions to form NUOL.

6. Developing HE private sector
Start from Prime Minister’s Decree 64, in 1995 to increase the number of institution year by year, now have been registered 83 colleges,
Mainly the programs used in the area of business; Languages; computing...etc,
Graduated from Diplomas; Bachelor; and Master’s degrees;

7. 3. Program offer in Higher Institution, Lao PDR
Public Institution.
Four Universities:
- 42 Bs degree programs.
- 10 H D programs
Five Teacher Training colleges offer
- H D degree programs which train teachers for Lower Secondary schools.

8. Programs offer in Higher Institution (cont)
Private Institutions
83 Colleges, offer
HD, Bs & M Programs mostly
in the field of Commerce, Business, Computer & Foreign language
( English, …….)

9. Number of Enrolment on Higher institutions
The leavers from upper secondary school in period of the years
Academic years
Number of Leavers
Number of Enrolment on Higher institutions
Total
Female
20,452
8,337
4,415
1,596
25,929
10,409
5,710
1,950
29,771
13,027
6,028
2,999
33,194
13,949
6,429
2,982
37,496
15,243
7,972
3,026
43,675
17,897
17,875
6,809
44,762
19,020
18,809
7,588

10. Total number of students at the Higher Education level classified by the institution in charge during the academic year 2000 to 2007. No
Institutions
Academic years 1
National University of Laos (NUOL)
15,372
17,820
18,366
20,230
22,984
25,879
29,188 2
Souphanouvong University (SU)
none
550
1,230
1,765
2,674 3
Champasack University (CU)
395
845
1,530
2,612
3,460 4
University of Health Sciences
(UHS)
846
1,441 5
5 Teacher Training Colleges
3,046
3,801
4,403
4,310
5,569
10,970
13,611 6
83 Private Colleges
4,187
5,391
4,745
7,368
14,371
19,725
25,958
Total
22,605
27,012
27,909
34,908
47,214
61,797
76,332

11. The Pathways to HE (Admission System)
System of admission. Two Systems:
• Quota System.
• Non-quota System.
Admission Process.
• Institution’s Plan for New-Intakes
• Ministry’s Plan of Distribution
• Selection:
- Quota students
-Non-Quota students

12. a). Admission to Public Institutions
Selection of Quota-student.
From The selection of Quota student is
carried out by (Local) Provincial authority, but for
the next AY the selection will be carry out
the National committee.
-Criteria:
1. Must be completed upper secondary school.
2. Must be Lao citizen ( by original or Nationality).
In case of equal average score, female and ethnic minorities have
priority to be selected. All Quota- Student receives Government Scholarship

13. Admission to Public Institutions (cont)
Method of Selection.
By the rule, the selection must be carry out on the
Top-down principle by using the ranking of an
average score of graduation exam of the last
year of upper secondary level according to the
number distributed to concerned province.

14. Admission of Non-Quota student
- Non-quota student is a student who was admitted
by National Entrance Examination (NEE).
- The number of Non-Quota - students to each institution is defined by MOE.
Each year, the NEE has been organized by National Examination Committee ( NUOL+HVED)

15. b). Admission for Private Institution
-Admission only by Entrance Examination organized
by concerned institution.
-The program as approved by MoE and the same type of Degree in the public institution.
- The tuition fee a little bit higher than public institution

16. 7. Developing Research The mission:
- Encourage all teaching staff to have involvement with research,
- To develop the deeper knowledge in both social sciences and natural sciences,
- To respond to the social requirements,
- To progress research toward regional and international recognition.

17. Developing Research (CONT)
Mostly carries out applied research, despite this, the rate of applied research is larger than that of basic, it would be equally in future if social needs were developed,
According to the experience gained of academic staff and social need, the research activities are focusing on both natural and social aspects.

18. 7. Accreditation and Quality Assurance
Year 2007, MoE has been setting up the Center of Accreditation and Quality Assurance by functioning with controlling and monitoring the teaching learning process on both Public and Private HE institutions,
The cooperation with Regional and International exchanges in area of Accreditation & Quality Assurance

19. 8. Challenges & Issues On Policy:
- Conflictive demands on Manpower structures.
- Limitation of Access to Technical and Vocational Education.
B) On Selection of Quota- student.
-Basic Knowledge of student from Province.
-Accountability & Equity of Selection.
On Organization of NEE.
-Confidence , Security and Accountability.
- Budget, Staffs and Times.

20. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTANTION