The Vietnamese government has recently approved in principle 20 schemes on establishing 15 private universities and five state ones, according to local newspaper Youth on Friday.

Under the government approval, Vietnam's Northwestern region will have its first private university in Hoa Binh province, and the country's central region four new private universities.

Relevant entities are now completing schemes on establishing a total of 10 universities, including four private ones, to submit them to the government for approval.

By mid-2005, Vietnam, with a population of some 82 million at that time, had 22.5 million students from pre-school to higher education, or over 27 percent of its population, who attended 214 universities and colleges, 546 vocational training establishments, 26,359 grade schools, and 10,104 kindergartens, according to the country's Ministry of Education and Training.

The country had literacy rate of 95.4 percent and 13 university students per 1,000 residents by mid-2005.

Source: Xinhua