A university in Ho Chi Minh City has laid off all of its instructors for fear that the school will be closed.

Hung Vuong University has recently terminated 82 labor contracts with instructors and announced its intention to end the contracts of the remaining 26 staff and faculty members in the near future.

In a dispatch released by Dang Thanh Tam, former chairman of the board of directors of Hung Vuong University, which operates like a joint stock company, on December 10 last year, the school had not been able to enroll students for four years after it was banned from recruiting enrollees by the Ministry of Education and Training in 2012 over its prolonged internal conflict.

According to the former chairman, Hung Vuong University is suffering huge losses since it no longer has any income.

The school commits to comply with the labor law and pay severance allowances for its laid-off employees.

On January 13, Tam sent a dispatch to Ta Thi Kieu An, standing vice rector in charge of the school’s operation, requiring An to guide the legal department to encourage employees to voluntarily terminate their contracts with the school.

On February 25, he signed a decision to end 79 work contracts after terminating three others one day earlier.

Instructors of the school have expressed their dismay amid the mass dismissals.

Nguyen Phuoc Hien, head of the school’s legal department, said Tam no longer had the legal status to sign decisions on the school’s employees, as he has not had the right to be Hung Vuong University’s chairman of the board of directors since June 15 last year.

“It’s not legal that he made decisions on terminating work contracts of the school’s employees,” he added.

The remaining instructors have voiced their disagreement over the mass lay-offs, saying that he did not have the proper authority.

Meanwhile, Bui Truc Lam, secretary of the school’s board of directors, said the former board is still able to work while waiting for an election.

According to Lam, at a private school, shareholders have full rights over the school’s operation.

“While the school has still not organized a general meeting of shareholders, Tam has been authorized by the majority shareholders to operate the school,” he confirmed.

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