LookAtVietnam – International collaboration would help Vietnamese universities improve quality in the key areas of content, teaching methods and research.

An English professor delivers a lecture at Ha Noi Pharmaceutical University. International collaboration will assist Viet Nam in improving the quality of curricula and teaching methods.

Le Quang Minh, vice president of the Viet Nam National University-HCM City, said the collaboration would assist Vietnamese universities develop better curricula and programmes, improve teaching methods and apply international norms.

Minh said these were areas in which Vietnamese higher education had severe shortcomings.

International collaboration would also help in enhancing the reputation of higher education institutions like universities, increase enrollment and lead to higher quality of learning, teaching and research, he added.

Minh stressed the need for students to become fluent in English, saying it played an important role in achieving success with international learning programmes.

Nguyen Kim Hong, vice rector of the University of Pedagogy said domestic educators need to strengthen links with foreign ones because such co-operation would boost development of education in the country.

Hong said there were several advantages if joint training programmes with foreign universities were established.

Tuition

The tuition for these programmes in Viet Nam would be cheaper than a similar programme abroad. For instance, a bachelor’s (undergraduate) course would cost between US$13,500 to $18,500 against $120,000-$200,000 for a similar course in the US, some speakers pointed out.

Furthermore, those students who graduate from joint training programmes in Viet Nam would find it easier to seek jobs with foreign-based companies.

It would contribute to enriching the intellectual capacity of the nation’s labour force and enhancing their work quality to match those of developed countries.

For the joint training programmes to work effectively, Hong suggested that the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) allows Vietnamese universities to actively co-operate and bear responsibility for their quality.

It should encourage joint training programmes by providing scholarships for competent students, Hong said

The MoET needed to have strict monitoring and punitive measures to ensure quality, including imposition of fines and ordering closure of programmes that do not live up to their commitments, Hong said.

Hong also called for incentives to open joint-training programmes in majors unavailable in Viet Nam; those that involved transfer of training expertise; and those with commitments to provide advance training for faculty members.

Prof. Philip Altbatch, director of the international education centre at Boston University, said Viet Nam needed to build international standard universities that would become leading training and research institutions.

Highly qualified human resources, well-equipped infrastructure and information technology application in teaching and studying were the main foundations for establishing such institutions, he said.

He said remuneration for teachers should be attractive enough to retain competent ones in the profession and to attract fresh talent.

Research capacities of universities played a key role in the international integration process, Altbatch said.

He said the research should be linked to what is taught because this was a hallmark of well-known universities.

Dr Lynn Mc Namara of the Viet Nam Education Foundation, a federal agency created by the US Congress, said international collaboration would help by attracting more funds for research work.

In the US, the quality of research increased the competitiveness of universities, she said.

The conference was organised by the HCM City University of Pedagogy in collaboration with the Viet Nam National University-HCM City and the Fulbright programme in Viet Nam.

It attracted the participation of 45 speakers including 18 foreign academics and experts from the US, France, Japan, Russia, South Korea, India, Turkey and Israel.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News