Highlights of the day

Global Education Dialogue

Thursday 16 June 2016

• Mr Giles Lever, UK Ambassador to VN, British Embassy. The UK ranks third in the number of TNE (Trans-national education) programme in Vietnam. This forum brings together education administrations, industry and government’ policy makers to discuss current and continuous learning for people, to define development trends and to share innovations. It is absolutely essential that challenges are shared.

• Prof. Bui Van Ga, Vice Minister, Ministry of Education and Training. Education must be open, creative and adaptive to meet a changing world. At present, Vietnamese graduates need further training to be employable. Therefore, though education in Vietnam has made tremendous strides, it must improve university and industry linkages to meet the needs of the society.

• Professor Werner Hofer, Dean of Research Newcastle University. Enhance global partnerships for sustainable development, complemented by multi-stakeholder partnershipsthat mobilize and share knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources, to support the achievement of sustainable development goals in all countries, in particular developing countries.

• Prof. Tan Chin Tiong, Senior Adviser to the President, Singapore Management University. The features of SMU Education: Broad based curriculum; Flexibility; Small class; Interactive pedagogy; Mandatory internship; Overseas exposure; Voluntary services; and all rounded education

• Nguyen Ho Thao Nguyen, Student from RMIT Vietnam. We strongly desire a more balanced university curriculum and a package of engaging extra curricula where we could get most exposure to the industry, gain practical knowledge, skills and attributes in and from the workplace while deepening our understanding of the theories.

• Professor John Senior, Pro Vice Chancellor, Research and Enterprise, University of Hertfordshire. What employers are looking for, and our required attributes of graduates: professionalism, employability, learning and research skills; intellectual depth, breadth and adaptability; respect for others; social responsibilities and global awareness.

• Dr Nhai Nguyen, Senior Lecturer, RMIT Vietnam. Higher education institutions in Asia Pacific are shifting their “ivory tower” status to community- centeredness. This paradigm shifts community engagement from the margin to the epicenter of the university research, teaching and service.

• Dr Tran Vu Binh, Dean, Faculty of Science and Technology, Hoa Sen University. Hoa Sen success stories: cross-disciplinary programs to serve the emerging needs of society, providing on-the-job training to students. In recent years, the partnership with industry has been transformed from the apprenticeship model to a three-party integration model.

• Professor Iwan Davies, Senior Pro Vice Chancellor, Swansea University. Corporatisation of universities must ensure that the “scholarship” is not replaced by “business ship”

• Dr Dam Quang Minh, Rector, FPT University. Technopolis is widely accepted as a mechanism, which may “harmonize” the “triangle relations”: higher education institutions - knowledge-based firms - highly qualified staff. The model of Technopolis provides an ideal platform that may help accelerate the transformation of state-of-art knowledge from “ivory towers” (i.e. universities) into industries. Another identified advantage of this model includes its effectiveness in supporting incubating and start-up activities.

• Dr Mark A. Bacon, Director of Engagement and Partnerships, Keele University. Keele University uses its Science Park as a key site for international inward investment and uses the campus as technology demonstrator. This helps develop more experiential learning, new roles of academics, and local leadership capacities for innovation.

• Prof. Helen Griffiths, Pro Vice Chancellor, Aston University. Education has a vital role to play in improving the prospects of a better future for all – widening participation for greater benefit. Mobility, engagement and shared innovations will be effective throughout organisations when led from the top and embedded in the strategy. HE leading at the forefront of science, technology and innovation: Developing and nurturing talent; New knowledge and discovery; Engaging in a dynamic innovation sector; Increasing the impact of research and education.

• Professor Bui Anh Tuan, Rector, Foreign Trade University. Key lessons from University – Industry linkages in Vietnam: Trust from individual and bottom-up; Comprehensive and results-visible; Co-working and capacity building

• Mr Indronil Sengupta, Chief Executive Vietnam, Tata Sons Limited. The nature of partnership between Industry – University is changing from endowments to joint funding or development assistance, from general engagement to engagement based on specific projects or issues, from single or dual institution engagement to multi institutional engagement, in order to adapt to Changing needs and hence change in rationale: Specific Institutions have specific capabilities, industry to feel the need to innovate, industry to locate the right institution anywhere in the world, motivate a person or group to resolve the issue.

• Dr Ly Pham, International Education Institute, VNU-HCM and Nguyen Tat Thanh University. With help from experts from the Netherlands, MOET has led eight participating universities to redesign ten curriculum by investigating the very diverse demands of the world of work, translating them into each curriculum, which requires the integration of a wide range of teaching methodologies, re-aligning courses, clustering subjects and serious adoption of practiced based learning. Those programs are seen as highly practical, which set them apart from a “normal” program in terms of providing students knowledge, skills, and experience for employment.

• Dr Ha Thanh Toan, Rector, Can Tho University (CTU). CTU’ University Industry Partnership model is establishing laboratory of industry within university to improve capacity of researchers. It aimed at increasing investment of research equipment; practical training for students and strengthening service to community. Another focus is quality assurance. Quality Assurance strategy of CTU at institutional Level is based on MOET Standards and AUN-QA Standards; at program Level, it based on AUN-QA and ABET Standards. CTU emphasizes Build strong QA Team: Train qualified QA staff members and frequently internal evaluation for continuous quality improvement.

• Mr Nguyen Ba Quynh, Director, Public Sector Lead, Microsoft Vietnam. We will empower students and educators to create and share in entirely new ways, to teach and learn through exploration, to adapt to individual needs so that they can make, design, invent and build with technology that stays out of the way.

• A/Professor Pham Quang Hung, Director General, Vietnam International Education Development, Ministry of Education and Training. There are several governmental initiatives promoting to internationalise the Vietnamese higher education system, which include state-funded scholarship programs; joint-training programs, and student inward/outward. The UK is an important partner of Vietnam; however, there have been room to grow.

• Ms. Hoang Van Anh, Assistant Director, Education, British Council Vietnam. There have been key initiatives in building partnerships in higher education: policy dialogue, Research hub, Higher Education Partnership Funds, the Newton Fund, etc., with a total grant of two million pounds. We need strong commitment and engagement from industry. Vietnam-UK Partnership Network is a suggested possibility to serve both countries.