VIETNAM EDUCATION SYMPOSIUM - VES 2021
, 24/09/2021 13:09
On two days 9 and 10 Sep, 2021, the international conference on social sciences and humanities 2021 was held, welcoming a host of participants from local and international universities such as University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNUHCM USSH, Hoa Sen University, Deakin University (Australia), University of Bath (UK). The symposium, organized by USSH VNUHCM, AVSE Global and Vietnam Journal of Education (Ministry of Education and Training) made “Higher Education's Adaptation to Crises” a central theme.
The conference lasted for two days, with a total of 4 parallel sessions, one workshop and 5 keynote presentations presented by honored guest speakers from international universities. For the opening speech, Assoc Prof. Dr. Ngo Thi Phuong Lan - President of USSH VNUHCM emphasized that higher education had to adapt timely to crises caused by Covid-19 pandemic. Many topics related to Covid-19 were discussed at the sessions such as technology and digitalization, governance & management and internationalization of Higher Education. VES 2021 also created a space for discussion on opportunities and challenges that Vietnam education is facing in a multi-polar world; thus aiming to attract more international students.
Prof Simon Marginson, with his presentation on Higher education in Vietnam in a multi-polar world noted that higher education had been no longer dominated by Anglophone countries but witnessed great potentials of Asian higher educational institutes instead. The speaker also mentioned adverse impacts of the pandemic on society as well as the worldwide economy. The damaging outcome could be seen in Covid-19 death tolls of developed countries such as the US, France, and the UK, which were even higher than those in WWII. However, the higher education sector still showed potential growth reflected in the increasing number of higher education enrolments worldwide.
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Prof Simon’s presentation “The end of Anglo-European domination? Higher education in Vietnam in a multi-polar world”.
Another important point in Prof Simon’s speech was the role of international university ranking. Scientific research played a critical role in international university rankings since their criteria place a strong emphasis on research activities, said the professor. That is to say Western universities would have more advantages because they are highly funded and invested in conducting scientific studies. Therefore, he suggested that Vietnam had better join a regional ranking in which universities in Southeast Asia such as Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines would compete with one another.
Prof Simon’s recommendation for Vietnam education to participate in a regional Southeast Asian university ranking.
The second keynote address “The geopolitics of international education and student mobility: Implications for internalisation of Vietnamese higher education” was brought to the afternoon session by Prof Ly Tran, Deakin University, Australia. The professor presented about how geopolitics of international education as well as the pandemic crisis have affected international students and drew out some implications that higher educators in Vietnam should take into consideration. International mobility depends on a number of factors but some significant ones need to be mentioned are policy on opening borders , political relationships and the educational internationalisation model of each country. The MOET of Vietnam has also made a remarkable move regarding the hybrid higher educational training which is stated in Circular 38, issued in 2020.
Prof Ly Tran, talked about some programs promoting international studies in the US, the UK and Australia.
From the internationalisation trend around the world, the speaker articulated some implications to improve and enhance Vietnam's education position on the world’s map. First, Vietnam should maintain the reputation as being one of the top destinations for short-term international exchange programs in the region. Vietnam ranked 8th and climbed to 4th amongst other SouthEast Asia countries voted by Australian students in the New Colombo Plan program, promoted by the Australian government in 2016 and 2019.
In addition, to effectively promote Vietnam education to the world, higher education institutes in Vietnam should join hands together and strengthen collaboration with other sectors and ministries such as tourism, finance and foreign affairs.
Keynote speaker, Prof Ly Tran concluded her presentation with some implications for Vietnam education.
The symposium created a space for participants from all parts of the world to discuss issues on not only Vietnam education but also worth-mentioned news and changes of higher education over the world. The conference was also an open forum to exchange opinions and provide recommendations, in an attempt to improve teaching & learning quality; thereby increasing inbound mobility.
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