In the context of international int

In the context of international integration, the University of Economics and Business Administration – Thai Nguyen University (TNU- UEBA) has defined international cooperation in training and scientific research as a key development strategy, helping strengthen its development background and lift its position and image at the international level. Hence, in the past 10 years, the university has accelerated international cooperation and achieved significant results. On the occasion of “Vietnam – Korea Economic Forum”, Vietnam Business Forum interviewed Dr Tran Chi Thien, Secretary of the TNU- UEBA Party Committee. Duy Binh reports.

Would you please introduce some outstanding results of the university in the 2014 – 2015 academic year? And, what are the major orientations for 2016?

The University of Economics and Business Administration – Thai Nguyen University, set up 11 years ago, has made tireless endeavours under its operating principle: Take training quality as a prime target, combining theory with practice, maximising activeness and creativity of students, and focusing on basic, modern and integrating training programmes to meet the country’s needs.

Currently, the university has 498 employees, including 347 lecturers and 151 training service staff. The teaching force comprises seven associate professors, 40 PhDs, and 210 masters (including 98 PhD students) and 117 bachelors. Besides, the school has 128 guest lecturers, who are distinguished professors, associate professors and PhDs in economics working for national research institutes, leading universities, government agencies and businesses. The school has sent over 80 teachers abroad for Masters and PhD training courses. Over 30 people have come back with excellent doctoral and master degrees. The university has eight functional departments, seven faculties, 27 disciplines, 10 centres and one research institute with seven branches of study and 27 majors, three high-quality undergraduate training programmes, two PhD training programmes and three master training programmes. Its subjects of study are diverse and fit to social demand. Currently, the university has 11,000 students, including 9,000 undergraduate students, 1,200 graduate students, and 51 PhD students. It is the first unit to announce and successfully implement the comprehensive training quality standard. Since 2013, undergraduate students must meet knowledge standards, skills and attitudes to graduate, including 450 points in TOEIC international contests or equivalent, and Internet and Computing Core Certification (IC 3) Standards.

Specially, lecturers must hold master’s degrees, B1 English Certificate, European Framework, and IC3 Computer Science. Lecturers teaching their subjects in English and holding PhD degrees must have Level B2 (the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) and teachers of English must have Level C1. To produce a good intelligentsia, highly qualified and professional human resources with good English competence, computer proficiency, and ability to work with international friends, the school has sent many teachers to attend advanced training courses to obtain foreign language certificate (TOEIC) and Internet and Computing Core Certification (IC 3). Currently, 95 percent of its employees hold IC3 and MOS International certificates and 75 percent are qualified for required foreign language proficiency. According to its development roadmap, as of December 31, 2015, all employees will meet international computer science and foreign language standards. All graduates must achieve Internet and Computing Core Certification (IC 3) standards and TOEIC international language standards or equivalent.

The university pays special attention to scientific research. In the past school year, it approved eight provincial and ministerial level research projects, two State-level research projects and two international projects (one project for IRRI and another for POSCO); held four international scientific seminars and workshops; consulted on policies on health insurance monitoring and enforcement reporting for the Social Affairs Policy Commission of the National Assembly; took part in the research project “Summary of socialist-oriented market economy development lines after 30 years of renovation” initiated by the Central Economic Committee; and participated in the thematic research project “30 years of health renovation and social issues in minority areas” launched by the Central Propaganda and Education Department.

The university also focuses on upgrading equipment and facilities to meet learning and teaching needs, improving training programme contents, methodologies, and teaching tools to meet learners’ and social needs. Besides, its libraries are a treasure of books and reference materials. For instance, in addition to ANHE- TUEBA English textbook library funded by the Asian Network for Higher Education (ANHE), students and lecturers can also use the Learning Resource Centre of Thai Nguyen University, one of the most modern libraries in Vietnam at present.

In 2015, the university opened new majors, namely Business Law and International Trade Law. It is also the first university to launch training programmes for Health Economics, Hospital Economics and Management and Health Insurance Economics to train health decision-makers, policy analysts, and managers.

In the coming time, the university will be more active in raising training quality, upgrading equipment and facilities and strengthening international cooperation to become a top-tier training establishment in Vietnam to train human resources capable of international integration and competition.

International cooperation in training is an outstanding strength of your university. Would you share some remarkable results in this field? How is the quality of international training cooperation programmes?

Defining that international cooperation is a key to development, since its establishment, the university has always placed particular focus on international cooperation.

Specifically, the University is cooperating in eight training programmes instructed in English and certified by foreign education authorities, including four undergraduate programmes, two masters programmes and two PhD programmes. Currently, 400 students are attending international cooperation programmes at undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD levels, certified by South Korea and the Philippines. In addition, the university also coordinates with world-renowned universities. Typical partner universities include Auckland University of Technology (AUT) – New Zealand, Shanghai Finance University – China, and Bangkok Royal University of Technology – Thailand. In addition, 41 foreign students are studying in all three educational levels of bachelor, master and PhD at the university. Last year, 135 students from Laos and China went to the university to learn Vietnamese for commerce. Thanks to its prestige, the university invites 30-40 world-acclaimed professors to give lectures or conduct scientific research every year.

The university was chosen by the Government of South Korea as a sole official partner in Vietnam to train South Korean students to become specialists in Vietnam, starting in 2015. Carried out through Sogang University, the South Korean Government granted the first credit of US$200,000 for 2015. The school has successfully organised 16 international workshops and seminars. In the 2014 – 2015 academic year alone, it successfully hosted four international seminars and conferences. It coordinated with Guilin University of China to open an international workshop themed “Economic and Education Cooperation in Asia”. The university joined hands with the National Research Council for Economics, Humanities and Social Sciences (NRCS), the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade (KIET), the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP) and the Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI) to open the International Workshop on “Economic Cooperation between Vietnam and Korea in the Post-FTA Era” at Lotte Hanoi Hotel and the International Conference on “Reshaping Vietnam – Korea International Cooperation through Free Trade Agreement: Vision, Challenges and Strategies”.

Also during this school year, the university worked with Edith Cowan University – Australia to open a training workshop themed “International standardised scientific research methods”, and this year it deployed two international scientific research projects:

The “Research on improvement of crop varieties to raise rice productivity in Southeast Asia and East Asia” project sponsored by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).

The “Miracle of Korean steel industry: Development, competitiveness and role of Park Tae Joon” project sponsored by POSCO – South Korea.

In student and lecturer exchanges: In the cooperation framework between the Thai Nguyen University of Economics and Business Administration with Chinese educational institutions and universities, last year, the university collaborated with its partners to launch summer camping and winter camping and organise cultural exchanges, joined by nearly 100 lecturers and students from famous Chinese universities like East China University of Science and Technology – Shanghai, Guangxi Overseas Chinese School – Guangxi, Kunming University of Science and Technology, and Yunnan University. These useful activities helped visiting delegations to enhance communication skills in English and Chinese; learn and interact with ASEAN students such as Indonesian and Laotian students present in China; introduce the land and people of Vietnam to international friends to solicit foreign students to go to Vietnam to study Vietname