25 August 2022

AUN-QA’s Official Meetings in Viet Nam Series #2: Accreditation Centers and Rating System

By
AUN Writer Team

By Chanya Chinsukserm, AUN Programme Officer

Throughout the AUN-QA’s missions in Viet Nam, the official meetings between AUN-QA and the Accreditation Centers and Rating System took place during 17 - 21 July 2022. The AUN-QA Secretariat team arranged official meetings with the key stakeholder organisations for the purposes of discussing prospects of Quality Assurance (QA), as well as quality management directions and sharing recent updates on QA development in the ASEAN region. The AUN-QA team met with two Accreditation Centers alongside one Rating System Organisation as follows:

  • UPM (The University Performance Metrics)
  • CEA VNU-HCM (Center for Education Accreditation, Viet Nam National University, Ho Chi Minh City)
  • VNU-CEA (Viet Nam National University, Center for Education Accreditation)

The AUN-QA team was scheduled to meet with UPM, led by Prof. Nguyen Huu Duc, Founder and Chairman of UPM. UPM is a new university rating system initiated and developed by a team of researchers from Viet Nam National University, Hanoi, led by Prof. Nguyen Huu Duc – the former vice president of VNU, Hanoi. The MOET funded this project in order to assess the responsiveness of the universities in the 4th Industrial Revolution Era. The main objective of this rating system is to promote benchmarking among universities against five core 4.0 education characteristics: Entrepreneurial Spirit, Innovative Approaches, Digital Transformation, Student Mobility, and Ethical Values. The AUN-QA team discussed profoundly with UPM strategy and structures of the rating system as it could bring significant benefits to different stakeholders.

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Dr. Choltis Dhirathiti, the Executive Director of AUN and Prof. Nguyen Huu Duc, Founder and Chairman of UPM

Afterwards, the meetings with the two Accreditation Centers were held separately in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi respectively. The Center for Education Accreditation is a professional accrediting organisation approved by Ministry of Education and Training (MOET). The organisation is driven by its visions to evaluate and accredit education institutions/programmes and assigned by VNU to organise training courses for accreditation on higher education and vocational school.  It also acts as a consultant on quality improvement for education to contribute to developing the quality of education in Viet Nam.

During the CEA VNU-HCM meeting in Ho Chi Minh City, the AUN-QA Secretariat team met with the Director of CEA VNU-HCM, Dr. Le Ngoc Quynh Lam. She explained the different types of higher education in Viet Nam that there are two National Universities in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, three regional universities, provincial universities, universities under the control of the ministries, private universities and military/police universities. In addition, the matters about QA system development, QA progress, including advantages and challenges faced by the organisation, were heavily discussed during the meeting.

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Official meeting between the AUN-QA team and Dr. Le Ngoc Quynh Lam, Director of CEA VNU-HCM 

Another official meeting was held in Hanoi between AUN-QA and VNU-CEA led by Dr. Ta Thi Thu Hien, Director of VNU-CEA. The meeting was also attended by Prof. Dr. Nguyen Quy Thanh, Rector of the University of Education, VNU Hanoi. The discussion topics amidst the team members were primarily regarding possible cooperation in QA and accreditation activities, developing an education QA system in Viet Nam, training and capacity building for accreditors and assessors, and feasible engagement in international networks.

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Official meeting between the AUN-QA team and VNU-CEA led by Dr. Ta Thi Thu Hien, Director of VNU-CEA, with the attendence of Prof. Dr. Nguyen Quy Thanh, Rector of the University of Education, VNU-HN

The AUN-QA has garnered and received meaningful insights from these essential stakeholder organisations. Quality assurance and quality management matters will continue to be discussed in furtherance of the advancement of quality assurance and accreditation systems in both Viet Nam and the ASEAN region.

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The AUN-QA team and UPM

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The AUN-QA team and CEA VNU-HCM 

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The AUN-QA team and VNU-CEA