The 'key' to Vietnam becoming an international education destination

In the context of countries increasingly developing international education, mainly at the university level, Vietnam is considered to have the potential and opportunity to attract more international students in particular and transnational educational activities in general.

POTENTIAL FOR WELCOME INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

To realize the goal of becoming a new destination for international education in Southeast Asia, the Ministry of Education and Training and the British Council in June coordinated to research directions through a survey of 120 universities in Vietnam; in-depth interviews with more than 30 stakeholders in Vietnam and abroad; document analysis and comparison with international experience. The initial results announced in September showed that Vietnam has the potential to welcome international students. Firstly, Vietnam has more than 25 years of experience in building student hubs such as Hoa Lac High-Tech Park, Da Nang High-Tech Park, Da Nang University Village, Ho Chi Minh City National University Urban Area... Secondly, as of June 2024, our country currently has 369 joint training programs with foreign countries being implemented, of which the UK is the leading country with 120 programs.

International students participate in exchange and cooperation programs at International University - Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City

PHOTO: NGUYEN NGOC

This helps Vietnam welcome thousands of international students to study long-term and short-term programs each year. Because the above factors provide students with flexible study options suitable for the local context, as well as creating a premise for long-term cooperation. The report also notes that to achieve the goal of becoming an international education destination, Vietnam should create a favorable environment for international students to come and study, and at the same time internationalize education at the macro level. In addition, our country also needs to attract more international students, increase the number of joint training programs, branches of foreign universities and create a favorable education investment environment.

BUILDING A NATIONAL EDUCATION BRAND

The report also highlights a number of lessons to become an international education destination. These include building a national education brand, committing to an international education strategy, expanding training programs taught in English or other popular languages, systematically collecting higher education data, developing a portal for learners and providing support for this group, etc. Speaking at the report launch in September, Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Van Phuc emphasized that Vietnam always encourages international universities to establish branches in the country as well as encourages domestic universities to cooperate with prestigious international universities to develop joint training programs, scientific research and technology transfer. This will make Vietnam a high-quality education center in the region.

LESSONS LEARNED FROM OTHER COUNTRIES

In Southeast Asia, Malaysia is one of the leading countries in international education, attracting 170,000 international students by 2023, including 740 Vietnamese. The country is also becoming a "stopover" for international students, gathering 11 branches of international universities from Australia, the UK, Ireland, China, etc., and most of the training programs are taught in English, with students from 150 countries and territories. Most recently, in September, Malaysia also became the first place a Japanese school set foot abroad. Specifically, Tsukuba University (Japan) opened a branch on the campus of Malaya University, offering 4-year bachelor's programs and approved by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). This is considered a breakthrough in the history of university education in Japan, according to a specialist at MEXT. Mr. Megat Mohd Samsul bin Megat Ismail, Senior Manager for Southeast Asia at the Malaysian Global Education Board (EMGS) - the agency responsible for promoting international education and supporting student visa processing under the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education, shared with Thanh Nien that the country has implemented various measures to enhance internationalization, thereby becoming an international education hub in the region. In particular, an important factor is to strengthen strategic cooperation activities, such as joint training programs to grant dual degrees, helping students receive degrees recognized in both countries. "This helps students not only save costs but also enrich their international experience and expand their connections. We do not aim to compete with English-speaking study abroad countries," Mr. Megat emphasized.

Students of the joint program of the International University (Ho Chi Minh City National University). There are currently 369 joint training programs with foreign countries being implemented in Vietnam.

PHOTO: NGUYEN NGOC

According to Mr. Megat, instead of competing, the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education has proposed an initiative to attract more and more branches of world-famous universities. In addition, Malaysia also supports its universities to open training facilities abroad such as Indonesia and Qatar. To do this, the role of the government, especially the education ministries between the two countries and the memorandums of understanding on cooperation is extremely important. However, Mr. Megat also said that not only limited to leading universities, Malaysia also welcomes universities in the Southeast Asian region, even Vietnam, to establish international branches in the country. "Malaysian citizens should not be satisfied with domestic success. They need to reach out globally, cooperate with other countries and learn many new things," the manager shared about the vision of international education. China, which has had many tight policies since the Covid-19 period, has also recently actively expanded international education. In April, the National People's Congress of China passed a new Degree Law, the first change in the country's degree law in more than 40 years. This opens up potential opportunities for Chinese universities to collaborate with foreign partners, Professor Yuzhuo Cai (University of Hong Kong) and Professor Wenqin Shen (Peking University) wrote in University World News . In Singapore, a study by Dr. Hannah Soong (University of South Australia) published in the Asia-Pacific Education journal shows that the country's success in building an international education hub depends not only on economic factors and educational innovation, but also on the ability to create an open society that encourages cultural exchanges and knowledge sharing between international students and the local community. Dr. Jane Knight, Professor at the University of Toronto (Canada), stated in the book University Space published by Springer that cross-border education activities have so far gone through three waves. The first wave focuses on the movement of people, often associated with development cooperation programs, supporting scholarships for students from developing countries, or funding scholars to study abroad. The second wave focuses on the movement of training programs such as joint training, online training or the movement of educational service providers such as opening branches abroad, shifting from aid to partnership. More broadly, the third wave focuses on building international education centers on a national, city or special regional scale, not just located within a certain university. (continued)

Advice from international experts

At the 2024 international conference on educational leadership and management organized by SEAMEO RETRAC Center on the afternoon of October 15, Dr. Christopher Busch (University of Windsor, Canada) stated that university faculties are the "core" for internationalization of education. "Universities need to develop a global partnership network, in which faculties play the role of international representatives of the school, contributing to spreading the internationalization process in the university," he said. Meanwhile, Associate Professor Paul Anthony Balagtas (National University in Clark City, Philippines) said that the university internationalization strategy is divided into two groups: developing training programs and developing administrative apparatus. To successfully implement the internationalization of university education, Mr. Balagtas suggested that universities develop training programs to serve both local and international students; invite lecturers from abroad; develop study abroad and international exchange programs; Using English as the official language of instruction, establishing an office to support international students... Tuan Ho

Thanhnien.vn

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/chia-khoa-de-vn-tro-thanh-diem-den-giao-duc-quoc-te-185241015191711981.htm