Perfecting investment mechanisms and policies for science and high technology sectors

On the morning of March 20, the National Assembly Standing Committee's Supervisory Delegation worked with Phenikaa University on the implementation of policies and laws on the development and use of human resources to meet the requirements of socio-economic development, especially high-quality human resources, in the period of 2021 - 2024. Vice Chairman of the Committee for Culture and Social Affairs Dinh Cong Sy chaired the meeting.

Vice Chairman of the Committee for Culture and Society Dinh Cong Sy chaired a meeting with Phenikaa University on the morning of March 20. Photo: Nghia Duc

Formerly known as Thanh Tay University, established in 2007, Phenikaa University aims to develop into a multidisciplinary, multi-field university according to international standards; an experiential university, closely linking training, scientific research and entrepreneurship, for the development of the community; building a free, creative, critical academic environment, with equality in accessing high-quality universities; each individual only needs to have the capacity, have big dreams and aspirations, dare to think - dare to do, will be given the best conditions and have equal opportunities to realize their own capacity and dreams.

Up to now, the total number of training majors of the whole school is 76, of which 51 are undergraduate, 15 are master's and 10 are doctoral. The number of new majors opened in the period of 2021-2024 is 47, of which 27 are undergraduate, 10 are master's and 10 are doctoral. Some of the school's training programs are being implemented for external assessment (accreditation) according to European standards (5 programs according to ABET standards, 03 programs according to FIBAA standards). The main training fields of Phenikaa University are: Engineering, Information Technology, Medicine - Pharmacy, Economics, Foreign Languages ​​- Social Sciences.

Prof. Dr. Pham Thanh Huy - Principal of Phenikaa University said that although it is a private university, the school boldly focuses on investing in STEM fields such as microchip design, semiconductors, AI... Photo: Nghia Duc

The school currently has 981 full-time lecturers, including both permanent and contract lecturers, of which 24 are professors, accounting for 2.3% of the total number of lecturers, and 90 are associate professors, accounting for 9.2%. The lecturer/student ratio is 1/24.4, corresponding to 981 lecturers teaching 23,936 students.

Invest heavily in research groups

According to the report, the level and scientific research capacity of lecturers is one of the strongest points of Phenikaa University at present. Based on the planning and recruitment standards for lecturers, the University gives high priority to candidates with doctoral degrees, experience and teaching capacity, and the ability to conduct research and publish internationally. The university's lecturers are currently implementing over 40 national or international research topics; nearly 150 grassroots research topics and projects. The ratio of journal articles to permanent staff is 0.9 articles/person/year.

Phenikaa University's research activities are organized according to the research group model, in which strong and potential research groups are selected with very high and strict standards for the Group Leader. Each strong and potential research group is invested with research equipment by the school with an average investment of 4 billion VND for strong research groups and 2 billion VND for potential research groups.

Representatives of Phenikaa University attended the meeting. Photo: Nghia Duc

By 2024, Phenikaa University had established 11 strong research groups and 18 potential research groups. With this model, the university's lecturers are encouraged to establish research groups; are given the initiative in developing teams, recruiting postdoctoral researchers, recruiting graduate students and master's students, along with specific policies for postdocs, graduate students and master's students. Graduate students participating in research have had scientific publications in journals in the WoS and Scopus databases.

Thanks to that, Phenikaa University is currently ranked top 1 in the Nature Index, top 5 universities on the Scimago ranking, top 10 IPstar in terms of the number of patents and utility solutions. Of nearly 100 patented inventions, more than 15% have been transferred into practice.

Cooperate with businesses to find internship and job opportunities for students

In the period of 2021 - 2024, Phenikaa University has strengthened cooperation with domestic and foreign enterprises to meet the requirements of socio-economic development, especially the development of high-quality human resources and searching and connecting internship and job opportunities for students after graduation.

Vice Chairwoman of the Committee for Culture and Society Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa learns about the school's training orientation to meet the requirements of lifelong learning in the context of rapidly changing science and technology. Photo: Nghia Duc

The school regularly cooperates with more than 180 domestic and foreign enterprises (counting only enterprises and partners that have signed cooperation agreements), including the following fields: Economics, Foreign Languages, Health, Technology and Engineering... Some typical cooperating enterprises include: SSI Securities Company, Vietcombank, BIDV, VPBank, MISA, Pasal, Izone, Long Chau Pharmaceuticals, Viet Duc Friendship Hospital, Hanoi Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, Ha Dong General Hospital, FPT Software, RikkeiSoft, SAPO, Truong Hai Group Joint Stock Company, Wistron Infocomm Company Limited, Goertek Vina Company Limited, LG Innotek, DENSO Group, Hitachi Energy Company.

Accordingly, businesses coordinate to implement business experience activities, receive student interns, recruit students after graduation, and award business scholarships to students. Businesses participate in sharing with students in programs, events, competitions, and sponsor student activities.

Scholarship programs for training human resources in cooperation with businesses are regularly implemented by the school with partners such as Hong Hai Group, LG INNOTEK Hai Phong, Goertek Vina Company, Golden Gate Group Joint Stock Company, FPT Software Company, etc.

National Assembly delegate working full-time at the Committee on Culture and Society Nguyen Thi Mai Thoa, a member of the Supervisory Delegation, requested the school to clarify some legal regulations that lack feasibility, especially when applied to private schools, such as high requirements for standardizing lecturers but no accompanying financial support mechanism. Photo: Nghia Duc

The school has developed policies to attract foreign experts and lecturers to work at the school such as: housing support, monthly living expenses, living facilities, transportation, etc.; policies to attract international students to study at the school such as granting full scholarships to international students. 10 foreign lecturers have been and are working at Phenikaa University.

Promoting strengths, meeting human resource needs

From the actual operation, Phenikaa University recommends perfecting the mechanism and investment policies for higher education, especially in science, high technology, and spearhead technology fields. There are policies to encourage and support universities to connect with businesses to train according to demand; encourage businesses to participate in training, provide scholarships, and provide funding for students to practice and research. Allow non-public universities to pilot flexible higher education models, combined with practical training...

Issue policies to support the development of high-quality human resources in line with the actual needs of businesses and the labor market; promote university autonomy, creating conditions for schools to develop flexible training programs in line with the development trend of science and technology. Provide financial support and tax incentives for universities with research activities and training of high-quality human resources; establish scholarship funds, provide financial support for excellent students and lecturers with high achievements in research, etc.

The National Assembly Standing Committee's monitoring delegation worked with Phenikaa University on the morning of March 20. Photo: Nghia Duc

The monitoring delegation highly appreciated the careful preparation of Phenikaa University to work with the delegation. The content of the report basically followed the requirements of the outline. At the meeting, the representative of Phenikaa University also provided and supplemented a lot of information and data; clarified some contents that the monitoring delegation was interested in and requested. The information recorded after the meeting will be summarized to serve the construction of the content of the monitoring results report.

Acknowledging the achievements of Phenikaa University in recent times, especially in encouraging lecturers and students to participate in scientific research, the Supervisory Delegation wishes and recommends that the school continue to promote its strengths, both implementing its vision and mission and meeting the needs of human resources, especially high-quality human resources, serving socio-economic development. Specifically, increasing resources, focusing on investment in a number of key/high-quality training sectors/occupations, meeting the needs of human resources in the context of digital transformation and international integration, such as semiconductor technology, biotechnology, AI... Building training programs according to orders with domestic and foreign enterprises. Maintaining and expanding links with leading universities for student and lecturer exchanges...

Nhat Linh