Solving digital transformation problems at universities and colleges

On January 5, 2023, Hanoi University of Industry in collaboration with the Vietnam Association of Universities and Colleges held a seminar "Digital transformation at universities and colleges: Current situation and solutions” in the form of offline combined online.

Overview of the seminar "Digital transformation at universities and colleges: Current situation and solutions"

Attending the seminar, there were: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Xuan Nhi, Standing Vice Chairman of the Association of Universities and Colleges, former Deputy Minister of Education and Training; Dr. Le Viet Khuyen, Vice Chairman of expertise of the Association; Head of the Professional Committee of the Association; representatives of the Ministry of Education and Training, the Central Propaganda and Training Commission, universities, colleges and businesses.

On the side of Hanoi University of Industry, there were Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Duc Quy, Secretary of the Party Committee, Rector of the University; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Hong Quan, Chairman of the University Council; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pham Van Bong, Vice Rector; Dr. Nguyen Van Thien, Vice Rector; Dr. Kieu Xuan Thuc, Vice Rector, along with scientists, officials and lecturers of the University.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Duc Quy, Rector of Hanoi University of Industry spoke at the seminar

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Duc Quy, Rector of Hanoi University of Industry, emphasized that digital transformation is an inevitable trend in the context of the 4th industrial revolution. In particular, over the years, the Party and State have had strong guidelines and policies on argument transfer for education and training.

In fact, digital transformation is an opportunity for universities and colleges in Vietnam and around the world to develop faster, more transparently and more efficiently.

In the past 3 years, when there were the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic on a global scale, all socio-economic activities were stalled and students could not go to school, digital transformation increasingly affirmed its meaning and necessity. Digital transformation in education and training, along with the use of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), ... was deployed to teach, learn and manage training, bringing positive value to the University.

Hanoi University of Industry is taking steady steps and rapidly contributing to the achievement of digital transformation in education. In the past 10 years, Hanoi University of Industry has strongly applied information technology in education and training. In particular, completing and applying e-university in comprehensive management, towards building a smart university. The University's e-university system was honored to receive 3 major awards: Vietnamese Talent Awards in 2012, Sao Khue Awards in 2016 and Vietnam Science and Technology Innovation Awards (Vifotec) 2018.

The Rector said that the head of the educational institution should have high determination, be able to create consensus among the team of managers, officials, lecturers and students to change their perceptions and thinking. This is critical to the success of digital transformation.

In particular, frankly acknowledge the limitations, difficulties and obstacles that are considered as "bottlenecks" in the policy mechanism and the internal of the organization, affecting the quality and efficiency of digital transformation work.

Prof. Dr. Tran Diep Tuan, Chairman of the Council of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Ho Chi Minh City, Chairman of the President's Club of the University Council of the Association of Vietnam Universities and Colleges gave an online speech at the seminar

Prof. Dr. Tran Diep Tuan, Chairman of the Council of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Ho Chi Minh City, Chairman of the President's Club of the School Council of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Vietnam hoped that the seminar is an opportunity for between universities and colleges to exchange and learn from each other's experience in digital transformation.

The seminar had the reports of 05 presentation teams and some opinions with very profound, specific and realistic content from experts and managers who have a lot of experience in digital transformation at the educational institution.

Speaker Hoang Anh, Director of Quality Management Center, Hanoi University of Industry presented the presentation "E-university system, digital transformation solution at Hanoi University of Industry"

Speaker Dr. Nguyen Thanh Hung, Vice Rector, School of Information and Communication Technology, Hanoi University of Science and Technology presented the presentation "eHUST - University governance system to promote digital transformation at Hanoi University of Science and Technology"

Speaker Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Minh Phuong, Chairman of the Council of University of Science and Technology, Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City, presented the presentation "Digital transformation in university administration at University of Science and Technology, Vietnam National University in Ho Chi Minh City"

Speaker Dr. Ngo Quoc Dung, Representative of the Digital Transformation Team of the Posts and Telecommunications Institute of Technology presented the presentation "Digital transformation at the Posts and Telecommunications Institute of Technology: Models, some results and lessons"

Speaker Dr. Ho Thi Hanh Tien, Rector of Phu Xuan University and Mr. Nguyen Tien Dong Project presented the presentation “Digital transformation joint venture expands sustainable digital transformation ecosystem for Vietnamese higher education "

The presentations reflected many views from many approaches opened an overview and properly assessed the reality of digital transformation work at universities and colleges. In particular, they emphasized digital transformation as a tool of governance of an advanced higher education institution, a breakthrough solution in administrative reform.

The universities together exchanged experience in the digital transformation process, from digitizing the management and operating modules; to the integration of modules, changing thinking, perception, process optimization and finally a comprehensive transformation system.

In fact, many fields have been computerized, but are used in a distributed and separate manner; connection must be done manually; no data connectivity leads to redundancy; there is no common standard on data, so it is difficult to synthesize, analyze and report.

Apart from digital transformation, domestic universities and colleges need to build a sustainable digital transformation linkage ecosystem for the higher education system to shorten time and reduce investment costs for digital technology infrastructure, thereby developing together. Building a shared database system will give an overview to build, amend and supplement government policies in line with digital transformation practices in education and training.

Some of the presentations had practical solutions in the short and long term of digital transformation for education in general and universities and colleges in particular. Especially, focusing on removing "bottlenecks" in terms of policies, laws, management, people and technology will promote digital transformation in the coming time.

Delegates attending the seminar took a joint photo

Digital transformation at universities and colleges should be viewed as a journey, not a destination, from which to find strategic solutions in teaching, learning and training management. The research results published in the seminar have made certain, remarkable contributions that will contribute to innovative solutions and improve the quality of digital transformation for the education system of the country.

Also, on this occasion, the Vietnam Association of Universities and Colleges awarded the Medal for the cause of Vietnam's Higher Education and Colleges to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Duc Quy, Rector of Hanoi University of Industry, recognizes the teacher's merits for the cause of education