30 YEARS - A JOURNEY OF ILLUMINATING TALENT AND NURTURING INDIVIDUALS

The national university model was also an autonomous university. At that time, the country had just entered the period of reform. Concepts of university autonomy and international standards were not yet widespread in Vietnamese higher education. However, with foresight, the Party and State recognized the limitations of existing specialized universities, which were built to serve the centrally planned economy, and established the Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU) with the aim of becoming a leading university in Vietnam, integrating with modern higher education in the world.
Thirty years have passed since then.
Since its establishment, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU) has developed remarkably and achieved many great accomplishments, consistently affirming its position as a leading university in Vietnam.
In 2012, the National Universities were included in the Law on Higher Education for the first time. This created even more favorable conditions for the development of the two National Universities.

When it was first established, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU) had only 3 member universities: the University of Hanoi, Hanoi Pedagogical University, and Hanoi University of Foreign Languages. To date, VNU has basically completed its multi-disciplinary structure with 9 member universities, 5 research institutes, 2 affiliated schools, and 2 directly affiliated faculties. The universities include: the University of Natural Sciences, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, the University of Technology, the University of Foreign Languages, the University of Economics, the University of Education, the Vietnam-Japan University, the University of Medicine and Pharmacy, and the University of Law (recently upgraded from the Faculty of Law to the University of Law in 2022). The research institutes include: the Institute of Information Technology, the Institute of Vietnamese Studies and Development Science, the Institute of Resources and Environment, the Tran Nhan Tong Institute, and the Institute for Educational Quality Assurance. The affiliated schools include the International School and the School of Management and Business (HSB). The directly affiliated faculties of VNU include: the Interdisciplinary Faculty and, most recently, the International Francophone Faculty (IFI).
In its early years, the scale of training was only about 20,000 full-time students and 100 doctoral candidates. After 30 years, the scale of training at Vietnam National University, Hanoi has tripled, reaching approximately 60,000 full-time students and 1,100 doctoral candidates.
From having just over 50 training programs, the Vietnam National University, Hanoi now plans to enroll students in 141 undergraduate programs, including 6 new programs in 2023.
With its multidisciplinary and multi-sectoral structure, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU) has a strong advantage in participating in solving key national science and technology problems in all fields, including difficult and important areas such as: Aerospace, Automation and Informatics, Artificial Intelligence, Construction and Transportation, Nanotechnology, Non-traditional Security, etc.

Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU) is an educational institution offering training from junior high school and high school to doctoral level. In addition to long-established specialized high schools with a rich history of achievements known nationwide, such as the High School for Gifted Students in Natural Sciences (affiliated with the University of Natural Sciences) and the High School for Gifted Students in Foreign Languages ​​(affiliated with the University of Foreign Languages), the recently established High School for Gifted Students in Social Sciences and Humanities (affiliated with the University of Social Sciences and Humanities) and the High School for Educational Sciences (affiliated with the University of Education) have been created. Notably, the High School for Gifted Students in Natural Sciences has achieved numerous successes in international and continental competitions, ranking first in international gold medals in Vietnam.
In addition to standard training programs, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU) has developed special programs to train and nurture talented individuals. For the first time in Vietnam, in 1997, VNU developed and implemented the "Training of Talented Science Graduates" project, and since 2001, the "Training of Talented Human Resources" project. Besides the tradition of training talented individuals at the specialized high school level (with two specialized high schools under the University of Science and Technology and the University of Foreign Languages), VNU is the first university in Vietnam to formally conduct the training and nurturing of talented individuals at the university level. The objective of the 2001 Project was to leverage the potential and strengths of Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU) in terms of facilities and leading scientific staff to participate in training excellent scientists in core basic sciences, high-tech fields, and cutting-edge socio-economic sectors, providing high-quality human resources to serve the cause of industrialization and modernization of the country, especially lecturers in basic sciences at universities and colleges, as well as talented researchers, managers, and technology transfer personnel at research institutes, businesses, agencies, and units nationwide. The entry requirements for the talented science undergraduate program were students who had won international and national Olympic prizes and had excellent university entrance exam scores.
In 2005, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU) conducted a review of the "Talented Human Resource Training" project. With the successes and lessons learned after nearly 10 years of piloting, the Party and State highly appreciated VNU's model of training talented university graduates. They also directed relevant ministries and agencies to research and develop policies to create favorable conditions for the development and expansion of VNU's high-quality talent training model for the entire sector. VNU continues to maintain the training of talented science graduates to this day.
From 2006 onwards, to enhance integration with international standards, while the scale of training talented, high-quality undergraduates was still small, and the level of "internationalization" in curriculum, teaching methods, and foreign languages ​​used was not yet high enough, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU) began implementing advanced training programs. These advanced training programs are undergraduate programs that use the entire curriculum and textbooks of a foreign university, taught entirely in English, and approved and funded by the Ministry of Education and Training. The faculty consists of Vietnamese lecturers and some foreign lecturers. This program only focuses on developing the internationalization of a single training program and does not aim to develop entire departments or faculties to meet international standards.
Therefore, following the advanced program, in 2007, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU) began implementing internationally standardized training programs, also known as strategic mission programs (initially called the 16-23 program, because it focused on selecting 16 undergraduate majors and 23 postgraduate specializations to participate in the Project). The goal of this program is to build and develop entire majors and specializations to meet international standards, from training programs to faculty, facilities, learning materials, and human resources according to ranking criteria, in order to create the foundation and conditions for the gradual development of departments, faculties, and member universities to meet international standards and receive investment and approval according to each project for each major/specialization. This is a key objective and strategy of Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU) in its development process, aiming to selectively cultivate and progressively improve the quality of training, scientific research, knowledge transfer, competitiveness, and brand of VNU, contributing to the fundamental reform of Vietnamese higher education to meet international standards and quality.
According to the latest regulations issued in 2022, the training programs of Vietnam National University, Hanoi are streamlined into: Talent Training Programs, High-Quality Programs (including advanced, internationally standardized programs - training based on the content and curriculum of prestigious universities worldwide), and Standard Programs.
In addition, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU) has a mechanism for inter-university transfer and shared use of full-time staff throughout the university. Therefore, the training programs are also very rich and diverse. In 1993, VNU had only a few dozen training programs; today, it has 141 undergraduate programs, nearly 200 master's programs, and 180 doctoral programs.
Faced with the urgent need to improve the quality of high-level human resource training, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU) has implemented a project to innovate doctoral training at VNU and has issued new regulations on doctoral admissions and training (2017, 2022). These are significant breakthroughs in training activities. The new regulations require raising the professional and foreign language proficiency standards for doctoral candidates. Currently, VNU is the only higher education institution in the country that requires doctoral candidates to have international publications. VNU's regulations also raise the standards for international publications and the quality of lecturers supervising doctoral candidates, as well as lecturers involved in doctoral training and teaching; requiring the doctoral dissertation work to be linked with the activities of the department/laboratory; with participation in research projects; guidance of practical training and internships; guidance of graduation theses and scientific seminars of the specialized unit; The regulations grant the highest level of autonomy and accountability to supervisors and departments in the doctoral training process. At the same time, the regulations also exempt doctoral candidates with outstanding research achievements and numerous publications in prestigious ISI international journals from the blind peer review process. With these regulations, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU) conducts doctoral training with output standards and organizational and management processes similar to those of advanced universities worldwide. VNU truly acts as a "master machine" – making a significant and effective contribution to training highly qualified lecturers for universities nationwide.

Not only is Vietnam National University, Hanoi a pioneer in training and nurturing talent through special training programs as mentioned above, but it is also a pioneer nationwide in defining its development according to the research-oriented university model, linking training with research, and building and developing strong research groups.
With a philosophy of training through research to ensure quality and research to reach world-class standards, and to provide high-level training, in 2004, at the 10th session of the Science and Training Council of Vietnam National University, Hanoi, the basic criteria of a research university were defined, such as the quality of teaching and research staff; the student-to-faculty ratio; the postgraduate-to-undergraduate ratio; the number, quality, and citations of international publications; inventions and patents; science and technology awards, etc., and from there, the direction for the university's activities was established. Pioneering the expansion of training scale, aiming to increase the postgraduate-to-undergraduate ratio, as well as investing in building research groups, are two of the important solutions to implement this strategy.
Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU) has also pioneered the opening of new majors and pilot programs not yet included in the State's list of training codes, such as information security, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, aerospace technology, non-traditional security, climate change, etc. To date, some of VNU's pilot programs have been included in the State's training catalog, such as the programs in Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Development Economics, Business Law (undergraduate level), Japanese Language (master's level), Measurement and Evaluation in Education (master's and doctoral levels), etc. Currently, VNU is offering nearly 50 new pilot programs (from bachelor's, engineering, to master's and doctoral levels). These are unique features in VNU's training.
With a far-sighted, comprehensive, and all-encompassing vision, as early as 1995, the leadership of Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU) established the Center for Quality Assurance in Education and Research and Development (the predecessor of the Institute for Quality Assurance in Education, the Testing Center, and the Center for Quality Accreditation of Education of VNU today). This Center's contributions include establishing criteria for quality assurance in education, university rankings, the competencies and qualities required for university admission, developing standardized competency assessment tests, and launching the first master's and doctoral programs in educational measurement and evaluation in the country. The achievements made over the past 30 years in the field of testing, accreditation, and quality assurance of education by the Institute for Educational Quality Assurance and the Accreditation Center of Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU) once again demonstrate the extremely correct decisions of VNU's leadership and affirm VNU's pioneering position and role in measuring, evaluating, ensuring, and accrediting the quality of education in Vietnam, gradually expanding into the region and the world.
In 2012, the Training Department developed a plan to innovate university admissions based on competency assessment, and for three years from 2012 to 2014, it was the unit directly responsible for developing exam questions, regulations, procedures, and software for competency assessment, initially applying it to undergraduate and high-quality programs. This served as a prerequisite for establishing the Testing Center – a specialized unit responsible for organizing competency assessment exams at Vietnam National University, Hanoi. In 2016, Vietnam National University, Hanoi took the lead in innovating university admissions based on competency assessment for all training programs; pioneering the development of standardized competency assessment exams and successfully implementing the innovation of admissions using competency assessment exams at Vietnam National University, Hanoi. With its broad and deep knowledge base, fast test results, objective and fair automated grading, and the ability for candidates to register for multiple tests throughout the year, the VNU's competency assessment for university admissions has received widespread public support and high praise. This approach has been a breath of fresh air, alleviating the stress of the traditional national university entrance exams held annually in June. Many other universities have placed their trust in and used the VNU's competency assessment results for their admissions processes.
Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU) is also one of the pioneering institutions that successfully implemented credit-based training in Vietnam. After several years of research and study of the organization and management methods of credit-based training models in other countries, from 2006, VNU began to apply the positive aspects of the credit-based training method, namely: curriculum transformation; course syllabus development; application of credit-based teaching, learning, and assessment methods; and from 2010 to the present, has fully and thoroughly applied the credit-based training method. Training programs are designed according to output standards, with common knowledge blocks taught uniformly throughout VNU. This success has created conditions for promoting the strengths of interdisciplinary and inter-unit collaboration within VNU, the a+b model (such as the model for training bachelor's degree holders in education, general medicine, etc.), especially in the development of new interdisciplinary and inter-unit training programs. In addition to successfully implementing dual degree programs, the credit accumulation system allows students to proactively choose to accumulate credits according to their personal plans and schedules. As a result, nearly 8,000 students have been awarded dual degrees (a second regular degree during their studies at VNU), and more than 500 have graduated from university one to two semesters earlier than scheduled.
One noteworthy innovative initiative and policy is that, in order to select more outstanding students for university programs, since 2014, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU) has pioneered research and issued a special regulation for students in specialized high schools within VNU (and in 2022 issued a revised special regulation applicable to students from specialized high schools nationwide) - establishing criteria and regulations for direct admission to VNU's member universities and affiliated faculties for outstanding students. Also since 2022, the VNU-level Olympic competition has been organized to select talented students from high schools nationwide. Therefore, it has attracted a pool of talented students to study basic science disciplines, continuing the tradition and developing the strengths of VNU.
Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU) is also a pioneer among educational institutions in building a model for training talented, high-quality students with international standards; it was a pioneer nationwide in reviewing and researching, and developing a plan for training disciplines (2014, 2021) and stratifying training programs (2015). This serves as a guiding principle, a crucial plan and strategy that orients the training activities of VNU and its training units in each stage.

The training programs of Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU) are built on the basis of referencing the training programs of advanced universities around the world. VNU implements a philosophy of education through research, building strong research groups to reach the pinnacle of knowledge; and from this top-level research, promoting high-level training and developing scientific and technological potential. To date, VNU has hundreds of research groups of various sizes, including about 30 that have been recognized by the VNU Director as strong research groups at the VNU level. These research groups have played an important role in training talented individuals according to individual needs, as well as in opening new majors/specializations and new departments/laboratories of VNU in recent years.
Thanks to research-based training, undergraduate and graduate students, as well as doctoral candidates, participate in activities within strong research institutions, thereby fostering their talents. To date, many final-year undergraduates and over 90% of doctoral candidates in the fields of Natural Sciences and Technology at Vietnam National University, Hanoi, have published in international ISI journals. Many doctoral candidates at Vietnam National University, Hanoi, trained domestically, have higher research results and a greater number and quality of international publications compared to doctoral candidates trained entirely abroad.
Many students and doctoral candidates at Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU) have received dedicated and enthusiastic guidance from leading professors and scientists, passionate teachers, and a good research and learning environment, enabling them to develop their abilities and shine, achieving outstanding academic and research results. In 2022, VNU awarded scholarships to outstanding doctoral candidates up to 100 million VND/year and, for the first time, awarded post-doc scholarships to outstanding young PhDs up to 120 million VND/year. The university also implemented a scholarship policy for outstanding students in basic science fields, covering full tuition fees, living expenses, and free dormitory accommodation.
Many outstanding alumni of Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU) have become renowned leaders in agencies and businesses, scientists, and managers. VNU has effectively contributed to the training of high-quality, highly skilled talents for the country.

The development of new, interdisciplinary, cutting-edge fields of technology and engineering that meet the high demand for human resources in society, as well as the requirements of the 4.0 revolution, is receiving special attention and breakthroughs from Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU). This includes pioneering new training programs such as Computer Science; Mechatronics; Electronics and Informatics; Energy Engineering; Environmental Engineering; Infrastructure Engineering; Nanotechnology; Construction and Transportation Engineering; Aerospace Technology; Robotics; Information Security; Artificial Intelligence; Data Science; Automation and Informatics; Financial Institutions Management; Marine Economics; Climate Change, etc.
With over 500 training programs at the undergraduate, master's, and doctoral levels, from initially focusing solely on basic sciences, after 30 years of development, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU) has now achieved the following training structure: natural sciences and medicine 25%; social sciences and humanities, economics, foreign languages, law, and education 40%; technology and engineering 20%; interdisciplinary and pilot programs 15%.
Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU) has actively transformed its academic structure from basic sciences to those closely linked to engineering, technology, and practical applications. As a result, VNU's training programs are quickly adapting to global integration, closely linked to industry and businesses, and the employment rate for graduates is steadily increasing.
In summary, training activities have made significant and worthy contributions to the development and growth of Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU), contributing positively and effectively to innovations in higher education such as training talented and high-quality students; organizing and managing training according to the credit system; developing a multidisciplinary, multi-field research university model, implementing training through research and focusing on building and developing research groups within the university; ensuring educational quality; accreditation, stratification and planning of training programs; innovating admissions based on competency assessment; pioneering the opening of new, pilot and modern training programs, meeting the requirements of the 4.0 industrial revolution, and integrating with the world's higher education system.

A very important highlight is that after 30 years of establishment, from being virtually unknown, in 2022 Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU) rose to the top 800 in the world according to the QS rankings and achieved high rankings in other international rankings such as THE and ARWU. Also in 2022, six fields of VNU entered the top 400-600 in the world in the QS rankings: Mathematics (351-400), Physics (401-500), three fields of Mechanical Engineering and Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Business and Management Science (top 401-500), and Computer Science and Information Systems (501-600).
The field of Engineering and Technology, which started later, has made a spectacular leap, ranking 386th in the world in the 2022 QS rankings.
The two national universities alone account for nearly 25% of the country's international ISI publications.
Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU) boasts scientists who are highly ranked internationally, among the top-ranked and most influential scientists in the world and in Vietnam. This team of leading scientists and intellectuals – a highly qualified workforce – is the strongest potential and most valuable asset that builds the brand and core values ​​of VNU.

And finally, in 2022, after many years of planning, the Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU) successfully brought students to study in Hoa Lac for the first time. The Training Department and the training staff rolled up their sleeves to implement the enrollment plan and organize learning and teaching in Hoa Lac; developing new majors and new training models (such as comprehensive education) to transform Hoa Lac into an advantage and resource for VNU's development in the coming period.
In 2022, there were 2000 full-time students from Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU) studying in Hoa Lac, and it is projected that there will be 7000 students in Hoa Lac in 2023, including students from the High School of Educational Sciences (HES).
These achievements demonstrate the correctness and success of the National University model, truly deserving to be called the "main force" and the pillar of the country's higher education system.
We are proud of the achievements made by generations of leaders, teachers and students, talented and dedicated scientific staff and lecturers, professors, associate professors, doctors of science, and doctors – the outstanding intellectuals of VNU and of the country; and generations of responsible and enthusiastic staff, officials, lecturers, researchers, and management personnel of VNU throughout the past 30 years. At the same time, we are fully aware of the opportunities as well as the challenges in the new situation and context.
Higher education, including the National Universities, is facing challenges regarding university autonomy, university development models (and the model of autonomous universities within the highly autonomous universities of the two National Universities themselves) in the new context.
Challenges include achieving rapid development and scale – balancing quantity and quality, infrastructure; employment opportunities for graduates; income competition among faculty and staff; quality of training and research, quality of the teaching staff; and integration with international standards and norms.
Therefore, the Party and the State are implementing decisive directives and effective solutions to vigorously reform Vietnamese higher education and develop the two National Universities to a new level.
The Party Committee and Board of Directors of Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU) have directed that in the coming period, focus will be placed on perfecting the university autonomy model; in training activities, focus on improving and expanding the scale of training for talented, high-quality programs and programs in the fields of engineering and technology; implementing a comprehensive education model for students in Hoa Lac; implementing the project "Attracting and Training Southern Students at VNU"; prioritizing and concentrating resources on training young doctoral and postgraduate students, attracting talent; developing strong research groups at the national and international levels; nurturing and training leading scientists to create a successor workforce; promoting international publications and technology transfer; promoting innovation and entrepreneurship; improving ranking in world university rankings; and leveraging the strengths of unity and interconnectedness throughout VNU. To enhance practical skills, internships, real-world experience, foreign language proficiency, and soft skills for students at Vietnam National University, Hanoi, thereby improving the quality of education and employment opportunities for learners in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Vietnam National University, Hanoi (1993-2023), let's look back on the journey!
We wish the two National Universities continued development and stronger integration with the world – achieving even greater autonomy and strength – always receiving the highest level of attention, support, and favorable conditions from the Party, the State, the Ministry of Education and Training, other ministries and sectors, and the entire society to maximize internal strengths and attract maximum resources, always deserving to be the leading engine of innovation, the top university, and the cornerstone of Vietnam's higher education system, meeting the aspirations of society and the people nationwide.