VNU Model: affirming the nature of modern university education

Professor, what are the reasons that lead to the need for a new university model like VNU?

In the early 90s of the last century, the whole country was in the process of innovation. Education and higher education in particular were also entering the innovation process. When discussing the innovation of the university system structure, new ideas began to appear from the country's top leaders. Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet - the famous prime minister of Vietnam at that time for his reformist thinking - had the idea of ​​building a strong university center for high-quality training and scientific research, which was likened to a "steel fist" to help create a breakthrough development for Vietnam's higher education.

Previously, the Vietnamese higher education system developed on the basis of single-disciplinary universities, in line with the centrally planned economy; training human resources according to plans aimed at working in specific job positions in the system of industries. When switching to a market economy, the demand for human resources changed, the economy needed workers who could flexibly change careers. Therefore, we must equip students with professional knowledge on a broad general knowledge foundation. This reality led to the need to restructure the university system, it was necessary to have a number of multi-disciplinary and multi-field universities to train human resources in the above direction.

On the other hand, in the history of modern Vietnamese higher education, the Indochina University under the French colonial period was a multidisciplinary, multi-field university. Many students and lecturers of the Indochina University were very famous predecessors such as General Vo Nguyen Giap, the late General Secretary Truong Chinh, the late President of Laos Souphanouvong, the famous scientist Louis Pasteur, Professor Ton That Tung, Professor Ho Dac Di, etc. After the August Revolution, the Indochina University developed into the Vietnam National University of the independent Vietnamese State. Thus, the model of the National University inherited from a university that existed in the history of education in our country.

In fact, the re-establishment of a multidisciplinary, multi-field, high-quality university (inheriting the former Indochina University and Vietnam National University) on the basis of developing Hanoi National University - which is a key university in the field of basic sciences - to carry out the mission of leading the innovation of higher education in Vietnam was still the aspiration of many teachers at that time.

So in the original vision of the founders, what characteristics would VNU have that would differentiate it from current universities?

It must certainly be different and must be a modern university model, in line with the development trend of world universities. In our opinion, VNU must meet 3 criteria: One is to have a structuremultidisciplinary,That means there must be fields of natural sciences, social sciences and humanities, engineering, technology, economics, law, medicine, etc.; Second, there must be training and scientific research withhigh quality, high levelto be worthy of the role of a locomotive in the country's educational innovation; Third, to operate according tohigh autonomy and responsibility, that is, having resources and motivation for development on the basis of being given priority by the State for investment in terms of facilities, finance, teaching staff, and most importantly, being assigned an autonomous management and operation mechanism.

Such a new university model must have caused many conflicting opinions and what difficulties did those who implemented it face at that time, Professor?

That’s right. The establishment of VNU faced doubts and even opposition from many agencies and leaders. People wonder where VNU – with its specialized structure and unique operating mechanism, unlike other universities – should be placed in the education system?

The model is also new to those who are responsible for building VNU. There have been several proposed plans to create a multidisciplinary and multi-field structure for VNU, including the idea of ​​merging nearly a dozen key universities in Hanoi (General University, University of Education, University of Science and Technology, University of Medicine, National Economics University, etc.). But merging universities is an especially difficult task. In the end, the Government decided to start with the first three schools: Hanoi General University, Hanoi University of Education and Hanoi University of Foreign Languages. But in reality, these schools are all in the field of basic sciences, not only do they not complement each other but also overlap in terms of professional structure.

The implementation of the high autonomy mechanism of VNU was also very confusing and encountered many difficulties because at that time there was no precedent for a university directly under the Government and having the right to decide on many issues in training activities, scientific research, international cooperation as well as in the work of organizing staff, financial planning... At that time, there was also a lot of ambiguity about high-quality training (CLC): what is CLC and what is the path to CLC?

Thus, all three criteria of VNU were initially envisioned to be very simple and the implementation was deadlocked and full of challenges. In particular, the organization, rearrangement and development of professional structures were very complicated. In that difficult context, there was an idea to restore Hanoi National University and dissolve the VNU model.

What is the solution to untie the above knots, Professor?

After a period of being "bogged down" in the arrangement and reorganization of the VNU structure, the VNU Party Committee decided to change the method of developing a multi-disciplinary, multi-field structure in the direction of promoting internal resources and self-building new fields on the basis of existing fields of study. The first Congress of the VNU Party Committee initially advocated establishing faculties under VNU in new fields, gradually developing them and when conditions were met, upgrading them to member schools. A series of affiliated faculties were established afterwards: the Faculty of Technology was established on the basis of the Faculty of Information Technology and the Faculty of Electronics and Telecommunications of the University of Natural Sciences; the Faculty of Economics and the Faculty of Law developed from the Faculty of Political Economy and the Faculty of Law of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities; the Faculty of Pedagogy was built completely new... The strengths were still identified as basic sciences, while other fields were not developed comprehensively and widely, but only selected to develop in the most modern and cutting-edge directions.

It can be said that this is a great initiative of the Party Committee of VNU in the process of finding its own suitable path. Thanks to that, the basic multidisciplinary and multi-field structure has been effectively and firmly shaped.

So how has VNU implemented the criteria on CLC?

CLC is also a difficult problem that VNU has had to work hard to find an approach to both the concept and the implementation. The viewpoint on CLC is defined as: “The general quality of all sectors and fields must be high, especially the quality of basic science, high technology, key economic and social sectors must be at the top in the country, on par with the region and gradually approach international standards.. Up to now, persistently pursuing the goal of high-quality education, VNU has had many initiatives to improve the quality of training towards international standards. Following that path, the fields of natural sciences and life sciences of VNU have achieved high rankings in the QS rankings of Asia. Some majors have been quality-assessed according to AUN standards. Currently, the Strategic Mission Project has selected a number of undergraduate majors and postgraduate majors to focus on investing in developing to reach international standards, thereby spreading to create the overall high quality of VNU. Thus, VNU has initially successfully solved the criteria for high-quality training and scientific research.

What is the significance of the fact that the National University model was recognized in the 2013 Law on Higher Education for VNU in particular and for Vietnamese higher education in general, Professor?

VNU has affirmed its position in a document of the highest legal status. The Law on Higher Education not only recognizes multidisciplinary and multi-field universities as a type of higher education institution, but also identifies the three initial criteria of VNU as characteristics of the VNU model. This is an extremely great achievement of the collective leadership and staff of VNU over the years, affirming the recognition of society and the State for the model and training quality of VNU. VNU is also the first educational institution to be awarded the Gold Star Medal. VNU has affirmed itself through its operational results. In particular, the way VNU asserts itself through the CLC brand is very impressive, because before that, no one in our country had come up with the concept of what CLC is. But VNU has done it and not only proposed a reasonable approach but also implemented it in practice, gaining international recognition through quality assessment according to AUN standards and the international university ranking system.

It is worth mentioning that VNU has planned a development strategy, with specific steps to gradually assert itself. The perception of VNU leaders about the VNU model has also changed a lot compared to the early period.

This event also contributes to affirming the nature of modern Vietnamese higher education, which is to promote autonomy and self-responsibility of higher education institutions, aiming for all higher education institutions to enjoy the same autonomy as VNU. Many rights previously reserved for VNU have now been assigned to other universities such as autonomy in enrollment, printing and signing doctoral and master's degrees, etc. Based on the example of VNU, the Law on Higher Education has granted additional necessary autonomy to other universities. VNU has fulfilled its responsibility as a pioneer and a locomotive in reforming Vietnamese education. The inclusion of VNU in the Law has shown the true nature and characteristics of modern higher education: autonomy and self-responsibility are attributes of higher education institutions.

According to the Professor, what should VNU focus on in the near future?

Of the three criteria, the multi-disciplinary and multi-field structure has basically been shaped. The mechanism of autonomy and high self-responsibility has also been recognized in the Law. Only the criteria of regional-level quality and progressing towards international standards have VNU only "touched" a number of areas at the regional level, while progressing towards international standards is a long-term process. Training quality approaching international standards is an important goal that still requires much effort. Through assessment and ranking, we have made important progress, which can be considered at the regional level, now we need to reach the international level, as the Strategic Task Project is implementing. The stronger sectors come first, the weaker sectors come later. International integration must be understood in that way, not just as participating in common activities of the international community.

Can you use a few brief words to describe the 20-year process of VNU?

The past 20 years is not a long journey for a university. But in my opinion, what VNU has gone through up to today is extraordinary, if we consider the results and achievements, especially the difficulties and challenges that have been overcome. That extraordinary thing is due to the dedication, perseverance, resilience and creativity of the leadership team, the staff, lecturers and students through the periods. With such people, the future of VNU is very bright.

Thank you Professor!