Piloting digital higher education model

Last weekend, a meeting of the Higher Education Subcommittee of the National Council of Education and Human Resource Development took place on "Suggestions on the draft project for pilot implementation of the digital higher education model". Deputy Minister of Education and Training, Hoang Minh Son, said that the key to the digital higher education project lies in the quality of learning materials and the enhancement of the lecturers’ capability...

A digital transformation class at Posts and Telecommunications Institute of Technology. Photo: PTIT

The project builds a platform to share teaching and learning resources through both direct and online forms. It involves developing a platform to support remote teaching and learning, as well as leveraging digital technologies effectively. The plan also includes offering massive open online courses to the general public, enhancing access to education through digital technology. The higher education model strives to share knowledge based on the development of a national platform and learning materials system, while effectively exploiting valuable learning resources available in the world. The model will selectively inherit successful models in the world, applied appropriately to the conditions and circumstances of Vietnamese higher education; with the ability to interact with digital higher education models worldwide.

The pilot scope in the period 2024-2025 is to select 2-3 field groups (Computer and Information Technology and 1 or 2 other fields) and 5 prestigious higher education institutions for each host field to lead the implementation of the project. In the period 2026-2028 period, the project will be expanded to involve other higher education institutions.

Currently, there are 5 universities participating in the pilot model of digital higher education in training digital workforce that are being promoted, including Vietnam National University of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam National University of Hanoi, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Da Nang University of Science and Technology and Posts and Telecommunications Institute of Technology.

Mr. Nguyen Anh Dung, Deputy Head of the Department of Higher Education - Ministry of Education and Training, said that by 2028, the shared digital higher education system will be relatively completely developed and capable of operating itself effectively. The system will offer at least 50 open online courses in about 50-60 degree programs in 2 - 3 training fields. There are at least 10 higher education institutions leading and participating in developing digital learning materials, as well as providing and utilizing the online courses on the system. Approximately 20,000 - 25,000 students will be engaged in learning on the system.

The Department of Higher Education has proposed a number of solutions to implement the project. These include focusing on improving mechanisms and policies to promote the development of the shared and collaborative digital higher education model. Specifically, this involves applying specific mechanisms for higher education institutions to participate in the pilot, increase the proportion of online training, and increase enrollment quotas. It also involves developing and issuing documents to operate the system (financial, technical procedures, online training/information technology application regulations, professional standards/credit recognition, etc.).

In addition, focuses on building mechanisms for cooperation and sharing among higher education institutions, improving the capabilities of lecturers, managers, and technical staff, establishing an evaluation mechanism, as well as encouraging universities to participate in developing digital higher education.

“Universities believe that applying the massive open online course model for digital higher education in Vietnam will maximize the resources from universities in curriculum development, knowledge standardization, cost reduction, infrastructure pressure reduction, and increased enrollment scale. However, there are some issues that need to be addressed, such as credit recognition. Currently, credit recognition by schools is very limited.”

Challenges

In providing feedback on the project, Prof. Dr. Ho Tu Bao from Vietnam Institute for Advanced Studies in Mathematics proposed expanding the objectives and content of the project to other aspects of digital transformation in higher education. He suggested that the Ministry of Education and Training should preside over the development of a platform for governance and management for universities. This platform would help build a national database of human resources for training at the university level...

Associate Professor, Dr. Mai Thanh Phong, the Principal of Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, identified the first challenge as the lack of mechanisms and policies for digital higher education, which need to be improved to support this model. Mr. Phong recommended that the Ministry of Education and Training need to establish mechanisms and policies that allow educational institutions to implement this model together, without necessarily conducting pilot programs at selected universities. Because if some units are piloted, it will unintentionally slow down this problem. He emphasized the need for the Ministry to develop technical infrastructure and shared learning resources to optimize resource utilization, as well as enhance the capabilities of the teaching staff and system operators.

Deputy Minister Hoang Minh Son asserts that the key element of the digital higher education project is the quality of learning materials. The sharing of educational resources within the system enabling students from different universities to access them, will enhance the value and make a positive impact on the quality of higher education. Hence, the essence of digital higher education differs from that of online universities, as online universities only provide basic facilities, whereas digital higher education is a systemic approach.

According to Tien Phong Newspaper