More than 400 higher education leaders including Rectors, Vice–Rectors, Heads/Deputy Heads of Quality Assurance, Directors of Centres of Education Accreditation, experts, and inspectors from more than 115 Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and seven Centres of Education Accreditation participated in the Report Dissemination Enhancing Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Higher Education in Viet Nam for International Integration, on January 11, 2024.
Professor Huynh Van Chuong, Director General of Viet Nam Education Quality Management Agency, Ministry of Education and Training, delivered the opening speech and emphasised that 'quality assurance and accreditation is one of the key factors that higher education institutions need to implement to ensure transparency, and to show their commitment to high education quality to society and the government'.
He said, 'This is one of the activities falling under the MOC between the British Council and the Ministry of Education and Training for the 2022–24 workplan. Phase one of the workplan had received positive initial results... I expect that in the near future, the British Council, together with the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) and Education Quality Management Agency (VQA), will expand its activities to the benefit of many others. This partnership provides essential input to help the Quality Management Department adjust policies, including the set of quality standards for higher education institutions and training programmes for universities, master's, and doctoral levels. And that is what we expect to do in the near future.'
In his closing remarks, Deputy Minister Hoang Minh Son expressed his high appreciation for our commitment and support of the workplan, and re-emphasised the priorities for quality assurance and accreditation in the coming period: focusing on capacity building for inspectors and academic staff; ensuring consistency in quality assurance and accreditation; creating opportunities for capacity development through practice; and delivering the drafts for circulars and guidelines for education quality assurance and accreditation in 2024.
Donna McGowan, Director Viet Nam, British Council said 'The report is the beginning of the partnership between the British Council and VQA under the MOC between the British Council and the Ministry of Education and Training. In the next phase, we will focus on capacity building for the VQA to develop and effectively use guidelines for implementing university-level accreditation standards for higher education institutions in Viet Nam. We also plan to carry out pilot accreditation and compare joint training programmes and English-taught curricula, to promote student mobility between the two countries, based on trust and international standards. These are the British Council’s commitments to support the development of Vietnamese higher education under the Going Global Partnership programme'.
The report Enhancing Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Higher Education in Viet Nam for International Integration was developed based on a series of research, evaluation, dialogues and training activities for education quality assurance and accreditation experts in Viet Nam, by QAA and Vietnamese consultants. The full report will be shared with participants soon.