On May 27th, 2022, the highly successful “Building University-Industry Learning and Development through Innovation and Technology” or BUILD-IT project, Arizona State University, and the Ha Noi University of Industry were excited to host the second forum in a six-part Playbook forum series. The International Accreditation and Recognition Value and Success Showcase brings together experts in academia, industry, and government to explore the importance, the successes, and the challenges of raising the profile of academic institutions through international recognition and accreditation.
For the past seven years, BUILD-IT has been helping Vietnamese universities implement robust systems to attain international accreditation and recognition. The tools and techniques BUILD-IT teaches for accreditation and assessment become part of institutional processes and contribute to improving the quality of teaching and learning. BUILD-IT’s goal is to enable sustainability of quality STEM education in the long-term, in part by increasing the breadth of programs seeking and achieving international accreditation and recognition.
Since the inception of BUILD-IT, 86 partner programs have achieved international/regional accreditation and recognition. This forum showcases some of those programs and their institutions by bringing together a national audience focused on implementing best practices for international recognition, e.g., ABET accreditation or AUN-QA evaluation.
The value of this endeavor was recently echoed by Dr. Pham Tran Vu, the Dean of the Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, the first university in Vietnam to achieve ABET-accredited programs. “Accreditation, after all, helps us to have better insights into quality assurance in education,” according to Dr. Pham.
The Deputy Head of International Cooperation Department at Cao Thang Technical College (the second higher education institution in Vietnam to achieve ABET accreditation), Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Binh, sees the value of international recognition. “Accreditation is not for certificate only, but for the real benefits to the stakeholders along the way.”
International Accreditation and Recognition Value and Success Showcase forum participants will explore an introduction to a structured approach and key factors leading to successful ABET program accreditation or AUN-QA program evaluation. Participants will experience increased capacity development for international accreditation and recognition via a keynote address and panel sessions highlighting Vietnamese successes in obtaining AUN-QA evaluation or ABET accreditation. Proven models and key success factors will be highlighted, all within the Vietnamese context. The afternoon session provides guided exploration of necessary steps and preparations towards successful international recognition of programs, based on the recently developed “playbook” or quick start guide.
A key part of international accreditation recognition is quality and seeking continuous improvement. “Quality assurance is not a destination, but it is a journey to further continuous improvement. And the most important aspect is to build a culture of quality assurance institutionally so that all stakeholders can see that quality assurance activities are not of a single unit or individual, but of a collective, from the programs to the faculties and departments and the institution as a whole.” offers Dr. Nguyen Huy Phuc, the Head of Office of Testing & Quality Assurance at the Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City.
While benefits of BUILD-IT’s programs are obvious in real time, the real value of BUILD-IT is in its long-term support of higher education. To leverage seven years’ worth of programs, workshops, seminars, and training sessions, BUILD-IT created its Playbook Series to assist in sustaining BUILD-IT’s value long after the BUILD-IT program ends in 2023.
The 2022 series of BUILD-IT forums celebrates key topics from this BUILD-IT playbook series, as prioritized by university partners. Topics in this playbook series include Institutional Accreditation, Project Based-Learning, Digital Immersion Learning, Program Accreditation (AUN-ABET), Industry Advisory Boards, Women in STEM, Maker Innovation Network, and Faculty Development and Active Learning, etc.
Sessions will be held face-to-face (public health permitting) utilizing locations in Hanoi, Danang and HCMC. ASU and Vietnamese faculty experts will teach and conduct these sessions. BUILD-IT anticipates that the playbooks will become recognized resources and utilized for university and HEI planning. These tools can help build scale – reaching additional universities and engineering programs throughout Vietnam for sustainable, nationwide change.