“A meeting of the most influential minds in Vietnamese higher education launches BUILD-IT’s two-year extension of world-class university support and enhancement”
8 Skills for Successful Online Students, Enhancing Online Presentation Skills, Peer-Based Approach to Online Education, Developing a Philosophy of Teaching … these were just a few of the cutting-edge pedagogical workshops announced during a meeting between BUILD-IT leaders and university Rectors during the strategic planning meeting held March 3rd, 2022.
For the past six years BUILD-IT has worked with education and industry leaders to provide experiences and opportunities to develop work-ready graduates prepared to contribute to the ever-evolving workforce in Vietnam. The two-year BUILD-IT extension, awarded in 2021, allows the on-going collaboration of relevant, impactful, and successful workshops, webinars, and training.
These offerings stem from three core areas that guide BUILD-IT’s goals. Whether these services support innovative university strategic plans, university accreditation aims or improving the development and delivery of project-based learning, they were all conceived with the extensive planning and coordination of partner universities. This allowed BUILD-IT leaders to tailor programs to the specific needs of the universities.
Based on MOET’s project plan over the next two years, BUILD-IT leaders were able to share with the Rectors their plans to accomplish their goals. This includes the development of playbooks designed to embed the sustainability of BUILD-IT programs once the program is completed. The importance of university charters in articulating university purpose and direction was explained to Rectors by ASU’s University Design Institute, and their plan for university charter development was explored. This program leverages ASU’s capacity to bring expertise to help universities develop their customized guiding university charter.
Providing tangible, practical services was also an area of interest to the Rectors. BUILD-IT leaders and university Rectors also explored the implementation of a Digital Immersion Strategy. Rectors were exposed to the three streams of digital immersion: digital pedagogy in higher education, increasing digital assets and ensuring skill sustainability and improving digital education. This strategy directly addresses the stated BUILD-IT goal of developing university autonomy and strengthening university learning outcomes.
The merit of a meeting of the minds is measured by the actions taken after the meeting concludes. By this standard, the BUILD-IT leaders and Rectors meeting was significant. University Rectors came away with a well-articulated, broader vision of what can be accomplished in the final two years of the BUILD-IT program. Contributing to workforce development and economic development is the continuing goal, and significant exposure was provided to the myriad tools at their disposal. The meeting participants agreed to the prioritization of developing and implementing clear strategies for digital immersion, leveraging a Vietnam-based, train-the-trainer model to embed capacity in digital education and instructional design. The long-term goal is recognized as the autonomous operations of the programs, services, and courses where the university would adopt, incorporate, and run them once BUILD-IT ends.
It is also important to note that Education 4.0 in Vietnam doesn’t end with education. Without industry, education is a cul-de-sac. There needs to be synergy between university graduates and industry to leverage the impact of education. To this end, a detailed plan of how to build up sustainable partnerships with industry partners, engage them, and develop an ecosystem together for the purpose of more effective educational impacts were shared with participants.
BUILD-IT has supported educational and economic growth in Vietnam for the past six years. With the forward-thinking mindset of the university rectors, Vietnam will continue to reap the rewards of the partnership … not just for the next two years but for generations to come.