[Education & The Times Newspaper] – The University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City has been vigorously promoting digital transformation on their campuses

UEH Students in 2020

The purpose of promoting technology integration in teaching, management and digitalizing student care is to set the stone for the formation of a smart university.

Digitalizing management and teaching activities

Understanding the importance of digital transformation, for the past 2 years, UEH has been vigorously pushing for more technology integration within the school operations, including digitalizing teaching and general management activities through interactive applications and software along with extensive implementation of the Blended Learning (a hybrid form of traditional in-class instructions and E-learning).

Dr. Dinh Tien Minh, UEH School of International Business & Marketing shared, “Since 2016, UEH has begun to implement blended learning in the university’s daily operations, across all academic levels and disciplines, with 30% of the instructions being held online and 70% in-person, and an active LMS-UEH was also put in motion for daily tracking and managing.

“The implementation thus far has shown us that the blended learning model is less expensive than hosting traditional classrooms. It even has the potential to cut down educational costs as it offers classes online and essentially replaces expensive textbooks with multifunctional electronic devices that students can bring to class on their own (digitalization).

Particularly, knowledge tests in Blended Learning are automatically graded, providing instant feedback. Student sign-in and work time are also measured to ensure accountability. In addition, the Blended Leaning method also saves costs, time for teachers and learners, facilities conditions, and the quality of education is enhanced." Dr. Minh shared.

In addition to promoting the application of technology and digital transformation into teaching and scientific research, UEH also recently implemented a community project to support free digital transformation for high schools called Global Learning to help high school teachers gain experience and can actively conduct instructions online.

MSc. Vo Ha Quang Dinh - Department of Information Technology (UEH) said: “Teaching trends in Vietnam in general and UEH in particular will require a shift. Digitalizing learning activities is a must-have trend in the new context, in which the Blended Leaning model is predicted to bring about the potential to help improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning, on the basis of maintaining consistent principles. Basic pedagogical principles are integrated in detailed course design, helping to bring an optimal learning experience for students”.

Establishing smart university

With the infrastructure foundation and prepared attitude for the past 3 years, UEH aims to transform into a smart university within the next few years. According to Dr. Bui Quang Hung – UEH Vice President, with smart university, technology becomes a crucial tool for teaching, research, learning and other related tasks. 

In which, digitalizing teaching, research and other activities with software, equipment and technology integration and operating models transformation, etc. will promote leanness, efficiency, and usability. The ability to analyze and propose solutions to improve the higher education environment for relevant subjects.

“Digital resources, open educational content, virtual educational environment, and digital infrastructure are the four basic elements of V-SMARTH smart university and online instructions. As of March 2021, UEH has had 60 systems and software deployed with different frequency of use and number of users.

Compared with the indicators and conditions to approach the smart university model according to the model of Nguyen Huu Duc et al (2020), UEH is responding well to 2 results of Cleverness indicator (Ci) and Readiness indicator (Ri). This is what makes us confident to soon build UEH into a smart university”, said Dr. Hung.

In fact, according to the research results and surveys of staff, lecturers and students that UEH's research team carried out, it shows that the university initially had the right technology investment strategies and plans when it became successful. The digital infrastructure and interactive educational environment have achieved high results (77% and 70% respectively of the survey), and the digital resource component is also in the process of completion (reaching 55%). However, the customized course design component is currently only 33%, which UEH is trying to build, develop and improve.

Mentioning the strategy and goals of converting into a smart university, Prof. Nguyen Dong Phong - Chairman of the UEH Council said that the process of digital transformation requires leaders and managers of the university to recognize and use the “power of new technologies” to increase the Cleverness indicator (ie., increase Ci) of systems after completing the digital transformation process, teaching methods, classrooms, curriculum, etc. while allowing for more efficient use of time, finances and staff.