Le Anh Vinh, Head of the Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences

Le Anh Vinh, Head of the Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences, said the education sector's actions in the last two years, under the pressure of the pandemic, has far exceeded what it had done in the preceding 10 years.

Going digital has ensured the continuance of teaching and learning activities.

But what should be done to maintain the driving force when the pandemic ends?

Vinh cited three things to be done.

First, teaching and learning. Vietnam needs to have good infrastructure and technology to support students and teachers, allowing them to interact and study in a digital environment.

This is what many universities have been doing, but the deployment remains scattered, while not all schools have systems good enough to satisfy the requirements of users and to digitize materials.

The second is management and operation. It’s necessary to digitize the entire process of higher education. This needs to be implemented from teaching to research to management.

The third is the culture of making decisions based on data. The assessment of quality of lectures, students’ feedback, labor demand and labor market are data which need to be digitized. Leaders will rely on the data to make reasonable decisions.

He stressed that the biggest obstacle for digital transformation in tertiary education does not lie in technology or cost but in human resources.

“I believe that one of the prerequisites for successful digital transformation is the willingness to change and to accept innovation across the whole process (of digital transformation),” Vinh said.

Nguyen Thi My Loc from the University of Education, also thinks that the biggest barrier in digital transformation is human resources.

In order to have new teaching and studying habits, more investment and a strong will from leaders are needed.

Dao Thanh Truong, Vice Rector of the Hanoi University of Social Sciences, said the school is gradually adapting to digital transformation which has been implemented in accordance with a roadmap. Digital transformation is one of the key programs of the schools in the next five years.

Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung, when talking about digital transformation in education, also said the most important factor is the determination of the heads of agencies. The determination makes up 80 percent of success. 

Thuy Nga

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