On January 22, 2021, at Hanoi University of Science and Technology, seven leading technological universities including: Hanoi University of Science and Technology (HUST), Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HCMUT), Da Nang University of Science and Technology (DUT), University of Transport and Communications (UTC), Hanoi University of Mining and Geology (HUMG), Thuy Loi University (TLU), and National University of Civil Engineering (NUCE) signed Memorandum of Understanding for a comprehensive cooperation in student recruitment, academic training programs, scientific research, technology transfer, educational quality assurance and accreditation, organization of conferences, seminars, and public communications. This cooperation initiative is strongly supported by the Ministry of Education and Training.

Presidents of 7 technological universities signed the MOU

Attending the signing ceremony, there were Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hoang Minh Son, Deputy Minister of Education and Training; Presidents and many other leaders in the Boards of Presidency and University Councils from seven involved universities. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Huynh Quyet Thang, HUST President chaired the MOU signing Ceremony.

 The signed MOU opens up more comprehensive and deeper collaboration opportunities for 7 technological universities, positively contributing to the effectiveness in implementing each university's Mission and Development Strategy. The partnership also aims at establishing a group of technological universities (Group 7) pioneering in teaching, research, creative innovation and digital transformation.

Accordingly, 7 technological universities agreed on 5 main fields of cooperation:

1. Recruitment and Enrollment: exchanging and sharing experiences in implementing student recruitment and enrollment activities; career orientation; establishing recruitment group using the results of thinking assessment examination, planning for the recognition of the assessment results of entrance examination of each other in the future;
2. Academics:  Sharing experiences and cooperation in the development of regular undergraduate programs, the (new) engineer training programs oriented to professional career path and master programs; building a model of co-supervising undergraduate/ graduate/ PhD students;
3. Quality Assurance (QA) and Accreditation: Cooperating on self-assessment, peer assessment, external assessment and sharing of experiences in accreditation of academic programs according to the current regulations of international and national accreditation organizations;
4. Research and Technology transfer: co-organizing international scientific conferences; formulating and jointly implementing interdisciplinary and inter-university research programs as well as international cooperation to increase their joint international publications; especially focusing on the building of innovation and technology transfer programs and forming of start-ups and joint spin-off companies on the basis of successful research collaborations; joint collaboration in applying digital transformation technologies in management, teaching and research;
5. Communications and brand promotion: working closely in general communications and event promotion jointly organized by the seven Universities; cooperation and sharing of experiences in implementing communication activities and brand dissemination.

The partner Universities will establish a joint subcommittee to work on relevant proposals to implement the cooperation among the Universities. Annually, the seven Universities will determine specific topics of collaboration and assign a coordinator among the seven universities to coordinate the cooperation activities. The results of the cooperation will be summarized and reported periodically in the fourth quarter of each year.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Huynh Quyet Thang – HUST President delivered speech at the Ceremony

The Presidents of seven Universities highly appreciated cooperative contents which are in line with the key tasks of higher education institutions in the 2021-2025 period, matching well with the orientation of the Ministry of Education and Training. Addressing at the MOU signing ceremony, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Huynh Quyet Thang, HUST President emphasized on the strong commitment and the importance of the comprehensive cooperation of the 7 technological universities, which made the society and learners understand more thoroughly the importance of science and technology in the national economic development and supported involved universities to better implement their tasks of teaching, scientific research and technology transfer, fulfilling their responsibility to the society. 

Witnessing the signing ceremony, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hoang Minh Son, Deputy Minister of Education and Training highly valued all partner universities’ innovation. “Most universities have focused only on international cooperation and neglected another significant activity, which is collaboration development among domestic universities. Ministry of Education and Training always welcomes the partnership initiatives and efforts of 7 technical universities” The Deputy Minister expected that the partnership would not only bring benefits to the involved universities but also create the driving force for all technical universities and colleges as well as the whole higher educational system of Vietnam. He also advised the Universities to invest in digital transformation at their universities to provide high-quality human resources in this sector.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hoang Minh Son (middle)- Deputy Minister of MOET, and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Huynh Quyet Thang (right) - HUST President at the MOU Signing Ceremony on 22/1/2021

Before that, on June 27, 2020, seven universities in the group participated in signing a joint announcement on development orientation of the engineer training program. This was considered as the first step of pioneers in enhancing the quality of academic programs. The development of common standards for Engineering programs are expected to meet the practical needs of the society and elevate Vietnam in the stage of international integration.

EAO - HUST