On July 28, 2022, at the 801 Lecture Hall, Nguyen Tat Thanh University (NTTU) held a ceremony to celebrate the conferment of education quality accreditation certificate according to Circular 12/2017, Circular 04/2016 by Ministry of Education and Training, certificates of AUN-QA assessment standards for 4 training programs, 4-stars and 5-stars rating certificates from QS Stars and UPM respectively.
NTTU welcomed the presence of esteemed delegates: Prof. D.Sc. Honor Lecturer. Banh Tien Long – Former Standing Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Education and Training, Chairman of the Vietnam Science and Technology Research Editorial Association.
Representatives from the Department of Quality Management, Ministry of Education and Training include Dr. Le My Phong – Deputy Director, and Mr. Nguyen Thai Son – Deputy Head of the Department of Educational Quality Accreditation.
VNU HCM- Center for Education Accreditation was represented by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Ngoc Quynh Lam – Director; Mr. La Hoai Tuan – Chief of Office.
From the Center for Education Accreditation, Vinh University, there was Dr. Tran Dinh Quang – Director; Mr. Nguyen Thi Thanh. The ceremony also had the participation of representatives from AUN – QA, QS Stars University Ratings, UPM and the group of expert consultants including Prof. Dr. Nguyen Huu Duc – Former Vice President of Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Head of the Advisory Board of the National Committee for Education and Training Reforms (2016-2021), Founding Chairman of UPM; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ngo Van Thuyen – Representative of AUN in Vietnam; Mr. Samuel Ang – Asia Regional Director, QS Quacquarelli Symonds; Dr. Nguyen Thanh Thuy – Consultant; Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan – Consultant; Dr. Nguyen Huy Bang – Consultant.
On NTTU’s behalf, Ms. Nguyen Mai Lan – Chairwoman of the Board of Directors, Chairwoman of the University Council; Dr. Tran Ai Cam – Member of the University Council, President; other members of the Board of Directors, the University Council, the Board of Presidents; Heads, Deputy Heads and NTTU’s alumni participated.
Speaking at the ceremony, President Tran Ai Cam thanked the accreditation organizations that have accompanied the University over the years. Dr. Tran Ai Cam shared: “Throughout our development journey, NTTU has always determined that quality is the foundation, the core factor for sustainable development. To achieve today’s achievements is a long journey, many lecturers and consultants have accompanied us in building a quality assurance strategy, setting up and operating an internal quality assurance system for NTTU. Still, the most important elements are academic training and human development”.
This time, NTTU conducted the re-accreditation at the institution level according to Circular 12/2017/TT-BGDĐT. The first accreditation was in 2017 and NTTU is one of the few universities that passed twice for the quality assessment at the institution level. To carry out the re-accreditation, the University has completed 100% of the areas of improvement recommended by the experts in the first assessment, and the self-assessment has been carried out since January 2021 with 06 groups working in the following areas of Administration, Internationalization, Quality Assurance, Training, Scientific Research, Learners and Community Service. In the re-accreditation, NTTU entirely satisfied the requirements in quality assurance with all 3 aspects which were training, scientific research and community service.
After 5 years, in 2022, with the new set of 25 standards and 111 criteria, the overall results achieved by Nguyen Tat Thanh University are listed as followings: the percentage of completed criteria reached 108/111 (97.3%), achieved standard reached 22/25 (88.00%) that are even higher than the percentage of completed criteria in comparison with 2017 (80.33%).
Prof. D.Sc. Honour Lecturer. Banh Tien Long sent congratulations on NTTU’s achievements. He shared that: “NTTU has achieved remarkable results in quality assurance and accreditation, according to both the Circular of the Ministry of Education and Training and international standards in quality accreditation. That is undoubtedly the outstanding achievement of a university with more than 10 years of establishment only. NTTU participated twice in the accreditation process at the institution level with outstanding outcomes contributed by exceptional efforts of the University.
At the ceremony, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Ngoc Quynh Lam, VNU HCM- Center for Education Accreditation awarded the certificate of educational quality accreditation according to Circular 04/2016 of the Ministry of Education and Training for 2 training programs including Master of Information Technology and Bachelor of Architecture. The number of satisfactory criteria of the Master of Information Technology is 47/50, accounting for 94% while the Bachelor of Architecture achieved 44/50 of the satisfactory criteria, accounting for 88%. In addition, the certificates of quality accreditation were also awarded to 4 training programs that met AUN’s accreditation standards including Biotechnology, Food Technology, Automotive Engineering Technology, and Accounting during the ceremony. Until now, the University has 17 training programs succeeding in domestic accreditation and AUN-QA’s quality assessment (recording the proportion of 51.5% of the total number of training programs that are eligible for accreditation).
Evaluating the postgraduate program in Information Technology and undergraduate program in Architecture, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Ngoc Quynh Lam said: “During the evaluation period, the University paid attention to both investment and development in all aspects related to the training programs. The aforementioned training programs were built and standardized from training objectives to the output standards. The curriculum applies effective teaching and learning methods toward learners achieving their study goals and the required output standards. Investments related to the teaching staff, facilities and learners supporting activities are also one of the highlights of the two training programs during the 5-year period of evaluation”.
At this event, the representative of QS Stars (UK) awarded the certificate of 4-star recognition (re-auditing). Representative of QS Quacquarelli Symond, Mr. Samuel Ang – Asia Regional Director congratulated NTTU. In the second QS Stars assessment, NTTU demonstrated solid progress when the University had 4 standards reached 5-stars, followed by two 4-star standards. He also invited NTTU’s Presidents to participate in the Asia Pacific Higher Education Summit organized by QS in November, Indonesia.
Moreover, NTTU proudly received a certificate of 5-star award from the University Performance Metrics (UPM). NTTU is one of two applied universities and the only non-public university to achieve the 5-star certificate. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Huu Duc – Former Vice President of Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Head of the Advisory Group of the National Committee for Education and Training Reforms (2016-2021), Founding Chairman of UPM highly appreciated NTTU’s efforts, he shared that: “Participation in quality accreditation, ranking, and star-rating are evidence demonstrating NTTU’s responsibilities to learners and society. The dissemination of information regarding NTTU’s achievements to students help students choose the right university, meanwhile, stakeholders can choose the University as a trustworthy partner to recruiting their future employees, as well as facilitate decision-making to invest in innovation and entrepreneurship”.
Dr. Le My Phong – Deputy Director, Quality Management Department of the Ministry of Education and Training sent congratulations to NTTU and hoped that in the coming future, the University will continue to perform well in terms of internal quality assurance. He suggested that the University should continue to focus on quality improvement to enhance the areas of student recruitment and academic training. This can help to affirm the University’s reputation and to undertake the university’s responsibilities towards learners, parents, stakeholders and wider society.
Before closing the ceremony, Ms. Nguyen Mai Lan – Chairwoman of the Board of Directors, chairwoman of the University Council thanked the quality assessment committee, ranking and star-rating organizations for always supporting the University. She stressed: “Participating in self-assessment in accordance with the set of quality standards and ranking and star ratings criteria are key for the University to review and evaluate the status quo, identify strengths and limitations for developing and implementing strategic plans to improve training quality and reputation of the University. The University is committed to creating the best conditions for learners, improving the quality to meet domestic and international quality standards toward higher education integration”.
Quality is not merely a verbal expression, however, quality must be interpreted as strategic goals clearly identified in policies, realistic initiatives and implementation through specific actions. Moreover, quality must be measured, monitored, and evaluated by self-assessment and constant improvement. Quality assurance is a long-term activity that may cause difficulties and hardships, but with effort, knowledge and determination, NTTU has accomplished its goals and missions, demonstrating responsibilities towards learners, parents, stakeholders and the society.
More photos at the ceremony:
Author: Phượng Nguyễn
Photo: Media