The Posts and Telecommunications Institute of Technology (PTIT) in Hanoi was among five universities selected to participate in the joint digitalisation project, established by the Ministry of Education and Training and the Ministry of Information and Communications. Photo: ictnews

In late April, a meeting of the National Committee on Digital Transformation identified such a transformation at the university level as one of the main focuses of 2022’s action plan.

The meeting followed in the footsteps of new government moves this year to vastly improve the prospects of the country's universities. A few months prior, a project on raising awareness and developing human resources for national digital transformation, with a focus on expanding and systematising digital universities, was signed and approved by Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam.

Taking effect from the end of January, the project aims to formulate and promulgate a set of indicators and criteria for evaluating the digital transformation of higher education institutions.

One of the specific goals of the project is to complete Vietnam's first digital higher-education model by 2025, while training 5,000 bachelors and engineers in digital technology. Private universities are encouraged to participate in the pilot implementation period.

By 2030, the model is expected to be applied to at least half of all public universities nationwide, with 20,000 engineers and bachelors trained in digital transformation.

The Posts and Telecommunications Institute of Technology (PTIT) in Hanoi was among five universities selected to participate in the joint digitalisation project, established by the Ministry of Education and Training and the Ministry of Information and Communications.

Students at PTIT can already log into the school's PTIT-Slink application installed on their phones, which connects the school with lecturers and students and allows students to pay tuition fees, view timetables and exam schedules, apply for student cards, and more.

Most experts believe that the benefits of digital universities are apparent, especially in creating a competitive edge in an increasingly selective market.

“Digital universities will personalise the future of education. To remain relevant, higher education institutions must develop digital frameworks that place special importance on student engagement and market speed,” said Dr. Mai Van Tinh, Deputy Head of Policy Research and Analysis at the Vietnam Association of Universities and Colleges.

“Students are now questioning the plausibility of traditional learning methods, marked by an annual calendar that begins in September each year, while they have to commute to specific locations with increasing tuition and fees," Tinh added. "They are increasingly looking forward to affordable, continuous, and on-demand learning opportunities. Universities that can provide this will gain an advantage in the market.”

However, with a digital framework not yet completed, perfecting a digital higher-education model is a challenging journey. According to Dr. Pham Do Nhat Tien at the Academy of Educational Management, the shift in awareness and possibly increasing social inequality in education are some of the obstacles ahead for this effort.

“Digital transformation is not just the introduction of technologies into schools, but rather the application of such technologies, to organise not only online classes but also develop open educational resources and massive open online courses. Here arises an important challenge, which is the digital capacity of staff and lecturers in many aspects,” Tien said.

“On the other hand, there's the inevitable existence of the digital gap between those who have the necessary equipment, transmissions, and skills and those that do not. This gap is global and can create a digital divide between countries; between regions/regions within a country, between schools, and between different learners.”

Despite the ambitious goal, the higher education digital transformation journey is currently in its early stages.

“In Vietnam, there is no survey to clearly assess the current state of digital transformation in higher education," Tien said. "However, based on data at the end of 2020 on the implementation of online education during pandemic, it can be estimated that 45 per cent of higher education institutions are in the stages of design and implementation, while much of the remainder only have a desire to convert, or no awareness at all.”

Vietnam currently has more than 240 universities, with the number of graduates majoring in IT, electronics, telecommunications, and information security reaching more than 50,000 per year – 20,000 lower than the average of countries in Southeast Asia.