International joint training becomes university trend

UWE Bristol@Phenikaa Campus Program is to host a seminar on transnational education and leverage to improve the quality of education in Vietnam.

To be broadcast online on VnExpress on March 10, it has the aim of providing information about joint programs and the quality of Vietnamese higher education.

Experts will also look at the importance of international cooperation in education, forms of transnational educational training in Vietnam, and the original university program at UWE Bristol@Phenikaa Campus.

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, as of September 2023, Vietnam has linked educational training with more than 50 countries and territories, the top five being the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Australia, and South Korea.

At the same time, there are more than 600 joint training programs between Vietnamese higher education institutions and foreign higher education institutions, including over 90 programs with U.K. universities alone.

The U.K. is currently the leading partner with the number of joint training programs in Vietnam, according to data from the British Council in Vietnam.

UWE Bristol@Phenikaa Campus students on campus. Photo courtesy of UWE Bristol@Phenikaa Campus

Vietnam is also considered one of the largest transnational education markets in Southeast Asia for the U.K., with more than 7,000 students enrolling, according to 2021 data.

According to a report on attaining a more competitive international education environment in Vietnam conducted by the British Council, Vietnam is showing high demand and spending capacity for advanced education standards. At the same time, there is great potential for educational cooperation with the U.K.

Considering the proportion of foreign-affiliated training programs in each field, more than 60% are economics and management; 25% are programs related to the field of science and technology; less than 10% are in humanities and social sciences; the rest are in other fields.

UWE Bristol@Phenikaa Campus students during a class at school. Photo courtesy of UWE Bristol@Phenikaa Campus

The foreign joint training market has flourished in the past 10 years. In the past, when forms of cooperation were not yet widespread, by promoting "go global, stay local" (attaining international degrees while studying in Vietnam), many households found this to be the optimal choice thanks to benefits such as reasonable costs, time saving, and improved foreign language skills.

Dr. Dong Xuan Dam, Director of the Institute of International Training at Phenikaa University, said that international cooperation in training is considered by many Vietnamese universities to be an inevitable direction in the period of international integration.

"International cooperation activities, including joint training, play an important role in the development of higher education institutions in Vietnam, allowing Vietnamese universities to access advanced training technology and management, improve research and training capacity, thereby expand opportunities to access high-quality international educational services for Vietnamese learners at a reasonable cost," Dr.Dam said.

Students studying international programs will simultaneously develop professional capacity and the ability to use foreign languages for future career opportunities, Dr. Dam added.

Dr. Dong Xuan Dam, Director of the Institute of International Training, Phenikaa University. Photo courtesy of UWE Bristol@Phenikaa Campus

However, as international joint programs are increasingly thriving, students have the abundance of choice that increases competition amongst transnational joint programs, while also raises the problem of training quality and how to attract learners in the context of Vietnam's higher education amidst considerable adjustments.