Meeting the future demands of higher education

4 Discussion Points for the Future of Higher Education

The conference took place over two days with the participation of nearly 550 delegates, including 14 high-level delegations, representing the Ministries of Education of countries and territories.

The conference is a forum for policy makers, administrators, university leaders and university lecturers to meet and discuss the current global higher education landscape and the challenges in the coming years.

With 48 presentations by speakers from the Ministries of Education of various countries, prestigious universities of the United States, UK, Australia, Canada, Singapore, Netherlands, Germany, India, China, etc., the conference focused on discussing 4 main contents: 1) Determining the future needs and response capabilities of higher education; 2) The development of higher education in Asia and its impacts on global higher education; 3) Technology, disruption and “optionality” of higher education: challenges to the traditional training model and 4) Two sides of the same coin: challenges in terms of resources and quality orientation for higher education.

The Vietnamese delegation led by Deputy Minister Bui Van Ga actively participated in the discussion sessions of the Conference, focusing on a number of key topics such as: Future job opportunities - employer requirements and the ability of higher education institutions to meet them; ii) Cooperation and sustainable development in higher education and research in Asia; iii) Innovation in training programs and new pedagogical methods in the context of globalization; iv) Innovation in financial mechanisms in higher education.

Practical bilateral talks on the sidelines of the conference

On the sidelines of the conference, Deputy Minister Bui Van Ga and the Vietnamese delegation had a bilateral meeting with Mr. Dato Yusoff Ismail - Deputy Minister of Education of Brunei Darussalam, to evaluate the results of bilateral cooperation in education and training in the past time and plan for cooperation in the coming time.

The Deputy Minister of Education of Brunei Darussalam has requested Vietnam to support the enhancement of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) teaching and the PISA assessment. In November 2015, the Ministry of Education of Brunei Darussalam will send a delegation of experts to Vietnam to discuss the roadmap for implementing the above contents.

Deputy Minister Bui Van Ga emphasized: Cooperation in the field of education and training between the two countries still has a lot of potential. Recently, information on education and training between the two countries has not been updated regularly and has not reached schools and students, so student exchanges are still limited.

Currently, only FPT University cooperates with University of Brunei Darussalam in student exchange and short-term lecturer training.

Deputy Minister Bui Van Ga proposed that the Ministry of Education of Brunei Darussalam strengthen cooperation in the following areas: Referring to advanced programs in Vietnam to send students to participate in these programs in Vietnam; inviting Vietnamese lecturers to teach science, mathematics, engineering and technology; and sending Brunei lecturers to teach English in Vietnam.

To facilitate cooperation, Deputy Minister Bui Van Ga proposed signing an Agreement on recognition of equivalence of degrees and credit transfer between the two countries.

Deputy Minister Dato Yusoff Ismail highly appreciated the proposals of the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training and wished to implement the above contents by exchanging working delegations to implement cooperation contents in the future.