Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vũ Thị Tú Anh, deputy director-general of the Continuing Education Department under the Ministry of Education and Training, talks to the Giáo dục & Thời đại (Education & Times)  newspaper on the need to have all Vietnamese universities involved in the national campaign of education for all.

Could you tell us about the co-operation between the Việt Nam Association for Promoting Education and the Ministry of Education and Training to offer classes for Vietnamese workers?

One of the key reasons for offering free online courses is to meet the requirements of the fourth industrial revolution and the course of globalisation.

Experiences both at home and abroad have shown that the higher education system is a key unit in the renovation of education.

Tertiary education, in all countries, is a pioneer in the movement of educational renewal – a venue for the intellectual wisdom of the whole education system.

However, to bring that intellectual wisdom to the people, we need good policies to help more and more people access the higher education system, in both formal and informal education.

This mission has been regulated in Provision No 3, Article 46 of the 2019 Law on Education.

Do you think that Vietnamese universities have the capacity to provide learning opportunities to all Vietnamese citizens?

All Vietnamese universities have the full capacity to carry out this mission in terms of legal resources which were in the 2019 Law on Education.

In 2002, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology introduced to Việt Nam the concept of “Open Educational Resources” and shared it with more than 1,500 Massive Open Online Sources.

Some regional countries, including South Korea and Malaysia, have already legalised the universities’ role in sharing their services with the community. In Malaysia, the system of community colleges and continuing education centres act as a mainstay for life-long learning.

As a result, in 2018 Malaysia became the first nation in the region to have 36 per cent of its people attending distance learning courses. This is expected to rise to 53 per cent by 2025.

In 2005, Việt Nam launched the Open Educational Resources. However, in my opinion, to create an open education system in Việt Nam, all tertiary education establishments nationwide should co-operate with distance learning establishments in order to create a campaign to have an open education system.

What are the commitments of Vietnamese universities and distance learning establishments to help people who want to pursue their life-long learning dream?

The Vietnamese education system has committed to providing the service to people. This commitment has again been raised at the recent workshop in HCM City on August 23.

For example, the Tôn Đức Thắng University has voiced its willingness to share its library which is connected with some 9,000 libraries worldwide and the 15,000 Massive Open Online Courses with any Vietnamese distance learning facilities who wishes to do so.

Meanwhile, the Hà Nội and HCM City Open Universities expressed their interest in organising investment promotion forums to opening regular courses for all people wanting to learn. — VNS