HCM CITY— Quality assurance to uplift higher education will ensure a country has a highly qualified workforce, Assoc Prof Nantana Gajaseni, acting chairwoman of the ASEAN University Network - Quality Assurance (AUN-QA), has said.

Speaking at an international workshop in HCM City on Monday, she said quality assurance forces universities to switch to interactive instruction.

They need to change to respond to industry 4.0 due to disruptive technologies, providing learners with the skills and abilities to respond to the changes and make them creative and innovative with life-long learning competences, she explained.

“A university is considered an adaptive social system where people co-operate to achieve a common purpose.”

The AUN-QA strives to enhance global recognition for higher education in ASEAN member countries, she added.

Assoc Prof Dr Nguyễn Hội Nghĩa, vice president of the Việt Nam National University-HCM City, said quality assurance is mandatory for every institution.

It is not only for external assessment activities but also regular activities aimed at maintaining and improving the quality of institutions, he said.

Accreditation results are used for investment and supervision of institutions, he added.

Now 72 institutions are evaluated externally, and 88 of their programmes are assessed by international agencies.

Dr Nguyễn Quốc Chính, director of the Centre for Educational Testing and Quality Assessment at Việt Nam National University-HCM City, said Việt Nam has eight universities whose programmes are assessed by the AUN-QA.

They include the Việt Nam National University in Hà Nội, Hà Nội University of Public Health, HCM City University of Technology and Education, Cần Thơ University, Hà Nội University of Science and Technology, Chính said.

The Việt Nam National University- HCM City has the largest number of programmes – 34 – followed by the Việt Nam National University in Hà Nội.

In 2009 the university had its first three programmes assessed by the AUN-QA.

Nghĩa told Việt Nam News: “The AUN-QA helps universities improve the quality of their training programmes based on its standards.”

Universities which have their programmes assessed by the AUN-QA are more easily trusted by enterprises and can collaborate with universities in other countries to exchange students, he said.

The ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint underlines the need for the free movement of businesspeople, skilled labour and talent as a key element in achieving greater economic integration within ASEAN, he added.

The ASEAN University Network is an independent organisation established in 1995 to promote human resource development in Southeast Asian nations and their partners and enhance recognition for the region’s higher education.

The AUN-QA network is a group of chief quality officers appointed by the AUN member universities to co-ordinate activities to achieve the mission of harmonising educational standards and improving the academic quality of universities in the region.

Until this year the ANU-QA has assessed 293 programmes for universities.

The workshop on Higher Education Programme Assessment- ASEAN Integration was held by the Center for EducationAccreditation at Việt Nam National University-HCM City. —VNS