Recently, the Government Office has issued the Prime Minister’s direction to assign the Ministry of Education and Training to handle the suggestions  of Danang city, including the policy of developing the University of Danang (UD) to Vietnam National University – Danang (VNU, Danang).

Danang Newspaper had an interview on this development orientation with Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Vu – President of the UD.

The UD's President Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Vu.

What has the UD prepared to implement its development strategy to become VNU – Danang so far?

The UD has been implementing the development strategy to 2025 with a vision to 2035 (under the adjustment to 2035, with a vision to 2045) with the goal of “becoming one of the three prestigious training and scientific research centers of the country.” The UD also aims to become a national university. To achieve this objective, in recent years, the UD has focused on developing three main points.

Firstly, building a team of highly qualified teaching - research staff. This is the most important factor to develop the UD in the coming years. Thanks to the continued efforts of the teaching staff and the support of the member universities, the UD has a strong force of doctoral teaching - research staff. The number of lecturers with doctorate degrees or higher accounts for 43% of the teaching staff of the whole UD.

Secondly, the quality of training and scientific research of the UD has been continuously improved. Thanks to the regularly updated training programs, innovative teaching methods and adaptability to all situations, the UD’s graduates are highly competitive in the domestic and international labour market.

Thirdly, building long-term development facilities. With the stable and large-scale financial resources, the UD’s facilities are continuously being invested synchronously and modernly. The Vietnamese Government has paid attention to prioritizing the World Bank’s ODA fund of 100 million USD to build constructions in the UD Urban Area in Hoa Quy Ward (Ngu Hanh Son District,  Danang City) and Dien Ngoc Ward (Dien Ban town, Quang Nam province).

How the UD’s upgrade to VNU – Danang contribute to the socio – economic development of the country in general and Danang city in particular?

The UD’s goal of becoming a national university not only changes its title but fundamentally changes the quality of training and scientific research. The Resolution of the 13th Party Congress clearly stated that improving the quality of human resources, developing science and technology, and innovation are the breakthroughs to make our country prosperous.

Resolution No. 43 - NQ/TW of the Politburo (term XII) on the building and development of Danang city to 2030, with a vision to 2045 indicated that the strategic development orientations for Danang in the following decades is to build a smart, creative and start-up city to become “a major socio-economic center, the nucleus of the urban chain, the growth pole of the key economic area in the Central region”.

In order to achieve Danang’s development goals according to Resolution No. 43-NQ/TW, the city’s human resource structure must be much different from the present one. Accordingly, the human resources with qualifications equivalent to level 7 of Vietnam’s national qualification framework must be accounted for the largest proportion.

On the other hand, when Danang’s natural resources, land and coastal advantages are mobilized and exploited at a high level, the city needs a new motivation based on high-quality human resources to serve the development of key industries, hi-tech, source technology and services which bring about productivity, great added value, deep involvement in the global supply chain.

The technology and manufacturing industries will also reshape their products to adapt to unpredictable changes… Therefore, education must be adjusted and more flexible. In order to do that, the UD needs to receive major investment and be assigned the highest autonomy mechanism that only VNUs can have.