On the morning of September 24, 2024, the University of Danang (UD) organized the conference on strengthening international student exchange programs, hosted by the Vietnam-Korea University of Information and Communication Technology (VKU).

The conference was co-chaired by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Vu – President of the UD, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Thanh Bac – Vice President of the UD, and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Huynh Cong Phap – Rector of VKU. This important conference aimed to promote international cooperation, creating opportunities for students to study and exchange experiences at partner universities worldwide.

Attending the conference were representatives of leadership from member universities, training institutions, relevant functional departments, and affiliated centers under the UD.

Overview of the conference.

The UD’s President Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Vu said that international student exchange is a two-way activity: (1) Attracting international students to the UD to study/intern, (2) Creating conditions, sending the UD’s students to go abroad, thereby linking the training with the regional/international education market, enhancing the reputation of the UD as well as its member universities, units.

The conference aims to raise awareness of the importance of international student exchange in the current context. Therefore, with the participation of the full range of leaders of the UD, member universities/affiliated units, the UD expected that there would be more solutions, enthusiastic opinions and suggestions to promote this task.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Vu spoke at the event.

According to the UD’s report, in recent times, the international student exchange has achieved certain good results, contributing to the integration and internationalization process of university education. The number of international students coming to study and exchange at the UD is increasingly diverse in terms of scholarship sources (government agreement, scholarships of Vietnamese localities, scholarships of Lao provinces, scholarships of the UD) or self-funded.

In the opposite way, through cooperation agreements with prestigious universities, more and more students of the UD have the opportunity to participate in short-term programs, internships and exchanges, thereby not only expanding their knowledge and vision but also cultivating and exchanging language and cultures.

In addition to the achieved results, the conference focused on discussing and identifying limitations, causes, difficulties and shortcomings, thereby proposing directions and solutions to promptly overcome and remove them.

The delegates’ opinions proposed solutions such as improving admission of international students, the training, management and scholarship grants for students; developing new training programs (especially English-taught ones); supporting administrative procedures, especially encouraging the UD’s students to have more opportunities to go abroad; expanding the cooperation network associated with the goals and requirements of international student exchange,...

Concluding the conference, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Vu acknowledged the opinions, requested leaders of member universities, units, functional departments to consider and consult with the UD’s leaders.

The UD’s President emphasized that the orientation for international cooperation in general and international student exchange in particular needs to be “substantial and effective”, encouraging integration and international cooperation to mobilize more resources, at the same time ensure the requirements of state management.

To do so, leaders at all levels, member universities/units need to pay more attention to the following requirements and orientations:

(1) Have correct and complete awareness of international cooperation activities on the basis of guidelines and policies to ensure national security; regularly review and avoid limitations and shortcomings in management, operation;

(2) International cooperation staff need to promote their strengths, enthusiasms and responsibilities, and need to be cared for and trained to meet increasingly high requirements;

(3) Regulations and rules on international cooperation need to be regularly reviewed, supplemented, creating a legal corridor, complying with state regulations, and applying them correctly and appropriately in practice;

(4) Alongside the goal of attracting more and more international students to the University of Danang, the challenge of achieving a significant increase in numbers still depends on demand and the level of competition. To balance both incoming and outgoing exchanges, it is essential to further focus on solutions that create favourable opportunities for UD students to participate in exchange programs, gain experience, and complete professional internships abroad.

The President of the University of Danang has instructed member universities and units to review their organizational structures and resources, with an emphasis on reasonable specializations, while focusing on management to improve the quality and effectiveness of international student exchange programs.