On April 17, the opening session of the international workshop with the theme: "Attracting international students and Sustainable development goals in the post Covid-19 era" was held at the University of Danang (UD). This event is within the framework of the HEIsCITI project co-funded by the European Union (EU), of which the UD is a core and active member. 

The workshop was organized by the UD collaboration with universities: WSB University (Akademia WSB, Poland), Stuttgart Media University (Hochschule der Medien, Germany) and Mykolas Romeris University (Lithuania) from April 17-21.

Overview of the workshop. 

Attending at the opening session were Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Quang Son – Vice President of the UD; representatives of relevant departments and branches in Da Nang city; domestic and foreign agencies, organizations and associations; representatives of leaders, managers, international scientists and experts from universities participating in the HEIsCITI project; member universities and affiliated units of the UD.  

At the opening remarks, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Quang Son - Vice President of the UD expressed gratitude to the distinguished delegates, scientists and experts for taking the time to attend the workshop: "Your presence today is contributing to building the UD’s image as a convergence place of world knowledge as well as a destination for internationalization of higher education". 

The UD's Vice President Le Quang Son.

The UD’s Vice President appreciated the support of the Ministry of Education and Training, HEIsCITI project’s international partners, Da Nang city’s leaders for their interest and creating the most favorable conditions for the UD to organize this meaningful workshop. 

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Quang Son introduced the overview and highlights of the UD as a key regional university with 6 member universities, 7 affiliated units with nearly 2,600 staff members and more than 55,000 domestic and foreign students. 

With nearly 50 years of establishment and development, training a large number of high quality graduates for the Central Vietnam and Central Highlands as well as the whole country, a lot of UD’s alumni are holding key positions in state authorities, edutional institutions and enterprises nationwide. Therefor, the UD has been playing an important role in education development, socio-economic development, science and technology of Vietnam and the region, actively integrating with the process of internationalization of higher education. 

According to the development strategy orientation to become a national university in the future, one of three prestigious training and scientific research centers of Vietnam that can reach regional and international levels, the UD attaches great importance to the international cooperation strategy,  attract international students, strengthen cooperation with prestigious European universities, especially universities participating in the HEIsCITI project. 

Hosting this workshop, the UD hoped that this workshop would be a great opportunity to share good practices, exchange experiences in attracting foreign students, innovating teaching method, improving the quality of training and scientific research, promoting the process of internationalization of higher education, helping to promote the sustainable development in the post Covid-19 era.

Delegates have listened to presentations such as: Overview of HEIsCITI Project (Dr. Karolina Mucha Kuś - WSB Akamedia University, Poland); Introduction of cooperation in education training and human resource development between Da Nang city and Laos’ localities (Ms. Le Thi Thu Hanh-Vice Director of Da Nang Department of Foreign Affairs); Solutions to attract international students (Stuttgart Media University, Germany),... 

The UD's leader presented flowers to representatives of international partners.

On the same day, the workshop continued with thematic presentations around the main topic of sharing experiences and solutions to attract international students and promoting cooperation from representatives of HEIsCIT project’s partners (WSB Akademia, Poland; Mykolo Romerio University,  Lithuania; LAMA Company, Italy; SMART RI Company, Croatia); Report on the objectives and expected results of the No.2 and No.3 work packages (WSB Akamedia University, Poland) under the HEIsCIT project.

The workshop continues until April 21 with sessions focusing on key topics such as: 

(1) Attracting international students and the potential for cooperation and sustainable development; 

(2) Teaching method innovation (Mykolas Romeris University, Lithuania); 

(3) Educational tools for lectures and learners (WSB University, Poland); 

(4) Students’s participation contributing to the sustainable development of the locality (WSB University, Poland); Building relationship between citizens and local/regional authorities (Stuttgart Media University, Germany); 

(5) Sharing management and training experiences; Developing Eurasian partnerships in higher education to expand networks and access international cooperation projects. 

In addition, the delegates also visit and exchange pratical experiences of the UD such as: Visiting and sharing cooperation experiences between the University of Science and Education - UD and Laos’ localities in training international students; Experience in training Lao and Cambodian students; Sharing experiences of the UD – Campus in Kontum for the human resource training in the Central Highlands, Vietnam – Laos - Cambodia Development Triangle and East - West Economic corridor. 

The international delgates visited and worked with University of Science and Education - UD.