The conference acted as a platform for ASEAN+3 to share experiences in coping with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Despite the pandemic, student mobility still is being implemented as usual with universities organizing face to face courses for international students who have completed the required quarantine period, and providing online courses for students who have chosen to study online.

In order to ensure uninterrupted study for students, the participants at the conference showed initiatives that aim to improve tertiary education quality and promote a ‘new normal environment’ for student mobility activities in the context of Covid-19.

An overall report on what higher education systems of countries have been doing to cope with Covid-19 will be published on communication channels of the ASEAN Secretariat for interested students to use.

The conference included an important discussion on publishing valuable, structured information on the information portals of higher education institutions in ASEAN+3 so as to promote international learning opportunities in the countries.

The exchange of views helped build up a guideline to support universities in ASEAN+3 countries to provide essential information in English on their websites, such as information about curricula, tuition, learning environment, visas, dormitories and climate conditions.

This allows students to more easily access information and seek more opportunities for student mobility in the region, and also attracts more international students.

The guidelines for information exposure will be submitted to high ranking officials of ASEAN+3 for approval before it is put into use.

Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Van Phuc affirmed that Vietnam prioritizes cooperating with member countries and joining forces to contribute to the development of tertiary education in the ASEAN+3 region.

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused an unprecedented social and economic impact which has posed many challenges for education, especially higher education.

In the process of socio-economic reform and extensive international integration, the important task is to build high-quality human resources, meeting regional and international standards. This brings pressure as well as great opportunities to innovate and develop higher education.

In recent years, Vietnam’s higher education has made breakthrough progress in quality, which has been recognized internationally. Joint training programs between Vietnam’s universities and foreign partners have seen considerable increase in quantity (more than 350 programs with partners from over 30 countries) and have improved in quality.

More of Vietnam’s education establishments and university majors have been listed in the world’s prestigious rankings. About 21,000 foreign students are studying in Vietnam, including 15,000 studying for bachelor’s and postgraduate degrees. 

Le Huyen

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