From June 22 to June 25, 2021, the project “Monitoring the Employment Trends of Vietnamese Graduates” (MOTIVE) organized the workshop “How to Use Graduate Survey Data to Support Governance Reform and Quality Assurance in Universities”.
The workshop was chaired by the Vietnam National University of Agriculture (VNUA). Due to the complex developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, the workshop was held virtually via the Zoom platform.
Phu Xuan University is the only representative in Central Vietnam participating in the MOTIVE project
The workshop was attended by project members from higher education institutions in Vietnam and European partners. The Vietnamese institutions included:
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Ministry of Education and Training, Hanoi University;
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Posts and Telecommunications Institute of Technology (Hanoi);
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Vietnam National University of Arts Education;
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Vietnam National University of Agriculture; Thai Nguyen University;
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University of Home Affairs;
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Hanoi Tourism College;
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Ha Long University;
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Academy of Journalism and Communication;
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Hanoi Small and Medium Enterprise Association (Hanoisme).
This workshop saw the participation of 03 new members: Tay Bac University; Phu Xuan University; and Ha Tay Community College. In addition, Ho Chi Minh City Open University, an associate partner, and Nguyen Tat Thanh University, an invited guest, also attended.
The European partners included:
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AlmaLaurea Interuniversity Consortium (Italy);
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University of Seville and the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation ANECA (Spain);
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Universities of Austria;
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University of Seville.
Attending the workshop on behalf of Phu Xuan University were Dr. Ho Thi Hanh Tien – Rector of the university, along with staff and lecturers.
Open Discussion
Within the framework of the workshop, members discussed and agreed upon the content of the questionnaire and the plan for the graduate survey. The questionnaire must be consistent with the project’s objectives while meeting the Ministry of Education and Training’s requirements for graduate employment surveys. In addition to general content, the questionnaire will have specific questions for each target group and each university. The discussion session on the questionnaire was moderated by M.A. Ngo Phuong Dung, Hanoi University. Members discussed and agreed on the timeline for deploying the questionnaire in the near future.
The European project partners also had a session to present and introduce the content of Work Package 4, “Capacity Building of Staff and Support for Policy Reforms”. Mr. Pablo Oñate, representative of the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation ANECA; Mr. Rupert Beinhauer, FJ Joanneum University of Applied Sciences; Ms. Silvia Galeazzi and Ms. Claudia Girotti, representatives of the AlmaLaurea Interuniversity Consortium; and Ms. Marina Comacho, International Consulting and Mobility Agency, Seville, presented experiences in using graduate survey data to support governance reform and quality assurance in higher education, and the mechanisms and approaches for quality assurance and governance by the government toward Vietnamese universities.
Dr. Dorel Manitiu, MOTIVE Project Coordinator, and Dr. Vu Thanh Van, Project Coordinator at the Academy of Journalism and Communication, presented on the project’s communication methods and the development of the project handbook. The project handbook aims to share best practices from members in project management, calling on businesses and students to register information on the system, conducting graduate employment surveys, etc. Members agreed to assign one officer to participate in editing the handbook, which is expected to be completed in November 2021.
In the discussion session with nearly 20 representatives of Vietnamese businesses, members exchanged views on the connection between businesses and students. The advantage of the Project’s platform http://motive.edu.vn is that student information is verified by the universities themselves, resulting in high accuracy. However, the platform and the way student CVs are presented on the system still have many limitations, such as an unappealing interface and content that is not logically organized, etc.
On behalf of Phu Xuan University, Dr. Ho Thi Hanh Tien also introduced the partners to the innovations in the university’s training programs. Concurrently, Dr. Hanh Tien also shared the university’s desired contributions and goals upon joining the Project.
Within the framework of the workshop, the project launched a writing contest for students from MOTIVE project universities with the theme “Graduates and the Labor Market”. Undergraduate and graduate students can submit entries on topics such as: Vietnam’s education, social, and economic system; Quality of the higher education system; Human resources in higher education; Labor market structure, advantages, and challenges; Higher education amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, etc. The submission deadline is November 31, 2021. Students with excellent articles will have their expenses sponsored by the project to attend and present at the project final conference in Bologna (Italy), tentatively scheduled for mid-2022.
The workshop “How to Use Graduate Survey Data to Support Governance Reform and Quality Assurance in Universities” successfully took place and achieved the set objectives. All participating units in the Project agreed on the plan to organize the next workshop, which will be chaired by the Hanoi University of Home Affairs (HUHA), tentatively scheduled for July 2021 in Quang Nam. In the coming time, the project will continue to finalize the questionnaire and proceed with the graduate survey. The project will also focus on developing a network of businesses, boosting connections with businesses on the platform http://motive.edu.vn to create suitable employment opportunities for students.
The MOTIVE project aims to research the employment status of Vietnamese graduates to provide recommendations for policy innovation, improve the quality of higher education in Vietnam, and foster cooperation between universities and businesses. The project also aims to strengthen the connection between students and businesses to enhance employment opportunities for graduates. The project is funded by the European Union’s Erasmus+ program.