University Performance Metrics (UPM) has just announced the ranking results based on the research index of Vietnamese tertiary education institutions in 2019. UET – VNU received an overall ranking of 5/5 stars in the  800 – 1000 points group as a research-oriented university; specifically, 5/8 criteria of the institution are rated 5 stars.

Orienting towards research

UPM is a ranking system in the form of star rating which is applied to universities in Vietnam. Recently, the UPM system has announced the ranking results based on the research index of Vietnamese universities, in which the University of Engineering and Technology – VNU “Overall” ranking is evaluated  5/5 stars as a research-oriented university. In greater detail, criteria such as “Strategic Management”, “Training”, “Research”, “Information Technology and Digital Resources” and “Community Service” are rated 5 out of 5 stars. 

 UET – VNU received an overall ranking of 5/5 stars in the group of 800 – 1000 points as a research-oriented university according to UPM. (Caption)

Ever since the University of Engineering and Technology was established under Decision No. 92/2004/QD-TTg dated 25/05/2004 of the Prime Minister, the mission of the University has been to train highly qualified and adept human resources, to foster talents; to research, develop and apply advanced science and technology fields; to pioneer in approaching regional and world’s higher education standards, thus actively contributing to the development of the country’s economy and knowledge society. This mission is completely coherent and consistent with the guidelines, solutions and goals of the Comprehensive Higher Education Renovation Program that the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Government are implementing. This is also one of the prerequisites for the University’s “strategic management” criterion to be rated 5/5 stars by UPM. The reason for this ranking is that the university’s development strategy, medium and short-term plans have reflected the vision, mission and culture as well as the goals in training, scientific research, community service, innovation orientation and building a smart university well-adapted to the requirements of the 4.0 industry.

In addition, the categories “Implementation” and “Accreditation and rating” of the University are also rated 5/5 stars by the UPM system. Since its establishment until now, the University has carried out 3 evaluations in 2007, 2012, 2016 and mid-cycle assessment in 2019. Regarding the accreditation of training programs, UET has accredited 4 programs according to the standard set of the ASEAN University Network (AUN) and evaluated 6 with reference to the standards of VNU.

Many training programs of the University have been accredited to meet the standards of the ASEAN University Network. (Caption)

With the goal of becoming the leading research university in the field of science and technology application in Vietnam, the University of Engineering and Technology always promotes the development of science and technology institutions, invests in equipment, strengthens research and training capacity; gives priority to interdisciplinary scientific and green technology activities; raises financial resources; implements science and technology policies… These actions have shown their effectiveness in the field of scientific research, as shown by the evaluation of the “Research” criterion, which is rated 5/5 stars with “International publication” (100/100 points), “Research quality” (50.5/60 points), “Science and technology awards” (20/20 points) all highly regarded. In 2019, the whole university published 241 articles, of which 81 were in the ISI/Scopus system. The university is proud to have a team of highly qualified staff, lecturers and researchers with doctoral degrees or higher, accounting for 64.6%, of which the percentage of professors and associate professors is 19.6%, during the 2018-2019 school year. Therefore, the average ratio of ISI and Scopus articles published on lecturers is 3.97, exceeding the assessment standard of the UPM system by 1.5. The average proportion of revenue from science and technology activities, innovation, knowledge transfer and start-up support reached 28% of the total(37.3% during 2017-2018 school year, 36.2% during 2018-2019 school year), exceeding the benchmark of the UPM system by 15%. 

Furthermore the research university model of UET is also confirmed through its self-assessment process based on the research university criteria of the VNU Standards set. From 2016 to 2018, the University of Technology scored 4/4 according to VNU’s standards for a research university. More specific criteria are achievements in scientific research and knowledge transfer; training quality; level of internationalization; infrastructure for training and scientific research. 

(source:    http://qac.uet.vnu.edu.vn/?p=3446)

After nearly twenty years of development, the University of Engineering and Technology has been gradually completing its mission and asserting itself as a prestigious and reliable university in the higher education system of the country. The brand of the University is once again validated through UPM’s assessment based on the criterion of “Training” in which UET scored 5/5 stars. Looking closer, 9/15 categories are rated 5/5. The “star” ratings are shown by the proportion of full-time lecturers with doctoral degrees reaching 75%, in addition to the percentage of professors and associate professors reaching 25%. With the strengths in training quality, the school’s enrollment quota has increased to more than 1,000 after 20 years. In particular, in 2019 the school, having the capacity to train around 5,600 students and learners, enrolled 1,515 students compared to the anticipated 1,460. Currently, the School organizes 35 training programs. The quality of training is recognized and appreciated by society based on the criteria “Employer’s satisfaction”, “Students’ jobs”, “Students’ satisfaction” with 80- 95% employers and students surveyed giving high ratings. 

Striving for the “innovation-oriented university” model

The strong development of digital technology has created tremendous and rapid changes in the economy, society and education. Therefore, the evaluation criteria of the system has been expanded quite broadly according to the quality inspection approach and adaptation to the 4.0 industrial revolution. The University of Engineering Technology is also not left behind in the trend of innovation, entrepreneurship and increased capability to conduct applied research. 

As such, through the UPM system, UET is provided with research indexes to help the University identify, compare and determine suitable development policies to approach the innovation-oriented university model. The UPM system’s research group commented: “In the innovation-oriented university model, innovation and entrepreneurship are the school’s philosophy, goal and value-generating method, as well as the solution and the ability to adapt to the 4.0 industrial revolution. Smart features and physical-virtual connection are methods and solutions to the implementation of modern 4.0 technologies in order to deploy the stated educational philosophy and goals. The combination of these two features is the 4.0 model that all current classifications are aiming for.”

UET has become a partner with many domestic and international enterprises, universities, and research institutes. (Caption)

For the University of Engineering and Technology, criteria such as “Innovation” and “Innovation Ecosystem” are rated 4/5 stars by UPM; “Level of internationalization” rated 3/5 stars. Examining more closely, there are contents of the criteria rated 5/5 stars including “Research and innovation funding”, “Number of startups, spin-offs”, “Corporate partners”, “International lecturers”, “Exchanging lecturers”, “International conferences and seminars”, “International cooperation on research”. 

Through this ranking, the University will devise the direction of approach and adaptation to the 4.0 technology revolution, in order to build a development and investment strategy. Based on the foundation of the UPM system, the University will have renovations in the management of development philosophy and 4.0 adaptation; goal comparison and management; experimental strategic management tools of 4.0 university – UPM system; UET’s quality management through UPM.