BUH General Administration Office - That is the highlight of the opening remarks made by Dr. Bui Huu Toan, Secretary of the Party Committee, Acting Rector of Banking University HCMC (BUH) at its 2018 Conference on BUH’s High Quality Bachelor Training Program (HQBTP).
As a throwback to the High Quality Bachelor Training Program run from 2013 to 2018 and a strategic direction for the period from 2018-2023, the university held its 2018 Conference on its High Quality Bachelor Training Program on August 18, 2018. Co-Chairs of the conference were Dr. Bui Huu Toan, Secretary of the Party Committee, BUH Acting Rector; Assoc.Prof.Dr. Doan Thanh Ha, Vice Rector; Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Duc Trung, Vice Rector and Dr. Phan Ngoc Minh, Head of the Department of Academic Affairs. The attendee list included the Management Board of the HQBTP- a subcommittee of the program; leaders of BUH’s functional units; Deans; Division Heads; representatives of the Youth Union and Student Association; lecturers, academic counsellor and supervisors of high quality program classes.
In his opening address, Dr. Bui Huu Toan, Secretary of the Party Committee, Acting Rector of Banking University HCMC affirmed the significance and remarkable achievements of the High Quality Bachelor Training Program. In the 2017-2018 academic year, BUH attained many primary training goals: meeting its enrollment targets as well as maintaining a well-structured and well-monitored training scheme with the best possible training quality. This conference was an integral part of the High Quality Bachelor Training Program as it offered an opportunity to ponder over the tasks accomplished in the 2013-2018 period. Besides, the conference served as a forum in which thoughts were exchanged and key directions for the 2018-2019 academic year in particular and the years to come in general were outlined.
Dr. Phan Ngoc Minh, Head of the Department of Academic Affairs reported on the results gained in the process of implementing the High Quality Bachelor Training Program in the 2013-2018 period as well as its development roadmap for the 2018-2023 period. In particular, the implementation of the High Quality Bachelor Training Program at BUH was carried out in accordance with the provisions of Circular No. 23/2014 / TT-BGDDT dated July 18, 2014 of the Minister Education and Training, promulgating regulations on high quality training at tertiary level.
The first course was run in the 2013-2014 academic year with 68 students of 3 majors (Banking and Finance, Accounting and Business Administration) being admitted. In 2018, the number of students admitted and officially enrolled in the program was 467 students, combined with 63 students transferred from the 34th regular training stream intake to make a total of 530 (exceeding its annual enrollment target of 500). Regarding minimum admission requirements, the gap between the test scores required for the high quality program and regular training program cohorts ranged from 1.1-2.0 points. As such, the benchmark gap between high-quality and regular training streams compared to 2017 has narrowed significantly despite the increased enrollment quotas compared to 2017. BUH has so far offered 6 high quality training courses, with a total training scale of up to 1,741 students.
The key directions and tasks in the coming years will be for the High Quality Bachelor Training Program at tertiary level to prove itself as a bold innovation developed from the formal training program at BUH. The program targets a number of outstanding core values: (1) Advanced and up-to-date professional knowledge according to international standards; (2) Self-study capacity; (3) Practice and application competencies; (4) Soft skills and leadership skills; (5) Foreign language ability and international integration ability. Regarding the size and scope of training, the Finance - Banking, Accounting and Business Administration training courses will be sustained while other qualified and practical courses are to be developed. A properly developed proposal for the the High Quality Bachelor Training Program is soon to be submitted to the Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training. The International Economics and the Business English courses expect their very first enrollment in 2019 and 2020 respectively. Until 2020, it is hoped that the scale of high quality training programs will account for 20% that of the regular training stream, or 500-550 students as per BUH’s annual admission requirements.
Dr Phan Ngoc Minh’s report was followed by exchanges and proposals from the Department of Facilities Management, Faculty of Banking, Faculty of Finance, Representatives from the University Management Board, Division of Mathematics, Faculty of International Economics, Department of Academic Affairs, Management Board of the HQBT and Faculty of Accounting and Auditing.
At the end of the conference, Dr. Bui Huu Toan wrapped up, responded to the queries raised by the discussants and stressed the pressing need of resolving the unsettled issues of the high quality program as well as undertaking the core missions of the program in the 2018-2019 academic year (particularly according to Circular 23 of the Ministry of Education and Training). The Rector expected that in the 2019-2020 academic year, other faculties (i.e. International Economics and Foreign Languages) will aim at running similar programs.