Training on self-assessment of university education quality

On March 26, 2015, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities held a conference to deploy a training program on self-assessment of university education quality.

Attending the conference were Dr. Sai Cong Hong, Institute for Education Quality Assurance, VNU; MSc. Pham Van Vy, Department of Inspection and Quality Assurance, University of Science; Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Thi Minh Hoa, Vice Principal of the University, along with representatives of heads of faculties and departments in the university; Heads and Deputy Heads of functional departments; staff of the Center for Training Quality Assurance.

The conference focused on listening to and discussing the report of Dr. Sai Cong Hong (Quality Assurance Institute of VNU) on general regulations of university education quality assessment standards according to the standards of the Ministry of Education and Training.

The purpose of providing assessment standards is to build a toolkit for universities to self-assess in order to continuously improve the quality of training; to explain to authorities and society about the current status of training quality; to help authorities evaluate and recognize universities that meet educational quality standards; and to provide learners with a basis for choosing schools and employers to select human resources.

The set of assessment criteria includes 10 criteria, revolving around the following contents: Mission and goals of the university; management organization; training programs; training activities; management staff, lecturers and employees; learners; scientific research, application, development and technology transfer; international cooperation activities; library, learning equipment and facilities; finance and financial management.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Chi Hoa presented the content of instructions for writing a school self-assessment report according to the standards of the Ministry of Education and Training.

After the introduction of the set of standards, Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Chi Hoa, a member with many years of experience in monitoring and conducting assessments at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, guided the writing of a self-assessment report for the school according to the standards of the Ministry of Education.

The content of the guide focuses on pointing out the criteria that the School has achieved, marking and analyzing the criteria that have not been achieved, analyzing the causes and solutions to write a self-assessment report for the school, ensuring the standards of the Ministry of Education.

"Currently, there are many criteria for evaluating schools that have been and are being implemented, but due to lack of skills in writing, exploiting and using evidence, the results that the school has achieved have not been maximized, so the evidence shown in the report is still lacking," Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Chi Hoa shared.

The conference also referred to the experiences in writing self-assessment reports of the University of Natural Sciences, VNU, presented by MSc. Pham Van Vy (Department of Inspection and Quality Assurance of Natural Sciences).

MSc. Pham Van Vy shares experience in writing self-assessment reports of the University of Science, VNU

According to Master Pham Van Vy, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities should include the university education quality assessment program in all school meetings, and promote propaganda activities to a large number of staff, lecturers, and students throughout the school so that the whole school understands clearly.

In addition, the School also needs to pay attention to the collection of evidence. The evidence must have unified data and adhere to the prescribed time frames. Existing evidence should be kept and not discarded. In addition, focus on adding new evidence that is highly convincing.

At the conference, MSc. Pham Van Vy also shared with the staff of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities the comments of the external evaluation team on the shortcomings of the School of Natural Sciences. These are important bases for the School to draw experiences during the preparation process.

Speaking at the conference, Associate Professor Dr. Tran Thi Minh Hoa, Vice Principal of the University, directed the faculties, departments and related units to closely follow the detailed implementation plan and always be proactive, closely contact and cooperate with each other in preparing reports, aiming for the highest results in the self-assessment of the quality of education of the University. The Associate Professor also expressed her gratitude to Dr. Sai Cong Hong, Institute for Quality Assurance of Education, VNU and MSc. Pham Van Vy for sharing and providing a lot of useful information for the conference.