The University of Da Nang (UDN) now has about 55,000 full-time students and 600-800 international ones. It pioneers in opening high-quality training programmes for many key fields in a bid to meet the requirements of the labour market, thereby making important contributions to the development of the city in particular, and the Central - Central Highlands regions and the whole country in general.

The University of Science and Technology - the University of Da Nang receives donations of modern machinery from businesses to serve its student training process. Photo: NGOC HA

Staying ahead of labour market trends

UDN’s member universities pioneer in opening or adjusting training programmes so as to meet social requirements and adapt to the human resource needs of the Industrial Revolution 4.0.

Currently, the University of Technology and Education has a training scale of more than 6,000 students. Each year, more than 1,000 tech engineers, architects, bachelors and teachers graduate, contributing to providing high-quality human resources for the labour markets not only in the city, but also in other localities nationwide. Notably, a number of graduates qualify to participate in the regional and international labour markets.

In recent years, enrollment in majors of information technology, automotive engineering technology, control and automation engineering technology, and mechatronics engineering technology has a highly competitive ratio of from 1:6 to 1:10. These majors are all social sectors with high demand, meeting the requirements of scientific and technological development.

Aside from enhancing training quality and opening majors to stay ahead of market trends, the university concentrates on strengthening international cooperation activities with foreign schools, institutes, and businesses in a bid to improve the quality of training and scientific research bit by bit.

“Through these cooperative activities, the university not only facilitates its students to participate in experiential activities abroad but also welcomes international students in foreign countries such as France, Thailand and Romania to take part in professional internship programmes", Assoc. Prof. Dr. Phan Cao Tho, Principal of the University of Technology and Education, said.

Meanwhile, it is forecasted that the Financial Technology (Fintech) sector will encounter a scarcity of high-quality human resources as Fintech companies in Viet Nam are growing rapidly (from 44 companies in 2017 to 131 companies in 2020).

Under its project to turn itseflt into a regional financial centre, Da Nang identifies Fintech as an important component to form and develop a financial centre. This is considered an important "push" to promote and create favourable conditions for the formation and development of Fintech Companies in particular, and the Fintech ecosystem in general in the city. Therefore, starting from the 2022-2023 academic year, the University of Economics has opened a new Financial Technology (Fintech) major.

The huge demand for human resources in the Semiconductor Technology industry is one of the reasons why this major is "sought after" in the 2024-2025 university admission season. It is predicted that Viet Nam will need about 20,000 qualified people with university degrees or higher in the next 5 years and 50,000 in the next 10 years.

To meet the needs of human resources in the future, in 2024, the University of Science and Technology, the University of Technology and Education, and the Viet Nam - Korea University of Information and Communication Technology have enrolled about 200 students for the newly-opened Semiconductor Circuit Design major.

UDN has directed the member universities to actively connect with reputable partners such as Cadence Group, Synopsys Company, Tresemi Organization (Silicon Valley) of the U.S., along with experts at both home and abroad, to open short-term training courses for lecturers and students in nearby fields with the aim to meet the supply and demand of semiconductor human resources.

Promoting strengths in training high quality human resources

According to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Vu, Director of the UDN, the UDN has clearly shown its position as the cradle of training high-quality human resources in the Central - Central Highlands regions.

In particular, it is gradually perfecting the model, organizational mechanism and operations of the regional and two-level university, promoting the advantages of using common resources and resonating to create system strength.

Additionally, it boasts a strong team of more than 2,500 officials, lecturers, and scientists, of which, the proportion of lecturers with doctoral degrees reaches 45% (the national average is 30%).

Every year, the UDN has 60-100 new PhDs. Most of leaders and managers at the UDN are young, dynamic and creative. The UDN has a large training scale and training quality that meets national and international standards. There are currently about 55,000 full-time students and 600-800 international ones. The UDN has pioneered in opening high-quality Viet Nam-France PFIEV training programnes since 1999; and training on credit system since 2006. Many active teaching and learning methods such as project-based learning, learning from practical experiences, and business semesters, have been implemented.

For the North Central - Central Coast region, the UDN has trained and provided high-quality human resources for many key economic sectors, making great contributions to economic growth and investment attraction such as Oil and gas technology (the Dung Quat Economic Zone, Binh Son Refinery and Petrochemical Factory); Electricity (Vietnam Electricity Group, Central Power Corporation); Automotive technology (THACO Truong Hai Group - Chu Lai); transportation; banking, and tourism.

Moreover, the UDN has a tradition and extensive international cooperation network, and synchronous, and modern facilities. It has set up the cooperative relationships with more than 200 organisations, universities, and businesses in foreign countries including the U.S., the UK, France, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and ASEAN member nations.

The UDN is a member of many prestigious educational science organisations (AUF, ASEA-UNINET, AUN, SEAMEO...); has chaired and participated in many international projects (Eramus+, USAID, MONTUS, HARMONY...); and has had 20 years of experience training Lao students.

In particular, the UDN receives active support from the Government, ministries, branches and localities to carry out the Da Nang University Urban Area project. It is one of the top 3 universities in Viet Nam funded by USAID and US partners to implement the Partnership for Higher Education Reform Project (PHER) during the 2022-2026 period.

Thanks to its favourable location in Da Nang which has a strategic position as a "major socio-economic centre of the country and the Southeast Asia region", and the nucleus of the urban chain and the growth pole of the key economic zone in the Central - Central Highlands regions, the UDN has enabled to attract and gather excellent staff, lecturers, scientists, experts and students from the four corners of the earth, contributing to the development of the North Central region - Central Coast and the country as a whole.

According to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Vu, the upgrade of the UDN into a national university is not to change its name but to fundamentally innovate, create mechanisms and policies, and establish a new university governance model with high autonomy and appropriate investment in resources. The UDN eyes becoming the nucleus that brings together other higher education institutions in the region into a cluster of strong universities, ensuring initiative in providing high-quality human resources, and contributing to the socio-economic development of the Central - Central Highlands regions in relation to major economic axes at both ends of the country.

Reporting by NGOC HA - Translating by M.DUNG