A panel discussion at the sixth international forum on internationalisation in higher education (FIHE 6) in Hanoi on March 16. (Photo courtesy of FTU) The FIHE 6 attracted more than 200 representatives from over 80 educationalinstitutions, organisations and businesses domestically and internationally aswell as 25 embassies in Vietnam.
The annual event, which has been an initiative of the Foreign Trade University(FTU) since 2017, is a forum for higher education institutions to exchangeideas, explore collaboration opportunities and pursue theirinternationalisation goals.
Speaking at the event, FTU President Bui Anh Tuan said thatinternationalisation activities at universities have become one of the mostimportant and urgent tasks to improve the quality of education and provideglobal learning experiences for Vietnamese students as well as internationalstudents in Vietnam.
“Higher education institutions need to realise the importance of replacingtraditional approaches and build new partnering models to optimise borderlessresources for training programmes, documents, and facilities and ultimatelyachieve sustainable development for higher education,” said Tuan.
“With the aim towards a win-win partnership, reduction of competition andoptimisation of education, research and other resources without any national orinternational barriers, the Campus-in-Campus (CiC) model can be considered abreakthrough initiative in the internationalisation of higher education bysharing resources of campuses among partner institutions. This will facilitateand enhance borderless mobility including but not limited to programmes,curricula, students, and faculty among higher education institutions acrossregions and by that, making full use of available resources. Education for allin this case can be done through Sustainable Development Goals,” said Tuan.
At the event, speakers said that the internationalisation of education was nolonger a new topic. However, unequal resource allocation and economic gaps havecreated significant differences among countries. This is a time when highereducation institutions need a strategic vision and effective resourceutilisation. In this context, cross-border cooperation in higher educationplays an important role in the development of higher education institutions,and the CiC model can help these institutions maximise resources for thebenefit of stakeholders.
A highlight of the FIHE 6 was an open fair on internationalisation in highereducation. The fair showcases the internationalisation activities of FTU’spartner universities and organisations. It also provided a platform forstakeholders in the higher education ecosystem to share experiences, lessonslearned, and critical points to consider when implementing internationalisationin higher education./.
VNA
