In the age of synthetic intelligence and strategic applied sciences, universities can now not focus solely on coaching human assets. They should grow to be pioneering areas for experimentation, innovation and opening new improvement pathways for the nation.
VietNamNet introduces an article by Associate Professor, Dr. Do Chi Nghia, full-time member of the National Assembly’s Committee for Culture and Society, on the mission of universities to “lead the way” in the technological period.
Two breakthrough expectations carrying nationwide ambition
Associate Professor, Dr. Do Chi Nghia, full-time member of the National Assembly’s Committee for Culture and Society.
The latest speech by General Secretary and President To Lam at Vietnam National University, Hanoi raised profound questions on the future of upper schooling in Vietnam. Among the seven missions assigned to the college, two stood out as significantly bold and transformative.
First, universities should grow to be locations that “dare to go first, dare to experiment and pave the way” for brand new fashions in schooling, science and technology, innovation and digital transformation. Second, universities are anticipated to pioneer the implementation of the Party’s strategic resolutions by specializing in fixing main nationwide challenges, significantly in strategic applied sciences, core applied sciences and foundational applied sciences.
These will not be merely directives for one college. They replicate a broader message about the evolving position of Vietnamese larger schooling in the information period.
Universities are due to this fact now not considered primarily as establishments that prepare human assets. Instead, they’re being positioned as forces that should “lead the way.”
Under conventional improvement fashions, universities skilled college students based mostly on current social calls for. But in right this moment’s world, if universities solely reply to speedy labour market wants, they are going to all the time lag behind actuality. Artificial intelligence, semiconductors and massive knowledge are reshaping the international economic system and labour construction at unprecedented pace.
In this context, universities can not merely switch current information. They should recognise the future earlier than society absolutely sees it, put together capabilities for that future and create totally new instructions for nationwide improvement. That is the true that means of “leading the way.”
To lead means having the braveness to step into new territories, experimenting with academic, governance and analysis fashions earlier than society absolutely understands their worth. The historical past of the world’s main universities exhibits that main educational establishments have all the time been testing grounds for brand new concepts lengthy earlier than these concepts turned mainstream.
In actuality, in a quickly altering world, not each improvement mannequin stays appropriate perpetually. Certain previous governance mindsets have gotten obstacles. Some outdated mechanisms are slowing innovation. Traditional academic approaches are more and more unable to preserve tempo with the motion of the period.
When General Secretary and President To Lam known as on Vietnam National University, Hanoi to present sensible foundations for the Party and the State to proceed refining improvement insurance policies, it additionally implied that universities will not be solely chargeable for scientific analysis. They should additionally assist “repair the road” for nationwide improvement.
Universities ought to grow to be locations able to figuring out rising institutional bottlenecks, exposing the limitations of outdated fashions and proposing new instructions for the future.
A nation in search of fast improvement requires not solely assets but additionally the potential to continuously regulate and renew itself. As improvement progresses, totally new points inevitably emerge, from AI and digital knowledge to inexperienced transformation. These challenges demand new governance pondering and coverage frameworks.
And there could also be no establishment higher suited than universities to experiment with, debate and suggest these pathways.
Excessive paperwork and a “safe mindset” can not create breakthroughs
Vietnam National University, Hanoi has reaffirmed its mission to prepare high-quality human assets and strengthen elementary analysis. Photo: VNU
For that cause, the name for daring reform in college governance shouldn’t be merely about altering one establishment. It is about constructing a nationwide “development laboratory.”
Within such an surroundings, new academic fashions will be examined, autonomous governance mechanisms can function, partnerships between universities, companies and the State will be applied earlier, whereas rising applied sciences will be researched and utilized forward of wider adoption.
However, earlier than universities can “lead the way,” they themselves should first be “untied.”
It is unattainable to anticipate universities to innovate boldly in the event that they proceed to be ruled by administrative pondering centred on management and concern of threat. Innovation all the time entails experimentation, and experimentation doesn’t assure speedy success.
An surroundings weighed down by procedures, inflexible processes and an obsession with “safety” will battle to generate main concepts.
That is why increasing autonomy alongside accountability is a foundational situation for universities to fulfil their pioneering position. Universities want real autonomy in educational affairs, organisational buildings, personnel, finance and long-term technique.
It is unrealistic to anticipate universities to compete internationally and grasp core applied sciences whereas nonetheless working below cumbersome “ask-and-grant” administrative programs with a number of approval layers.
At the similar time, autonomy should be accompanied by robust accountability. Universities ought to be evaluated based mostly on academic high quality, analysis capabilities, innovation outcomes and tangible contributions to the nation – not by the variety of experiences submitted or bureaucratic procedures accomplished.
When General Secretary and President To Lam known as on Vietnam National University, Hanoi to lead in strategic applied sciences, it additionally signalled that larger schooling is now being positioned at the centre of Vietnam’s nationwide self-reliance technique.
For a few years, Vietnam has participated in the international worth chain largely in lower-value segments. While that contributed to financial development, it additionally created substantial dependence on overseas applied sciences.
Without strengthening home analysis capabilities and mastering technology independently, reaching sustainable long-term improvement will stay troublesome.
No nation can grow to be a real technological energy if it completely is dependent upon buying technology from others. And no establishment apart from universities can create the mental foundations crucial to change that actuality.
The laboratories of right this moment could decide a nation’s technological place for many years to come. The analysis teams being constructed right this moment may create the strategic industries of the future.
However, reaching that imaginative and prescient requires a elementary shift in the method science and technology are funded. Core applied sciences can not emerge from fragmented, short-term funding methods.
Fields corresponding to semiconductors, AI and biotechnology require large assets, long-term dedication and a willingness to settle for excessive ranges of threat.
More importantly, universities should foster a real tradition of creativity. A college that seeks to lead the method should encourage impartial pondering, scientific debate and the ambition to push past previous limits.
Young folks want alternatives to experiment. Scientists want belief. New concepts want respect. That is the true spirit of a pioneering college.
Ultimately, the two breakthrough missions assigned to Vietnam National University, Hanoi additionally symbolize broader expectations for Vietnamese larger schooling in a brand new period of nationwide improvement.
In many circumstances, universities themselves should possess sufficient braveness and mental capability to suggest new fashions and new approaches when previous programs are now not appropriate.
That shouldn’t be merely the position of an academic establishment. It is the mission of a nationwide mental centre in a brand new period.
Do Chi Nghia