[Podcast] ‘Don’t go alone’ Computering and Technology – Part 5: Accessing UEH’ Technological Training: From Multi-disciplinary to Application, From Platform to Trend

Era 5.0 – The era of a super-intelligent society is what will happen and the timeline is very close: 2035 or maybe earlier. “The rise of a series of super technologies” – “Enhancing human-machine interaction” – “Human-centered” are the “hot” keywords upon referring to this period. Keeping up with the trend of the current time, UEH believes that: More than ever, administrators and leaders in the fields of Business, Economics, Law, State Management, Data, and Communication need to understand so as to know how to apply Computers and Technology to majors and professions. This is also the motivation for UEH to deploy the series of "Don't go alone" Computer and Technology application knowledge series with 5 attractive parts under the participation of leading experts.

Academic-and-application-oriented training at higher education, for a long time, has been separated into two separate paths. On the other hand, the reality of the society along with the emergence of the 5.0 Era has placed higher requirements on higher education or academic training that needs to ensure the applicability into the practical circumstances or that research orientations must come from the breath of life.

At the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH), “binding multi-disciplinary knowledge”, recently, has become an important ‘keyword’, focusing on the applicability of Technology and Computers to other fields as follows: Business, Economics, Law, Governance, Communication, Design, Data, Urban. The output of this model is the generations of human resources who ‘master technology, think globally, act locally’.

With the theme “Accessing UEH’s Technology Training: From Multidisciplinary to Application, From Platform to Trend” - the 5^th session of the “Don't Go Alone” Computer and Technology application knowledge series with the participation of Dr. Bui Quang Hung - Vice President of UEH, Assoc.Prof.Dr. Bui Thanh Trang - Vice Rector of UEH College of Business, Assoc. Pham Khanh Nam - Vice Rector of UEH College of Economics, Law and Government, Assoc.Prof.Dr. Trinh Thuy Anh - Vice Rector of UEH College of Technology and Design that will bring academic training approaches combined with practical applications at UEH, currently!

Full discussion session from leading experts

Approaching the trend of multi-major and multi-disciplinary training at UEH

Dr. Bui Quang Hung: Multi-major and multi-disciplinary approaches towards solving problems and challenges as a completely appropriate approach today is both the first choice in training of most universities in the words and an innovative trend in higher education today. University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH) - as a prestigious University, a key public University in the past 48 years - has always been a pioneer in innovation, changing training programs, research orientations. Since 2020, UEH has been making claims with a vision of becoming a Multi-disciplinary and Sustainable University. With the formation of 03 pillar Colleges (UEH College of Business; UEH College of Economics, Law and Government; UEH College of Technology and Design). In our training and research-oriented programs, UEH always has the integration of fields and disciplines and takes technology as the center for application to solve the current challenging problems. Currently, UEH is being oriented towards changing a lot of contents in the training program, related to technology application with the purpose of meeting the challenging issues in the context of the 4.0 and 5.0 Era. In the orientation of adjusting and developing training programs in various fields, each UEH Member College has taken steps to adjust and to be prepared how to approach the trend of multi-major and multi-disciplinary training area of UEH, currently? First of all, I would like to invite Assoc.Prof.Dr. Bui Thanh Trang!

Assoc.Prof.Dr. Bui Thanh Trang: Regarding UEH’s multi-major and multi-disciplinary training approach, performed at UEH College of Business (COB), we believe that building a multi-major and multi-disciplinary and transdisciplinary training program must be associated with the issue of mastering application, technology and concretization in the training programs of the University. At the current COB, two new industries that combine technology and training are as follows: Martech (Technology and Marketing) and Digital Business (Digital Business).

In the Martech training program, this a combination of Technology and Marketing - or more specifically, a combination of science and digital learning with knowledge of Marketing. This program trains students to obtain the in-depth knowledge in the field of Marketing combined with applications of technology, through subjects as follows: Big data analysis, AI application in Marketing, Blockchain in business, Web interface design, etc. or subjects on digital content creation or using network data analysis, mobile applications to analyze customer experience and to use in advertising. These are integrated subjects that force learners not only to have a deep understanding of the field of Marketing but also to apply technology to work effectively.

Dr. Bui Quang Hung: The phrases (like the digital economy, the digital transformation in the public sector, even AI application in law), currently, are very popular phrases. Certainly, the potential candidates are always interested in. In terms of the fields of economics, law, and government, how has the UEH School of Economics, Law and Management (CELG) prepared for the training orientation in this fields of technology application?

Assoc.Prof.Dr. Pham Khanh Nam: I can confirm that the current trend of multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary is inevitable, especially in terms of the context of science and technology while the global digitalization process is taking place as well as the climate change is affecting each country’s activities. At CELG, we are in the process of transforming and building in accordance with the 3 pillars. The first pillar - transformation in training programs; the second pillar - transformation in scientific research together with the third pillar - transformation in relationships with businesses and external organizations.

To be described in more details as follows: In terms of the first pillar of the training program, we are currently working on two big jobs. The first job is to review the entire training program of the training disciplines of the training programs in the direction of supplementing high-quality subjects, providing knowledge and skills in technology and digitization, for example: Data Science. The second job that we have been doing, are doing and will be doing more and more is to integrate technology and digital content into each subject. For example, traditional subjects that used to have 11 sessions will take 2 to 3 lessons to combine and to integrate new knowledge under the form of case-study exercises besides the presentations by other external experts related to what digitization is happening and how it’s changing the content students are learning. Going into details, related to Agribusiness, we integrate our knowledge of smart agriculture, supply chains with UEH College of Business and Digital Marketing, in other words, integrating all the knowledge concerning technology digitalization into the lectures on agribusiness for students so that they can immediately access the knowledge as well as the curent actual reality. Likewise, majors like Economics or Investment Economics that are moving to start training integrate the knowledge of the sharing economy and the platform economy so that the students know how a sharing platform economy is performs (for example: Uber, Grab, Airbnb how it works, how it is operated, how it is priced and so on). All that new knowledge will absolutely give students a whole new perspective on the economy besides the operation in the digital technology environment. Similar to the Law Major, UEH University is investing heavily in the personal data field: how the laws protect personal data or how to protect data in the context of the data volume operating in the economy. The economy is extremely large and multidimensional. In terms of the public management program, many digital technologies are applied to state management, into the state management process in order to enhance the performance of state management through the application of digital technology. This is the general overview regarding the first pillar group.

In terms of the second pillar direction, CELG is investing in developing research topics that incorporate understanding the impact of technology and the digitization process on different groups of people in the economy, listed as from different businesses and production areas to different economic sectors. The third pillar is the business relationship, our College began to expand the links and the relationships with different sectors of the economy, especially focusing on businesses and companies that have technology investment, digital investment, international organizations that have departments focusing on building management mechanisms for technology and digitization and so on. Our College start to take advantage of those relationships with the purpose of creating connections besides how to bring businesses and international organizations to participate in the training and research process of UEH University.

Dr. Bui Quang Hung: It is obvious that we have a very comprehensive approach related to the training process, research, access to partners, businesses, associations so that UEH is associated with practice in our training process. Ladies and Gentlemen, in 2021, in accordance with the process of restructuring UEH into a Multidisciplinary and Sustainable University, UEH has established a third campus which is a very important pillar and is orienting to take UEH’s pioneering steps in the application of technology in its activities - that is UEH College of Technology and Design. Why should technology be associated with design? Why should technology be associated with art? These questions are going to be clarified by Prof. Dr. Trinh Thuy Anh.

Assoc.Prof.Dr. Trinh Thuy Anh: For UEH College of Technology and Design (CTD), technology is the leading pillar, introduced into each subject and each activity for UEH students. Besides, other pillars are as follows: integration with art, with inspiration, with culture, with life. This is the integration of interdisciplinary (multi-disciplines), requiring UEH students to have a mindset of business, of economics, of globalization to be able to master their jobs and careers. In all training fields of UEH University, for example: Innovation, Digital Communication and Multimedia Design, Architecture and Urban Management, or Smart Cities, AI and Robots and so on, in which, technology plays an extremely important role. Nevertheless, technology that integrates from the global perspective of other fields and industries, listed as Data science, Data analytics, E-commerce or Information security and so on, has just met the trend of the world, of the labor market in Vietnam. The third pillar is to integrate technology with business, economy, management, especially creativity and innovation, towards practical solutions that contribute to the community and the society. Last but not least, the third pillar that UEH University is aiming for is UEH sustainable development, following the mission UEH has set out.

In accordance with these pillars, the training program and learning environment have been carefully prepared. Regarding training programs, all CTD programs inherit as well as have the references from the Top 15-20 leading worldwide outstanding programs. All subjects in the program have a team of professors from partner schools. Currently, CTD has links with approximately 50 international Universities and those professors from these Universities are invited to lecture UEH students or to work with international students from other countries on other projects or beyond-UEH real-life projects. Lecturing UEH students from the first and the second years towards participating in practical projects will open up the opportunities for these students to use academic and professional knowledge to apply and to solve the practical problems.

Regarding the learning environment, students at CTD are very active with connections with students of UEH College of Business, UEH College of Economics, Law and Government to be able to do projects or study or question together through workshops, knowledge sharing or practical activities that are exchanged to improve personal knowledge and skills as well professional ability to integrate with his/her fields. In terms of facilities, UEH University is fully equipped with a system of modern laboratories, connected with external businesses so that students have the opportunity to practice at enterprises. With full preparation as presented, I do believe that UEH College of Technology and Design will join in UEH development process upon training a generation of qualified workers with effective job opportunities.

Preparation steps in the trend of UEH’s multi-major and multi-disciplinary training

Dr. Bui Quang Hung: Through the recruitment consulting work in the past time, a lot of students and their parents have asked whether it is better to study technology at a technology University or at a University that teaches better technology application. Regarding this question, what are your opinions?

Assoc.Prof.Dr. Bui Thanh Trang: This question is asked by almost all students and their parents. What do they ask this question for? To understand that to choose one particular training University means to be selective, is it only in business knowledge or is there an integration of technology? Can technology be applied or not? Firstly, for UEH College of Business, not only are subjects continuously innovative but also integrated with technology. In addition to the Vietnamese training program, we have a training program entirely in the English medium. We have used these programs and communicated with other Universities around the world, specifically linking the program of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Northwestern Switzerland with the University of Sydney. After comparing, the professors of those universities almost agree and are happy that the two programs can combine technology subjects and technology applications in each subject, in each outline. At UEH College of Business, learners have to not only have a deep understanding of technology but also understand, grasp and apply technology in business. Make sure that the first thing is to optimize costs for the business because the top problem of all business enterprises is related to optimizing costs in competitive conditions to make a profit for the available payment to all employees. In which, graduates who want to get a good job with a high salary must equip their technology knowledge to personal application.

Secondly, while recruiting, businesses consider people who study business fields, including International Business, Marketing, Commerce, Supply chain, Logistics, Management, Accounting, Finance, Tourism, Banking and so on as all these fields apply technology. When these students graduate from UEH, businesses require creativity, individual creativity and creative contributions. This creativity does not mean being stereotyped from theory; rather, the grasping the requirements related to the digital technology, the digital age. In terms of the requirement that students of economics, students of business understand business knowledge, apply technology to creativity and especially the current young people, it is found that they are very strong in this field: technology acquisition and technology application. If they have a business and economic mindset, they will push these activities into businesses very quickly. Businesses also suggest to cooperate with UEH University that UEH students can access businesses through UEH Enterprise Semester, in which they have daily access to businesses on the foundation of their established backgrounds and acquired knowledge. These students can approach and have a deep understanding of how to apply technology as well as posible and businesses also aim to bring the sustainable development to private businesses.

In my opinion, currently, in terms of the application of technology in the field of business and economics in general, the fact that this is a very important need is obvious. There is a question like this “How can lecturers from UEH College of Business teach technology?”. As it is stated, the lecturers of University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City are business trained and also master technology. The point is that we are not limited within our College of Business. At UEH, we have UEH School of Technology and Design, the fact that the subjects of technology and design are taught by the lecturers from UEH College of Technology and Design is an intersection, a combination of resources between the two Colleges, facilitating the sharing of extensive knowledge, specialized and multidisciplinary knowledge for UEH students to understand.

Dr. Bui Quang Hung: This year is also the first year that UEH enrolls a very new major: Robot and AI. UEH is also one University that has a tradition of training in agriculture. In the opinion of Mr. Nam, what prospects does the combination of AI and agriculture have in training and providing human resources in the future?

Assoc.Prof.Dr. Pham Khanh Nam: I would like to extend the very insightful sharing from Mr. Trang. Technology, from my point of view, is divided into two parts: developing core technology and applying technology. The core technology development part is performed by a small group of experts. Human beings go very deeply into technology: with the current world trend, human beings open science and open source code; therefore, anyone of us can learn this core technology everywhere without being a developer. On the other hand, the second segment is the field related to the applied technology that applies to all corners of life, all industries, and this need is extremely large. From my point of view, if we go to a University, let’s learn about applied technology and learn how to apply technology; in short, UEH is one very favorable environment.

Mentioning Mr. Hung’s question concerning the application of technology in the agricultural sector, the current trend shows that the contribution of agriculture to Vietnam’s GDP is getting smaller and smaller and, currently, growing in the agricultural sector as well as in the agricultural sector. The agricultural production and the business sector are shrinking because input resources have been limited both in terms of land and other input sources. Therefore, it is necessary to increase productivity by applying technology, the only way is through smart agriculture, applying technology in agriculture can help increase agricultural productivity and increase value. A very important problem that is often identified is that there is a devaluation season, there is no connection between market information, supply and demand of businesses do not meet; resulting in the situation of devaluation. Here, technology can be avoided by building market platforms in which information on agricultural product supply and demand can be met directly through information technology. It is not depending on floors, traditional markets like it used to be. This is an illustrative example of how technology will contribute to the development of the agricultural sector.

Dr. Bui Quang Hung: In terms of technology field, UEH has developed very fast. Currently, we have more than 8 majors in computer and technology training: Information Security, Information Technology, Computer Science, Data Science, Information System and so on. With the very important mission of technology to apply in all fields from business, economics, law, government and so on, what has the technology training program of UEH College of Technology and Design prepared to meet the needs of technology application in various fields?

Assoc.Prof.Dr. Trinh Thuy Anh: CTD moves forward extensively on technology training programs. Students studying at CTD will have the opportunity to work with foreign professors, international students and even study for a semester at foreign partner universities of UEH and more. Therefore, CTD students rapidly equip themselves with the ability to become a global citizen and to be able to connect with professional networks around the world. In terms of how deep the technology application is, CTD is one platform to create opportunities for students to apply with many hot subjects such as Data Science, Data Analytics, or Data Science. In those fields with a very high demand for learning around the world, we are the pioneers in inheriting and connecting international networks, connecting the career market and the business world towards the training of young people capable of becoming a global citizen. CTD students are not only active in the technology field but also integrate with other fields: they have knowledge and mindset of business, art, culture, of sustainable development with the purpose of producing creative and innovative solutions so as to meet the requirements of the reality. These are the reasons why we should choose to study these subjects at UEH. Despite being only born lately, CTD are very proud that our students have the full capacity to be able to pioneer and to lead in the innovation process. We are entering the Industrial Revolution 5.0 when the world is constantly changing as well as the unpredictable risks may occur, it is the integration of knowledge from many industries, in which, technology is a smart preparation for the future.

The series of applied knowledge articles “Computer and Technology: Don't go alone” has officially ended; however, it has opened up diverse future perspectives on a super-intelligent 5.0 era and challenges await GenZ. As a national key public University, UEH, over the past 48 years, has always been a pioneer in innovation, changing its training programs and research orientations. In UEH training and research-oriented programs, there is always an integration of fields, disciplines and technology-centered for application to solve the current challenging problems.

This is an article in the series of articles spreading research and applied knowledge from UEH with the “Research Contribution For All – Nghiên Cứu Vì Cộng Đồng” message, UEH cordially invites dear readers to look forward to the upcoming Knowledge Newsletter ECONOMY No. #81.