UEH FULFILLING OUR MISSION OF SERVING THE COMMUNITY TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

16 Jan, 2025

The year 2024 marks a major step for University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH) on our journey to fulfill the mission of serving the community while closely linking with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With a series of outstanding activities in research cooperation, consulting, long-term training and short-term training, UEH creates a deep impression in localities and accompanies Provinces and Cities in shaping a sustainable development future.

UEH accompanying the country's key strategies - The era of rising up

In the context of preparing for the 14th National Congress of the Party, UEH organized a National Conference with the theme "Contributing to Vietnam's socio-economic development strategy for the period 2025-2030". This is an opportunity for researchers, lecturers, managers and delegates from the Party, state agencies, and policy-making institutions to discuss and contribute ideas to orient Vietnam's socio-economic development strategy. The conference took place in a special context when the country entered a new period that General Secretary To Lam emphasized as "The new development era - The era of rising up of the Vietnamese people". This is an affirmation of the aspiration and the belief of the entire nation in the journey to conquer great goals in economics, society and sustainable development. The conference received more than 80 articles and the organizing committee also selected the 5 most outstanding ones to be presented and discussed at the conference, with the content focusing on 03 main pillars: (1) Theory on guidelines, policies and institutions for socio-economic development; (2) Economic growth model based on science and technology, innovation and sustainable development; (3) Human resource development promoting regional linkages and international cooperation.

National Conference with the theme "Contributing to Vietnam's socio-economic development guidelines for the period 2025-2030"

Promoting regional linkage development

Considering the national scale, in recent years, the Party’s and Government’s policy on regional development and linkages has been gradually realized, creating strong socio-economic development for localities. Of which, four national key economic regions, six socio-economic regions, and key areas of each region are identified. Most importantly, the issue of regional development and linkage is also content mentioned in the 7th to the 13th National Party Congress. To concretize this policy, in 2022, the Politburo issued six resolutions to develop Vietnam's six socio-economic regions. Immediately after that, the Government issued six corresponding resolutions on the Government's action program to implement the Politburo's resolutions.

In that context, in January 2023, UEH established the Institute for Regional Development Research and Consulting (IRDRC) on the basis of upgrading the Institute for Development Economics Research (IDR) to accompany localities in solving the problem of regional development and linkage in a sustainable direction. The first highlight of the Institute's launching was the national conference with the theme "Driving force for socio-economic development in the Southeast region: Potential and challenges". The conference gathered more than 100 delegates from departments, branches and large universities, providing important strategic recommendations contributing to promoting sustainable development for the Southeast region. The conference focused on the inherent potential and addressed challenges in infrastructure, environment, and human resources. This is a testament to UEH's vision of linking research with practice and making practical contributions to socio-economic development.

Overview of the national conference with the theme "Driving force for socio-economic development in the Southeast region: Potential and challenges"

In addition to being the organizer, UEH participated as a speaker and reporter presenting articles at national conferences: (1) Article by UEH and the Institute for Regional Development Research and Consulting with the theme "Solutions to enhance development and intra-regional linkage promoting the role of the Southeast region in socio-economic development in the period 2021-2030, vision to 2050" at the conference "Provinces and Cities in the Southeast region with the implementation of Resolution No. 24-NQ/TW of the Politburo on socio-economic development and ensuring national defense and security to 2030, vision to 2045" organized by the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics in coordination with the Binh Phuoc Provincial Party Committee on October 18, 2023; (2) Presentation by the Institute for Regional Development Research and Consulting on the topic "Developing high-quality human resources in the context of innovation in the Southeast region's growth model" at the "Developing high-quality human resources to meet the requirements of digital transformation in the Southeast region" workshop organized by the Regional Political Academy II on May 16, 2024.

In the long run, UEH accompanies localities in high-quality applied research solving practical local stories with a scientific approach, contributing to promoting local socio-economic development in accordance with the new context. Some outstanding research directions of UEH with localities implemented recently include:

Conducting research on socio-economic development for localities such as Vinh Long, Dong Thap, Ben Tre, Thu Duc, etc. to serve the Congress documents in the context of localities preparing to organize Party Congresses at all levels.
Conducting research on analyzing the contribution of TFP to GRDP of provinces listed as Dong Thap, An Giang, Ho Chi Minh City, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, etc.
Conducting research on new trend factors listed as innovation, logistics, digital economy, annual reports on science and technology, sustainable agriculture, etc. for Provinces/Cities listed as Ho Chi Minh City, Hau Giang, Tien Giang, etc.

All of the above activities have partly reflected UEH's commitment to promoting applied research and contributing to sustainable socio-economic development while aiming at the goal of poverty reduction and inequality reduction (SDG 1 and 16).

Building links and promoting sustainable development

UEH is constantly expanding our strategic cooperation system with Provinces and Cities, aiming to connect knowledge and practice in policy making. Through strategic agreements, UEH focuses on training high-quality human resources and promotes applied research, policy consulting and implementation of practical projects, contributing to the implementation of SDG 4, SDG 16, and SDG 17. In the period of 2022-2024, UEH has signed a comprehensive strategic cooperation with the People's Committee of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province (2024), and signed memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with the People's Committee of Kien Giang Province (2022), the People's Committee of Dong Thap Province (2022), the People's Committee of Long An Province (2022), the People's Committee of District 7 (2023), the People's Committee of Dong Nai Province (2023), the People's Committee of Khanh Hoa Province (2023), the People's Committee of Tay Ninh Province (2024), and the People's Committee of Thu Duc City (2024). UEH's cooperation with localities is aimed at three main pillars:

Cooperation to support localities in building development strategies and proposing solutions for socio-economic management towards sustainable development.
Cooperation in training, fostering, and improving the quality of human resources and strategic leadership teams to serve the requirements of socio-economic development in the new context.
Cooperation in research and consulting, especially on current trending issues listed as sustainable development, green economy - circular economy, digital economy - sharing economy, science - technology - innovation, regional development and linkage, etc.

In July 2024, UEH coordinated with the People's Committee of Thu Duc City to organize the Conference "Digital Economy - Driving force for the development of Thu Duc city" with the participation of nearly 500 officials, civil servants and public employees of Thu Duc City. At the conference, the Institute for Smart Cities and Management (ISCM) and the Institute for Regional Development Research and Consulting (IRDRC) presented contents on digital economy, international experience in digital transformation, the roadmap for digital economic development in Vietnam, and the model for measuring the contribution of the digital economy to GRDP in Ho Chi Minh City.

In order for the MOUs to be practical, practical, and effectively implemented, UEH has organized working sessions led by the UEH Board of Managrment to plan for each year for each activity. These strategic cooperation agreements demonstrate UEH's strong commitment to contributing to the sustainable development of localities. Concurrently, the cooperation has marked UEH's pioneering role in connecting knowledge and practice, bringing practical values to the community. With remarkable progress, UEH continues to affirm our position as one of the leading educational institutions, accompanying localities on the journey to create a sustainable future (contributing to the implementation of SDGs 1, 4, 16, and 17).

Training leaders and managers: The key towards sustainable local development

With the mission of contributing to the sustainable development of localities, UEH has implemented high-quality training programs focusing on (1) improving leadership and management capacity for strategic-level officials, promoting competitiveness and sustainable development in the context of global economic integration; (2) developing professional skills for department-level managers or equivalent in strategic areas, equipping them with skills to solve challenges in modern management.

In 2024, UEH coordinated with Kien Giang, Dong Nai, Tay Ninh, Binh Thuan, and Ho Chi Minh City to organize intensive training programs that attracted the participation of hundreds of local leaders, contributing to creating high-quality human resources to serve socio-economic development meeting SDG 4. To be illustrated as follows:

“Training for officials with skills for international working environment" for leaders of departments/divisions/services of Districts and Cities of Kien Giang Province and the program "Improving leadership, administration and management capacity for leaders and deputy managers of departments/divisions/services, districts and cities of Dong Nai Province with the goal of improving leadership, administrative capacity, and sustainable socio-economic development.
Training program in Tay Ninh with four courses on land price decision-making for land appraisal councils at all levels, capacity for investment project appraisal and finance and accounting for account holders, chief accountants and accountants at public services in the province.
Training program in Binh Thuan on "Improving leadership, management and administration capacity" with the highlight of a field trip to Thu Duc City People's Committee regardingt digital transformation experiences, creating a foundation for sustainable development and local modernization, and the program "Logistics, export and management of agricultural product supply chains" provided comprehensive knowledge on risk management, export processes, and branding of agricultural products, with a field trip to Lam Dong for access to sustainable supply chain models.
At the end of 2024, UEH organized a training program with the theme "Innovation Leadership and Change Management in the Public Sector" for leaders and planning officers of District 3. The program focused on analyzing the innovation ecosystem, the role of innovative leadership, and the principles of positive change management; concurrently, sharing international lessons on administrative reform, building smart cities and developing the digital economy. The training course provided a solid foundation for leaders to effectively manage change, to promote public organizations to innovate and to develop sustainably.

Delegates and students from Kien Giang Province taking a photo

Learners from District 3 at the opening ceremony of the training on Innovative Leadership and Change Management in the Public Sector

The year 2024 ended with UEH's strong imprint on our journey of serving the community. From strategic cooperation agreements with localities to high-quality training programs, UEH has continuously expanded our role as a bridge between modern knowledge and development practices. High-quality applied research topics, seminars, projects, and training courses have demonstrated UEH's commitment to creating high-quality human resources and promoting sustainable development in localities across the country.

With a long-term vision and strong companionship, UEH has been contributing to building a prosperous, modern, and sustainable Vietnam. This journey will continue to be a source of inspiration for UEH to promote our mission of serving the community, creating values both domestically and internationally.

News and photos: Institute for Regional Development Research and Consulting (IRDRC)