DỰ ÁN CATALYST

The three-year project entitled“Communicative Approaches in University Vocational Teaching Methodology focusing on Improving Educational Yield and Sustainability” (CATALYST)is co-funded by the ERASMUS+ Programme of the European Union. This is the first EU’s project in which University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi(ULIS, VNU) participates with the hope of enhancing its capacity in higher education.

The primary aim of this project is to develop and implement a coherent program for vocational teaching in Vietnamese and Laotian universities frameworked with ECTS/TUNING in response to their specific needs and situations. The project comprises 05 work packages with 11 modules, working towards the ultimate goal of improving quality of university vocational education.

The project also highlights the cooperation between EU and PC universities in curricula design and vocational teaching methodology. Taking part in this program will benefit participant universities greatly in developing new learning and teaching tools, enhancing teaching methodologies and curriculum quality in the area of English for Specific Purposes. The project also offers opportunities for their teachers to attend training courses in EU countries, thus bringing the capacity of their staff to a higher level of development.

This brief report is to outline the main activities carried out by ULIS, VNU as a project partner and beneficiary over the 8-month period from this kick-off meeting in March, 2017 to October, 2017.

REPORT

The activities carried out by ULIS, VNU related to this project could be broadly categorized into three main groups: the kick-off meetings, the follow-up activities, and preparation for the training activities to be held in Bucharest, Rumania (2017)

Kick-off meeting activities

A series of kick-off meetings of this project were held in Ho Chi Minh City from 13 to 17/3/2017 and very well attended by different partners in the project. The three representatives from ULIS, VNU included Dr. Do Minh Hoang (Head, Office of Cooperative and Development), Dr. Vu Hai Ha (Dean, Faculty of English language teacher education), and Ms. PhungThi Kim Dung (Vice-dean, Faculty of English language teacher education).

Main outcomes from this kick-off meeting include:

Getting to know the partners from the project: The first day of the kick-off meetings featured introductions of different partners of the project. Apart from ULIS, VNU, various partners from from Europe, Laos, and within Vietnam were introduced as various partners and beneficiaries in the project. Specifically, they are:
- European Partners:

University Politehnica of Bucharest (UPB)
Technische Universität Dresden (TUD)
Paul Francis East representing The Pyramid Group (TPG)
Edge Hill University (EHU)
Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT)
- Partners from Vietnam:
Ho Chi Minh University of Technical Education (HCMUTE)
Ho Chi Minh University of Technology (HUTECH)
Hanoi University of Science and Technology (HUST)
University of Languages and International Studies – Vietnam National University (ULIS – VNU)
Hung Yen University of Technology and Education (UTEHY)
Vinh University of Technology Education (VUTED)
- Partners from Laos:
National University of Laos (NUoL)
University of Health Sciences (UHS)

Getting to know the project: ULIS, VNU participants learned the objectives, goals, process, roles of different parterns and the financing and fund allocation of the project. Various discussions between ULIS, VNU and the project managers, between ULIS, VNU and the project partners, as well as within ULIS, VNU itself were held to shed lights on different aspects of the project. It was clarified that the project was divided into 05 work packages, and the specific roles of ULIS, VNU in different packages were specified to each ULIS participant.
Understanding and preparing the relevant English language for the project: ULIS, VNU participants met with the project managers to ensure thatwe had the required vocabulary range and necessary skills to participate in project successfully and achieve project goals. It was concluded that all ULIS participants met these requirements well and were ready to take part in the project to achieve its goals.
Developingthe core curriculum objectives, modules and methodology: ULIS, VNU participants took part in various discussions and brainstorming activities organized by the coordinators to voice their opinions about what the objectives, contents and methodology of the training should include. The outcome was a draft of the core curriculum, to which ULIS participants contributed significantly with their valuable ideas and suggestions.

Following up on the meetings and promoting/publicizing the project at ULIS, VNU

On returning from the kick-off meetings, ULIS participants were fully aware of their responsibilities for publicizing the project and its potential implications to different stakeholders, first of all its own institution. The following activities were conducted over the past 08 months to achieve this goal:

Reporting to the president about the project: The project together with the outcomes of the kick off meetings were reported to ULIS president in March, 2017. Permissions were actively sought granted in terms of staff allocation, implementation procedures, the roles of ULIS and different participants,as well as project financing. ULIS president expressed his appreciation of the project as well asfull support of the project implementation at the university in the future.
Reporting to the academic staff about the project:During the annual staff meeting in July, 2017, an introduction of the project was providedat the Faculty of English language teacher education (ULIS).This was deemed essential, as the faculty is also expected to be the site for subsequent activities of the project. Conseuqently, plenty of mutual understanding and interest in the project were generated among staff members. One of the most direct outcomes is the active involvement of more project members as specified later in the report.
Officially confirming its participation in the project: This includes the signing of the Partnership agreement between the project coordinator and ULIS president, and the allocation the funding to the university within this period.

Preparation for the training activities in Bucharest, Rumania (December, 2017)

As the next stage in the project involves a 15-day training course taking place in Bucharest, Rumania (December, 2017), active preparation at ULIS has also been underway. This includes:

Project staff appoinment and allocation of duties. Since the kick off meetings, the goals goals of the project and the responsibilities of ULIS have been clarified and expanded to the extent that the initial staff allocation that included only three ULIS participantswas no longer pertinent. Multiple meetings were held at ULIS to discuss new staffing plans and theallocations of duties. These meetings have so far identified the following new ULIS members of the project and their responsibilities.
- Phung Thi Kim Dung, coordinator
- Vu Hai Ha, academic trainer
- Nguyen Thuy Phuong Lan, academic trainer
- Nguyen Thi Thanh Van, academic trainer
- Nguyen Kim Phuong, project secretary
- Khoa Anh Viet, project technician
Identifying the role of the project in Vietnamese education context and in relation to the missions of ULIS. ULIS is a key partner in the national Foreign language project 2020 (also known as Project 2020), a very influential and well-funded project which aims to improve the English language proficiency of Vietnamese people over the period from 2010 to 2020. Therefore ULIS took the initiative in revisiting the Project 2020 objectives, and map them against this CATALYST project. A thorough analysis identified asignificant number of similarities between the two projects, as they both underlined the role of improved English language proficiency in vocational training. This finding not only reaffirms the significant implications of our CATALYST project in Vietnam today, but also suggests new directions and initiatives ULIS can take in the future as a partner in both projects.

CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS

Within the past eight months since the kick-off meetings, ULIS participants have been working actively for the follow-ups on the meetings and the preparation for the next stages. So far, all the participants have shown their strong commitments in taking part in the project as well as maximizing the efficiency of their contributions towards the common goals. While all members appreciate and commonly agree that the guidance and support from the project managers and coordinators have been tremendous, suggestions for further improvements include more timely responses from the managers and coordinators due to the time required to deal with paperwork in Vietnam in general and at ULIS in particular.