1. VNU’S 25^TH ANNIVERSARY’S COMMEMORATION ACTIVITIES

The 4^th Politburo meeting of the Communist Party of Vietnam (the 7^th term) clearly indicated the task of "building a number of national key universities" to serve as the locomotive and pillar for the country's higher education. VNU was established with that role and mission. On December 10, 1993, the Prime Minister signed Decree No. 97/CP to establish VNU on the basis of reorganizing a number of big universities in Hanoi.

The legal status of the National University is stipulated in Article 8, Higher Education Law 2012. In November, 2018, at the 6^th session of the 14^th National Assembly, a number of articles of the Higher Education Law were officially modified and supplemented. Once again, the Higher Education Law acknowledges that VNU is a multi-disciplinary and multi-field university model.

In 2018, cerebrating 112 years of tradition (1906 - 2018) and 25 years of establishment (1993 - 2018), VNU’s members carried out numerous activities, such as organizing national and international conferences, “Singing about Uncle Ho” Artistic Festival, VNU Union’s football tournament, meeting with VNU’s teachers and alumni.

2. VNU’S POSITION INCREASING IN REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL RANGKINGS

In 2018, Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings (QS) announced the ranking of the world’s top 1,000 universities among which Vietnam made its first appearance with two representatives: Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City and Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU). Ranked by criterion, VNU was featured in the world’s Top 500 according to its employer reputation and faculty/student ratio.

Also according to this ranking, in 2018, VNU was ranked the 1^st in Vietnam and 124^th in Asia (15 places up in comparison with 2017); VNU had some indicators compared to the average of the top 500 universities in Asia and several good criteria such as the Academic reputation, Employer reputation, Outbound exchange students and International cooperation in research. Especially, for the Citations per paper, VNU surpassed Asia’s average threshold (Asia: 4.5 times/ article while VNU: 5.1 times).

The Cybermetrics Lab announced the second Webometrics rankings of 2018. According to the report, VNU climbed 144 places up from the 1450^th to 1306^th place in the world, returned to the top position in Vietnam, and was ranked 25^th in Southeast Asia and 368^th in Asia.

The University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP) listed 7 Vietnamese universities led by VNU.

The US News’ 2018 Best Global Universities Ranking listed VNU as the only higher education institution in Vietnam with the field of Physics ranked 502^nd globally.

3. SUCCESSFUL ORGANIZATION OF  NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES

On September 18, 2018, VNU organized a conference with the theme "Five years of fundamental and comprehensive innovation of education and training: Achievements and challenges". The conference aimed to analyze, discuss the results and raise issues in the process of implementing innovation, propose solutions to successful education and training reforms.

Hanoi Forum 2018, an international academic conference co-hosted by VNU, Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies (KFAS), the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, was held from November 8 to November 10 with the theme “Towards Sustainable Development – Climate Change Response for Sustainability and Security”. Hanoi Forum 2018 encouraged interdisciplinary studies, combining science and technology to improve the effectiveness of climate change response, especially in the Asia-Pacific region. The initiative of organizing the Hanoi Forum demonstrated VNU’s responsibility and strong commitment to accompany the Government in responding to climate change, contributing to the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals in Vietnam.

To commemorate the 240^th anniversary of Nguyen Cong Tru's birth and 160 years of his death, on November 24, 2018, VNU cooperated with Ha Tinh province to organize the workshop themed “Nguyen Cong Tru with Vietnam’s history and culture in the first half of the nineteenth century”. The workshop focused on analyzing and clarifying the political, economic, ideological and cultural context of Vietnam in the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries.

On December 6, 2018, VNU coordinated with Quang Ninh province to organize an international conference titled "Tran Nhan Tong and Truc Lam Buddhism - Excellent cultural ideology". This was an event within the framework of the Grand Memorial of 710 years of King - Emperor Tran Nhan Tong’s nirvana entry.

4. VNU’S UNITS AND INDIVIDUALS HONOURED WITH PARTY, STATE AND INTERNATIONAL AWARDS

On the occasion of the 36^th anniversary of the Vietnamese Teachers' Day (20/11), VNU’s units and individuals with outstanding achievements in education and training were awarded 1 First-class Labour Medal, 3 Second-class Labour Medals and 14 Third-class Labour Medals.

Students from VNU High School for Gifted Students won a number of medals, namely three gold medals, one silver medal and one bronze medal at the International Olympiads in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology.

The 2018 Ta Quang Buu Award for young scientists was given to Dr. Do Quoc Tuan from VNU University of Science for his work in physics titled ‘Higher dimensional nonlinear massive gravity’ (published in Physical Review D 93, 104003).

5. COMPLETING THE FIRST TRAINING CYCLE AT VNU VIETNAM - JAPAN UNIVERSITY, VNU SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AND PHARMACY AND DEVELOPING MANY NEW TRAINING PROGRAMS

The fact that the fifty-six first Intake graduates received their master degrees was a milestone to mark the successful cooperation between VNU Vietnam - Japan University (VJU) and Japanese leading universities in VJU’s first academic programs launched in September, 2016. This event was not only the premise for the continued successful implementation of the next training programs but also a contribution to promoting the close friendship between Vietnam and Japan on the occasion of the 45^th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries (1973 – 2018).

In 2018, VNU School of Medicine and Pharmacy held the graduation ceremony for 43 general practitioners and 31 pharmacists. These are the first doctors - graduates from VNU School of Medicine and Pharmacy since its establishment in 2012. To date, several departments of the School have set up their offices at such central hospitals as Bach Mai Hospital, Viet Duc Hospital, National Hospital of Odonto–Stomatology, etc. to facilitate the implementation of training activities and clinical practicum.

Also in 2018, VNU appraised and issued many new training programs at different levels to timely meet the needs of the society. Some pioneering highly demanded majors were first opened in Vietnam, such as Robotics, Aerospace technology, High-tech Agriculture at VNU University of Engineering and Technology; Geospatial Information Science at VNU University of Science; training program for sports talents at VNU University of Economics and Business…

In the past year, along with the research-oriented training programs, VNU issued a number of application-oriented master training programs aimed at bringing the theoretical content in applied training closer to practice, meeting the society’s needs. These programs are Accounting (University of Economics and Business); Governance and anti-corruption (School of Law); School administration, Educational administration, Measurement and evaluation in education, School consultation (University of Education).

6. PROMOTING COOPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES

On January 9, 2018, VNU President and University of South Carolina President signed a cooperation agreement. According to the agreement, the two universities would cooperate in a number of areas: staff/students exchange; conducting joint research and training projects; co-organizing seminars, conferences, scientific exchange sessions; exchanging academic materials, research, scientific publications …

On May 22, 2018, VNU President Nguyen Kim Son and the Voice of Vietnam (VOV) President Nguyen The Ky signed a cooperation agreement for the 2018 – 2020 period. Accordingly, the two sides agreed to cooperate in the following areas: Human resources training, Technology and knowledge transfer, Communication and image promotion. The cooperation agreement between VNU and VOV aims at enhancing the cooperation and sharing experiences, bringing into full play the potentials and strengths of each party to solve practical problems in communication, developing human resources, scientific research and technology transfer for the socio-economic development, international integration as well as the development of each party.

Attending the Science and Training Council open meeting of the Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU) on September 14, VNU President Nguyen Kim Son was conferred FEFU’s Honorary Doctor Degree for his contributions to East Asian Studies and Educational cooperation development. VNU and FEFU also signed an extension of the bilateral cooperation agreement. In an attempt to expand cooperation not only in the field of language and culture, Russian Studies and Vietnamese Studies, the two universities agreed to open  FEFU’s representative office based at VNU University of Languages and International Studies and VNU’s representative office based at FEFU. In the coming time, VNU and FEFU would implement joint education programs in the field of marketing and computer technology, training specialists for applied companies and experts in the field of Aerospace Engineering and Oceanography. The two sides also planned to exchange students, lecturers as well as implement joint training and research in line with the development orientation of VNU and Vietnam based on Russia and FEFU’s strengths.

7. IMPLEMENTING MANY NATIONAL PROJECTS

In 2018, VNU led in developing and implementing such national projects as Vietnam National Gazetteers, the North- West Program, Translation and promoting the quintessence of oriental classics …

8. TRANSFERING START-UP PRODUCTS

The EMDDI ride-hailing application developed by a group of scientists from VNU won the third prize in information technology at the Vietnamese Talent Awards 2018. This year, there were no first and second prizes in Mobile and Connected IT. EMDDI is a pioneering technology platform that is capable of connecting the community. The application is the connection between the service provider and the customer using the service. Transport companies can independently decide their own transport fares. With direct payment to transport companies on the basis of QR-code technology, EMDDI is a good solution to ensure business benefits. EMDDI can also be expanded into the freight sector in the era of powerful technology platforms.

This year, 6 technology transfer contracts of VNU scientists were signed at the first Viet – Laos Technology Transfer Promotion Forum 2018 in Vientiane (Laos). To meet the needs of Lao enterprises and research institutions, VNU would transfer bio-diesel production technologies; microbiological technology products in environmental treatment and application of green agriculture development (microbiological fertilizers, animal feed, agricultural drugs), as well as information and communication technology for smart urban management and intelligent transport services.

9. THE TURNING-POINT OF INVESTMENT IN BUILDING VNU’S HOA LAC CAMPUS

Implementing the Prime Minister's Decision No. 2068/QD-TTg dated December 21, 2017, on January 25, 2018, VNU received the VNU Construction Investment Project in Hoa Lac from the Ministry of Construction.

On March 7, 2018, the ground breaking ceremony for the complex of the Faculty of Mathematics - Mechanics - Informatics (HT1) in Subdivision 4 (Zone 4) of the construction investment component of VNU University of Science (Project QG-HN 07) was held. This was the first project to be constructed by VNU since its transfer from the Ministry of Construction. HT1 is to be built in 14,330 square metre floor space.

10. JOURNAL OF SCIECNE: ADVANCED MATERIALS AND DEVICES MEETS BOTH ISI AND SCOPUS STANDARDS

In April, 2018, VNU's Journal of Science: Advanced Materials and Devices (JSAMD) – A cooperative publication with Elsevier Publishing House, was accepted into SCOPUS database.

Since its first edition in March 2016, the Journal has published 130 research works of authors from many countries. In July 2017, JSAMD was accepted by Web of Science into ISI's emerging journal system. According to Web of Science analysis, 130 articles published by JSAMD in 2016 and 2017 had been citied 360 times, each with an average citation rate of 2.71.