In order to assist its members with developing distance training activities due to the impact of Covid-19 pandemic, the Francophone University Agency (AUF) announced the campaign “Fostering the implementation and development of complete or partial distance learning initiatives”.

VNU-IS has participated in the campaign with the project “Developing and expanding the online training platform for the English preparatory program at the International School, Vietnam National University, Hanoi”. AUF has decided to fund this project, which amounts to 5,000 EUR in total. As of now, VNU-IS is the only institution within VNU to receive funding from the AUF for its distance training project.  Also, this is the first time the AUF grants its funding to VNU-IS. 

The AUF is an international association of higher education and research institutions that brings together 944 universities and scientific research centers using the French language in 116 countries. As such, it implements, within its jurisdiction, the resolutions approved in the Conference of Heads of State and Government of countries sharing French. Having presented in Vietnam and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region for a long time, the AUF has succeeded in establishing strong relationships with many regional universities. 

In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic has substantially affected the teaching and learning activities at VNU-IS. Specifically, it hindered the global travel of foreign lecturers, resulting in VNU-IS being unable to deliver conventional classes. Online teaching, as a result, has been emerging as the most suitable platform for teaching and learning. Also, VNU-IS has acknowledged the importance of online teaching in attracting domestic and international students in the long haul, leading to the birth of the project “Developing and expanding the online training platform for the English preparatory program at the International School, Vietnam National University, Hanoi”. The project aims to accelerate digital transformation and the application of information technology in higher education not only under the context of the Covid-19 pandemic but also for the long-term future.

Lecturers of the Department of Academic Foundations took part in the training session on using MS Teams for online teaching.

As part of this, VNU-IS has upgraded its Internet service from FTTH 250 Mb to Leaselines 650 Mb to improve the technical infrastructure for online teaching. This allows students to learn anytime and anywhere as well as develop their self-learning capacity. In February, 2020, VNU-IS organized training sessions on teaching and learning for lecturers and students. Afterwards, from February to June, 2020, 100% of VNU-IS training programs were conducted online through the MS Teams/LMS. 

Lecturers of the Department of Academic Foundations delivered an English lesson at VTC Digital Television.

Due to the current pandemic situation, the AUF recognizes online teaching as a sustainable solution to support teaching and learning activities. AUF’s office in the Asia-Pacific region expressed their willingness to accompany and support member institutions in developing fully or partially their remote training programs. Accordingly, the AUF decided to fund the project of VNU-IS with a total value of 5,000 EUR. 

The project “Developing and expanding the online training platform for the English preparatory program at the International School, Vietnam National University, Hanoi” includes the following main items: upgrading information and software infrastructure system, as well as system security and backup; evaluating and testing electronic lecture system integrated with LMS Zent and using MS Teams, and other software supporting remote teaching and examination; creating tutorial videos for applications supporting online teaching such as Microsoft Onenote, Kahood, Quizzes, etc.; creating video lectures for online teaching; and creating English television lessons.  The project will be implemented from September 2020 to March 2021. 

The support from the AUF will elevate the online teaching at VNU-IS, bringing about an upgrade on its information infrastructure system. VNU-IS lecturers will also get more opportunities to learn about information technology applications to make their lectures more attractive.