Cao Thang – integration and development journey.

HEEAP project:

Since 2011, CTTC has been one of top eight universities in Vietnam to be chosen to join HEEAP – higher education engineering program, which is sponsored by USA international development Agency – USAID, Arizona State University (ASU) and industrial partners such as National Instruments, Siemens, Cadence, Pearson, Danaher, Mekong Technologies and Mediasite… with the aim of enhancing professional knowledge for lecturers. Until now, there have been 78 lecturers assigned to take part in active teaching method courses at ASU, USA.

HEEAP program focuses on training the faculties from a number of departments such as Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics, Electrical, Electrical-Electronics, and Automation. HEEAP project provides lecturers with the training of active teaching methods, evaluation and assessment methods… to boost training quality of the school.

After training at ASU – USA, lecturers also received financial support to conduct group projects boosting training quality and encouraging other non-participants to apply modern teaching techniques, which pertains to help students be equipped with critical and creative thinking. Besides teaching activities, HEEAP lecturers also organize seminars, competitions, academic clubs, English clubs to enable students to gain more confidence in the integration era, which requires students both professional knowledge and hands-on experience or real-life skills.

Leadership Ability Development Program (VULII)

VULII – Vocational and University Leadership and Innovation Institute – is a HEEAP expanded project. VULII is a leadership ability development program established for school members of HEEAP. School managing boards and partners who take part in the project have presented 6 objectives:

• Developing managing boards.
• Developing faculties.
• Curriculum, textbooks, facilities.
• Online study.
• Enhancing the role of female workers in technical fields.
• English.

Together with HEEAP project, VULII program is aimed at training managing boards from department and officer levels to ensure training quality and leadership, which occurs once in every 2 or 2.5 months. The content of training focuses on school level leadership and planning skills, faculty level leadership skills, activities for guaranteeing training quality, structuring curriculum, textbooks and accreditation.

Having acknowledged the significance of the project, CTTC has determined the opportunity to improve the reputation and merit as well as based on the support from partners. CTTC has achieved the following sections:

a- Establishing strategic plans for accomplishing 2 of the above 6 objectives: developing faculties and curriculum, textbooks, facilities. Planning detailed strategies is conducted in Bottom Up model, not Top Down, which is set as a standard for school’s offices, leaders and lecturers to be aware of their responsibilities.

b- CTTC also develops the full potential of HEEAP lecturers who are encouraged to make innovations – active teaching and learning, student-centered classrooms. Academic clubs and contests have been founded to make such changes.

c- Officers and lecturers have grasped the nature of each concept, program objectives, outcomes and a measurable learning outcome planning. Therefore, lecturers will orient students to achieve learning outcomes without teaching a pointless lesson like a robot. Curriculum is designed according to CDIO.

d- Besides specialized knowledge, there have also been seminars on professional development in faculty or department such as: designing curriculum in accordance with CDIO, consulting with the enterprises’ opinions on how to achieve learning outcomes through teaching performance and the procedures of organizing assessment.

e- Students’ satisfaction towards lecturers and offices has increased and become more positive based on reviewing students’ feedback.

f- CTTC has also organized a mock visit for ABET accreditation, which was made by experts from the project for 2 programs: Electrical-Electronics Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. The members are highly valued by ABET inspectors.   

Training Cooperation Program:

Since 2014, the school has been executing the Project of training cooperation to provide employees for Schindler Elevator Corporation. During their first academic year, all students of CTTC are going to accomplish general subjects. In addition, during their last year, students are going to take an examination and 20 students with highest results will be selected by Jardine Schindler for the 3-year training course (from June 2014 to April 2017). These short-listed candidates are scheduled to join double programs (50% at CTTC and 50% at Jardine Schindler) and 1 year for an elite training course (full-time training at Vietnam Schindler). This program gives them empirical experience on technical elements during the period. Therefore, after graduation, they will be able to work for Vietnam Schindler as installing technicians or service technicians.