Aun Self-Assessment Report

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY

THE INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

AUN SELF-ASSESSMENT REPORT PROGRAM LEVEL

BACHELOR OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

May 2011 Table of Contents

List of tables...... 3 List of figures...... 4 Part 1: Introduction...... 5 Part 2: AUN-QA Criteria Requirements...... 10 1. Goals and objectives; expected learning outcomes...... 11 2. Program content...... 15 3. Program specification...... 18 4. Program organization...... 20 5. Didactic concept and teaching/learning strategy...... 25 6. Student assessment...... 27 7. Staff quality...... 33 8. Quality of support staff...... 44 9. Student quality...... 45 10. Student advice and support...... 51 11. Facilities and infrastructure...... 54 12. Quality assurance of the teaching/learning process...... 58 13. Student evaluation...... 59 14. Curriculum design...... 60 15. Staff development activities...... 62 16. Feedback stakeholders...... 63 17. Output...... 64 18. Stakeholder satisfaction...... 66 Part 3: Strengths and Weaknesses Analysis...... 71 Part 4: Appendices...... 83

Page | 2 List of tables

Table 1. Expected learning outcomes grouped by knowledge, skills and attitudes...... 14 Table 2. Curriculum specifications...... 16 Table 3. The annually changes in EE curriculum...... 24 Table 4. Grading Scale...... 30 Table 5. List of lecturers of SEE...... 34 Table 6. Distribution of lecturers in divisions...... 35 Table 7. Distribution of lecturers in degree...... 35 Table 8. The ratio between EE students and teachers...... 36 Table 9. List of training courses and seminars...... 37 Table 10.Staff members’ roles...... 40 Table 11. The description for positions in SEE...... 40 Table 12. Intake of first year students...... 45 Table 13. Total Number of Full Time Students (last 6 academic years)...... 45 Table 14. Pass mark and base mark for entry of SEE...... 48 Table 15. List of seminars...... 62 Table 16. Profile of graduate students...... 64 Table 17. Average Subject Pass Rate...... 64 Table 18. Graduate-rate and drop-out rate in the last 05 years...... 65 Table 19. Teaching method and lecturers evaluated by the students...... 66 Table 20. Extracurricular activity evaluation...... 68 Table 21. Soft-skills of student’s evaluation...... 69

Page | 3 Chapter III:

List of figures

Figure 1.The relation between knowledge sections...... 17 Figure 2. The network of subject courses of Electrical Engineering program...... 23 Figure 3. Categories in the cognitive domain of Bloom’s Taxonomy...... 28 Figure 4. The organization diagram of SEE...... 39 Figure 5. The relationship between SEE and other schools/offices at IU-VNU...... 44 Figure 6. The number of applicants and students passing the entrance exam vs. years...... 49 Figure 7. Course materials’ satisfaction...... 67 Figure 8. “Waiting time” versus percentage number of student get the first job after graduation...... 69

Page | 4 Part 1: Introduction

Page | 5 Executive summary

Introduction to the International University, Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City www.hcmiu.edu.vn

Educational renovation is nowadays a global trend. Vietnamese education, especially higher education must put a step forward in the process of renovation and integration. Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are the places to have key roles in being proactive in regional and global integration. We do this by providing high quality human resources in the nationally oriented cause of industrialization and modernization.

Therefore, in planning universities and college operational activities for the years 2001 – 2010 along with the Decision No. 472001 QD-TT issued on April 4, 2001, [Exh. 1.01.Decision No. 472001- University establishment] , the Prime Minister demands the universities and colleges in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to be the pioneers in the regional and international integration of higher education; to enhance the national and international investment sources; to cooperate with the world prestige universities in enhancing quality of education.

Vietnamese learners, especially in Ho Chi Minh City, have an increasing need of international quality education for world standard degrees via instructional languages of English and others. There is currently a big wave of people going abroad for their higher education, as well as of many overseas accredited universities with 2 plus 2 programs. Some overseas universities actually have or are preparing building grounds in Vietnam. Thus, in the medium-term strategy of development in the years 2001 – 2005, Vietnam National University – Ho Chi Minh City clearly states “International University is founded to be cooperate with the overseas prestige universities in providing domestic education of studying- abroad quality to learners; thus, to set sample of educating and training in Vietnam National University.”

After two years of project planning, the International University, which is a member of Vietnam National University, has obtained the decision for establishment signed by the Prime Minister on May 12, 2003 [Exh. 1.01. Decision No. 472001 - University establishment].

International University – VNU is the first international university of Vietnam, and is a public university with its legal status, its own authorized seal and account. It is fully empowered to award all degrees

Page | 6 from undergraduate to post graduate levels. Its internationality is reflected in international academic environment of IU – VNU as a whole, including all degree programs, teaching staff, languages of instruction, academic and research infrastructure. Its publicity is reflected in the long-term support from the government and other funding agencies and organizations at all levels – from local national to regional and international.

IU – VNU locates in Thu Duc District, Ho Chi Minh City at the center of the Southern Key Economic Zone and Southern Industrial Zone of Vietnam which are considered to be the engine of growth for Vietnam and as important to the whole country. In the line with the vision to become a high quality, research- oriented universityand to realize the responsibility of the university for society [Exh.1.02.IU Website], the IU – VNU has been conducting excellent research which aims to serve the needs of the Southern Key Economic Zone and Southern Industrial Zone of Vietnam as well as the economic growth of Vietnam.

Schools and Departments

 School of Biotechnology  School of Business  School of Computer Science and Engineering  School of Electrical Engineering  Department of Biomedical Engineering  Department of Industrial System Engineering  Department of English  Department of Mathematics  Department of Physics

Page | 7 Introduction to School of Electrical Engineering

As a part of IU-VNU, the School of Electrical Engineering offers all courses in undergraduate and graduate programs as well as for all related training courses and research disciplines fully in English.

The mission of School of Electrical Engineering (SEE) is to prepare its graduate for adapting a rapidly changing technological field. These objectives were developed according to the regional, national and industrial demands and needs and also the part of mission to be achieved by the IU-VNU and SEE.

The SEE offers 02 types of programs:

(1) IU program: the program which is fully educated at IU-VNU. Students are awarded the IU- VNU degree once completed the program;

(2) Twinning program: the program where students study the first two years at IU-VNU and the other two years at the partner universities; once complete, students are awarded degree from partner universities. Currently, SEE has twinning programs with following universities:

. University of Nottingham, England (since 2005) [Exh.1.04]

. University of the West of England, England (sine 2005) [Exh.1.05]

. University of New South Wales, Australia (since 2007) [Exh.1.06]

. Rutgers, the state university of New Jersey, USA (since 2008) [Exh.1.07]

. State University of New York at Binghamton (since 2009) [Exh.1.08]

. Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand (since 2009) [Exh.1.09]

. University of Auckland, New Zealand (since 2010) [Exh.1.10]

. University of Catholic of America (since 2010) [Exh.1.11]

. University of Illinois at Urbana – Champaign (since 2011) [Exh.1.12]

Qualifications

Page | 8 There are 2 kinds of awards which students can get when they completed their studies at the International University, Vietnam National University, HCMC.

 IU-VNU Degrees are awarded by Vietnam National University – International University for students who complete learning programs in Vietnam. The degree title is Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering.  Oversea degrees areawarded by partner universities for students who have completed the one or the first two years at IU and the rest of their program at the partner universities. Organization of the self-assessment

Self assessment report (SAR) of the Bachelor Program of the school of Electrical Engineering, IU-VNU, is one of the first endeavors and efforts to bring the its program to become the certified program in ASIA under the network of Asian Universities (AUN).

Special attentions and efforts have been made for the AUN self-assessment at the university level, especially when the bachelor program of the school of Electrical Engineering of the International University, Vietnam National University has been certified by AUN. Since then, the school of Electrical Engineering, International University with strong advices and supports received from the center for Educational Testing and Quality Assessment of VNU-HCMC as well as from the center for Educational Quality Assurance of IU-HCMC, has been striving for having its bachelor program certified by AUN in the time to come.

In order to meet the mentioned aim above, tasks have been promptly divided into different subgroups (from a main group of the so-called AUN working group) acting on AUN self assessment at the School level, since the year 2010 for researching & studying about AUN criteria, collecting facts, and writing the report for self-assessment activities. [Exh.1.13. Decision – AUN SAR Committee]

The AUN working group has been collecting facts and evidences since early 2011, making everything ready for writing the first draft of SAR and having its draft completed for possible external reviewers. As planed and followed the required working agenda of Center for Education Testing & Quality Assessment (CET&QA) of VNU, revised versions of AUN self assessment report of the SEE will have been made after receiving feedbacks from the external reviewers as well as the suggestions and recommendations from the CET&QA of VNU- HCMC and from the center for Educational Quality Assurance of IU-HCMC.

Page | 9 Part 2: AUN-QA Criteria Requirements

Page | 10 1. Goals and objectives; expected learning outcomes 1.1 Vision and Mission of IU-VNU

Vision: within five years, the IU-VNU to become a high quality, research-oriented university with:

. Courses taught according to international standards;

. Dedicated and highly competent faculty;

. Modern facilities for instruction and research;

. Professional administration and staff;

. High quality students;

. Graduates who are well trained in using modern technologies and current, best practices in industry, and also able to work in international settings;

. A reputation as a pioneer in higher education management.[Exh.1.02. IU Website]

The vision of the university has been translated into a mission statement as following:

. To provide international quality undergraduate and post graduate education and training in Engineering and Economics that can meet the development demands of Vietnam;

. To conduct research and apply it to the industry and the society;

. To play a key role in the development of the community.

In the short term, the International University strives to become a moderately sized, research oriented university, with an international work and study environment, where a strong faculty and staff provide quality training in key subjects to a highly motivated student body of Vietnamese and international learners and whose reputation as a top-level institute of higher learning attracts top-notch learners, researchers and lecturers.

Page | 11 The International University will soon create a development strategy for the next 5 years and 10 years which will introduce and implement new policies on salary, clarify systems of process, provide work and functional descriptions for the whole university, and establish international standards for the recruitment of staff and faculty.

The International University will also review and improve the training program with the goal of providing our students with an international standard education, approaching the quality of world’s top universities. The intermediate goal will be to match the academic standards of top tier American universities, so as to permit transfers of credits and allow for future collaboration to be based on the principles of equal cooperation and mutual benefit.

The International University will establish policies to ensure that 100% of staff and faculty will be afforded the opportunity to receive domestic and overseas professional training, with the goal of insuring that the training provided, research conducted and administrative support given are of the highest possible quality. [Exh.1.02. IU Website]

1.2 Mission and Objectives of School of Electrical Engineering (SEE)

Consistent with the stated mission of IU-VNU, the mission of School of Electrical Engineering (SEE) is to prepare its graduate for adapting a rapidly changing technological field. These objectives were developed according to the regional, national and industrial demands and needs and also the part of mission to be achieved by the IU-VNU and SEE.

The objectives of SEE are:

. To educate students with complete basic knowledge and skills in electronic and communication areas and for the needs of industries as well as academia.

. To encourage and nurture students’ interest in doing research and link students with industries in order to meet the challenges of this area. [Exh.1.14.Student handbook]

1.3 Expected learning outcomes

Electrical Engineer graduates are designed to be able to work as designer, planners and makers in Electrical Engineering. The expected students learning outcomes of Electrical Engineering program which reflect the demands and needs of all stakeholders cover generic skills and

Page | 12 knowledge, specific skills and knowledge as well as attitudes toward profession and society. [Exh.1.15. EE Academic Curriculum]

Graduates from SEE should have attained:

a. An ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science and engineering;

b. An ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data;

c. An ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability and sustainability;

d. An ability to function on multi-disciplinary teams;

e. An ability to identify, formulate and solve electrical problems;

f. An understanding of professional and ethical responsibility;

g. An ability to communicate effectively;

h. The broad education necessary to understand the impact of electrical engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental and societal context;

i. A recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage in life-long learning;

j. A knowledge of contemporary issues;

k. An ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for electrical engineering practice;

l. A knowledge of probability and statistics, including applications appropriate to the electrical engineering program and objectives; and knowledge of mathematics through differential and integral calculus, basic sciences, computer sciences and engineering necessary to analyze and design complex electrical and electronic devices; software and systems containing hardware and software components, as appropriate to program objectives.

Page | 13 m. Knowledge of advanced mathematics, typically including differential equations, linear algebra and complex variables.

Table 1. Expected learning outcomes grouped by knowledge, skills and attitudes

Knowledge and Skills Expected learning outcomes Generic Knowledge Mathematics, science a, h, j, l, m Generic Skills Communication, numeracy, the use of d, e,g information technology, critical thinking, team work, self-regulating, problem solving, self-learning Specific Knowledge Understandings and knowledge of a, e, electrical engineering Specific Skills Laboratory, the use of tools in b, c, k electrical engineering, engineering system design Attitudes social ethical and responsibility, f, h professional and ethical responsibility

Page | 14 2. Program content Currently, SEE is managing Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering program of IU-VNU. The program has been approved by the university academic and scientific panel [Exh.1.03. IU Academic Panel].The minimum credit requirement for the whole program is 144, which is generally distributed into 08 semesters. The average credit number is about 18 per semester (maximum 21 and minimum 13 credits). One semester lasts for 18 weeks, which includes 15 weeks for lectures, 01 week for mid-term exams and 02 weeks for final exams. The academic year starts at the beginning of September including 03 semesters: semester 1 (fall), semester 2 (spring) and semester 3 (summer). Semester 1 starts in September, and semester 2 starts in February. Summer semester start in June and is optional for students. The program organization is announce annually to students in Student handbook and published academic calendar. [Exh.1.14.Student handbook; Exh.2.01. Academic Calendar]

This program structure is chosen in order to lead students to gradually gain electrical engineering competencies. The general education such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and political education are given by lecturers from different departments and schools in the university and at the lower division of the curriculum. There are pre-requisite and co-requisite requirements for specific courses, which guarantee students to study at the right level and have enough knowledge to stay in that course. These requirements are set by the school academic panel[Exh.2.02.EE Academic Panel].

After completing the first two years of the program, students are allowed to choose their major. SEE offers two majors: Electronics major and Communications major [Exh.1.14. Student Handbook; Exh.1.15.EE Academic Curriculum & Exh.2.03.Conditions to choose majors]

The subjects are grouped in Table 2.

Page | 15 Table 2. Curriculum specifications

Semester Group of courses Expected learning Total Percentage outcomes number (%) Key skills, Research of cognitive skills Oriented credits & Professionalism 1st-3rd General knowledge 62 43% Political education 10 10 07 % Social science and general 09 09 06 % education - Required (06 credits) - Electives (03 credits) English proficiency 08 08 06 % Basic mathematics and science 35 35 24 % 2nd – 6th Core major requirement 33 33 23 % 5th – 8th Specialization major 20 14 34 24 % requirement - Electronics - Signal processing - Communications 7th -8th Professional practice and 3 12 15 10 % research - Internship 3 - Senior project 2 - Thesis 10

Page | 16 Students are educated with general knowledge of natural sciences as well as humanity and social sciences. The basic and advance knowledge in mathematics, physics and chemistry, which are required for engineering students, are included in the curriculum. On the other hand, students are educated with proficiency English, basic economic, political, ethical and critical thinking. The physical education is also a part of the general education. These knowledge forms a good background for students to choose future career and start their major study.

Figure 1.The relation between knowledge sections

Core major requirement

Specialization in Professional Fundamental major requirement Practice and knowledge Research

General Education

Page | 17 3. Program specification The curriculum aims to promote active learning, learning to learn and life-long learning. The courses are developed based on the student-centered point of view. The learning environment which helps students to construct basic and electrical engineering knowledge is provided through lecture hours, laboratory and professional practice. Students are educated generic and specific skills (problem solving skill, critical thinking, reflective thinking, the ability to work in team, communication skills, leadership skills, ethical and professional responsibility…) through learning activities in classroom (class discussion, group discussion), in group (assignment, students’ project), in professional practice (field trip, internship) and in interaction with supervisor when doing personal research process.

In addition students are provided with opportunities to learn and apply knowledge into practice, to work in a team with multi function, to learn from industry and understand the industry’s needs. As a result, students can form their interest research topic and carry out the research thesis for graduation enthusiastically and successfully.

The electrical engineering knowledge is divided into three categories in the program. They are:

(1) Core major requirements, which are the required basic knowledge of electrical engineering program. These requirements include the career orientation for student and introduction to electrical engineering. Students are also trained with basic skills for major such as programming, conducting experiments and forming and solving basic electrical problems.

(2) Specialization major requirement. Once completed the core major requirement, students will choose their specialization in electrical engineering. Currently, the program offers three major specializations, which are electronics, signal processing and communications. Each specialization has both requirement and elective courses. [Exh.1.14. Student Handbook]

(3) Internship and thesis. In the summer before senior year, students are required to take a summer internship. This is an opportunity for students to learn in professional practice and their first approach to industrial labor market. Students

Page | 18 have two options (1) working in industry, preferred by those who want to find a job after graduate and (2) doing project/research at SEE, preferred by those who want to continue graduate program. Students are introduced the company which fits their interest or they can find the internship place by themselves. Students have to work at their chosen company for at least 08 weeks and are supervised by the company. Once complete the internship, students have to write a report with supervisor’s evaluation. The report not only shows the academic work but also reflect student’s reception about the working environment/ working attitudes that they have learnt during the internship. Then, the report is submitted to SEE and students have to present their internship’s work/experience to review committee in order to complete the internship process. The final assessment is based on the supervisor evaluation and committee grade. [Exh.3.01. Student Internship; Exh.3.02.Internship Evaluation; Exh.3.03.Internship Report]. After completed the internship, most students have ideas for their final thesis and intention for future career. The final thesis is required for graduation. It is divided into two sections: the senior project and thesis. In the senior project, students will form a research idea and review all related knowledge. They have to write a report and assessed by senior project committee in order to complete the senior project. [Exh.3.04. Senior Project Evaluation; Exh.3.05. Senior Project Report] Then, the idea will come up with solution by proved theory, software simulation or hardware implementation during the thesis. This procedure helps students experiment with new ideas and practice, apply the knowledge and skills they have learned to solve a completed practical problem, from theory to experiment and product. Meanwhile, they also experience with critical inquiry, problem solving, research and reflection. As a result, students acquire necessary knowledge and skill which prepare them for life- long learning and professional development. [Exh.3.06. Thesis Students; Exh.3.07. Thesis Committee; Exh.3.08. Thesis Schedule; Exh.3.09. Thesis Evaluation; Exh.3.10. Thesis Report; Exh.3.11. Thesis Procedure; Exh.3.12. Senior and Thesis Plan]

Page | 19 4. Program organization Distribution of the curriculum

Freshman Year

Semester 1 Semester 2

MA001IU Calculus 1 4 MA003IU Calculus 2 4

PH013IU Physic 1 (Mechanics) 2 PH015IU Physic 3 (Electricity & Magnetism) 3

PH014IU Physic 2 (Thermodynamics) 2 PH016IU Physic 3 Laboratory 1

CH011IU Chemistry for Engineers 3 PE008IU Critical Thinking 3

CH012IU Chemistry Laboratory 1 EE050IU Intro to Computer for Engineers 3

EN007IU Writing AE1 4 EN011IU Writing AE2 4

EN008IU Listening AE1 EN012IU Listening AE2

EE049IU Introduction to 3

Electrical Engineering

PT001IU Physical Training 1 3 PT002IU Physical Training 2 3

Total Credits 19 Total Credits 18

Summer Semester

PE011IU Principles of Marxism 5

Sophomore Year

MA023IU Calculus 3 4 MA024IU Differential Equations 4

MA027IU Applied Linear Algebra 2 MA026IU Probability& Random Process 3

PH012IU Physic 4 2 EE010IU Electromagnetic Theory 3

(Optics &Atomic Physics)

EE051IU Principles of EE 1 3 EE055IU Principles of EE 2 3

EE052IU Principles of EE 1 Lab 1 EE056IU Principles of EE 2 Laboratory 1

EE053IU Digital Logic Design 3 EE057IU Programming for Engineers (C) 3

EE054IU Digital Logic Design 1 EE058IU Programming for Engineers Lab 1

Page | 20 Laboratory

PE012IU Ho Chi Minh’s Thought 2 PE013IU Revolutionary Lines of Vietnamese 3 Communist Party

General Elective 3

Summer Semester

Military Training

Junior Year

EE059IU Computer Architecture & 3 EE083IU Microprocessor Systems 3 Assembly Language

EE060IU Computer Architecture & 1 EE084IU Microprocessor Systems Lab 1 Assembly Language Lab

EE088IU Signals & Systems 3 EE092IU DSP 3

EE089IU Signals & Systems Lab 1 EE093IU DSP Laboratory 1

EE090IU Electronics Devices 3 EE094IU Digital Electronics 3

EE091IU Electronics Devices Lab 1 EE095IU Digital Electronics Lab 1

EE—IU Electrical Elective 3 EE—IU Electrical Elective 3

Summer Semester

EE112IU Summer Internship 3

Senior Year

EE107IU Senior Project 2 EE097IU Thesis 10

EE—IU Electrical Elective 3 EE—IU Electrical Elective 3

EE—IU Electrical Elective 3

EE114IU Entrepreneurship 3

Page | 21 Total credits: 144

The contribution made by each course to achieving the learning outcomes is shown in [Exh.4.01.Course vs. Learning Outcomes]. The network of subject courses of Electrical Engineering program is shown in the following map.

Figure 2. The network of subject courses of Electrical Engineering program

Page | 22 School Academic Board.[Exh.2.02.EE Academic Panel] SEE Academic board is established in order to maintain a good quality of teaching and material in curriculum. Member of the board is representative from specializations in school and senior lecturer of electrical engineering area. The academic board meeting is organized at the end of academic year of by request. The purpose of the meeting is to review curriculum in term of its content and implementation. SEE updates or modifies the curriculum at least once every year based on three references:

(1) Student, alumni and industry’s feedback [Exh.4.02. Course Evaluation; Exh.4.03. Alumni Feedback Form; Exh.4.04. Industry Feedback Form]

(2) ABET criteria [Exh.4.05. ABET Criteria]

(3) The curriculum of prominent universities in USA, England, Australia and New Zealand that have twinning programs with SEE such as Rutgers, the state university

Page | 23 of New Jersey (USA), University of Illinois, Urbana – Champaign (USA), SUNY Binghamton (USA), … [Exh.4.06. EE Curriculum Comparison]

The procedure to improve the curriculum is presented in [Exh.4.07. EE Scheme of Curriculum Design and Improvement]

Table 3. The annually changes in EE curriculum

Year Changes Reasons for changes Exhibitions

2005 – 2006 The program is opened in this Exh.1.14 academic year. Exh.4.08

2006 – 2007 Reduce the total accumulated In the agreement to Exh.1.14 credit from 152 to 148 reduce the workload for Exh.4.09 students.

2007 – 2008 Open new course “Chemistry for To complete the general Exh.1.14 engineers” education section. Exh.4.10

2008 – 2009 Review the whole curriculum With the ABET Exh.4.11 accreditation oriented and Exh.4.12 the collaboration with US university systems.

2009 – 2010 Open new course “ Special Topic To provide more Exh.4.13 in EE”, “VLSI Design Lab”, experimental practice for “Antenna and Microwave students. Engineering Lab”, “Image Processing Lab”

Page | 24 5. Didactic concept and teaching/learning strategy Active learning. The Electrical Engineering program is taught according to the student-centered approach through lecture hours, laboratory, professional practice and research project. All teachers have to submit SEE their course outlines which contain their teaching strategies before the courses begin [Exh.1.15. EE Academic Curriculum]. Then, these courses outlines are introduce to students at the first class of the courses. The teaching strategies in SEE aim to enable students’ action learning which integrate reflection into learning process [Exh.4.01. Course vs. Learning Outcomes]. As learning is a social activity, all courses of EE program are designed to encourage students to carry out individually learning together with peer learning. Through communication, students help each other to reflect in their learning which consists of a series of action: to identify their problems in learning, trial solutions to solve the problems, self- regulate and get understanding about how to learn. To ensure a good environment for students’ active learning, the university arranges the average size of class about 40 – 50 students for lower division and 20 – 30 students for upper division [Exh.5.01.Student lists of typical classes]. Each classroom is well-equipped with computer, projector and board. These facilities together with Blackboard system support lecturers in providing course materials to class. Lecturers and students also have more time to discuss in class thanks to the support of multimedia.

Course syllabus introduces the course objective, learning outcomes, textbook, course content and grading scheme to students [Exh.1.15. EE Academic Curriculum]. Then, students can have good understanding and well preparation for the courses. To ensure the student centered approach which emphasizes students as a subject of learning process, students are prepared for self-learning and reflection. “Critical Thinking” course are taught at the first year. In the course, students are encouraged to think actively, analyze and interpret data, formulate a problem. Furthermore, activities such as classroom discussion, teamwork, writing paper, practice and research project which are organized during the program enable students to construct knowledge by themselves, learning how to learn and reflect on their own learning. As a result, students improve the quality of their own learning as well as personal development as life-long learners [Exh.5.02. Critical Thinking Syllabus].

To enhance the communication between teachers and students, discussion between them is not limited to class hours; students are encouraged to communicate with lecturers via Blackboard

Page | 25 system, emails and appointments. In order to provide students with continuous reflective feedback on their learning process, the program uses different types of assessment such as quiz, homework, students’ report and presentation, project, mid-term and final exam.

Tutoring. The school has a teaching assistant system, which is very useful for student support. Teaching assistants can be a supporting staff or senior students. They help students outside class by discussion regarding the lectures or sharing experience in learning and research.

Laboratory. Learning by doing is the strength of the curriculum. Almost all major courses have co-requisite laboratories. The laboratory work enables students to apply theoretical knowledge to solve practical experiments. Students are organized to work in group, discuss to define the problem and propose the solution. Each theory concept is evaluated by simulation and/or hardware implementation results. Students are also encouraged to design their own experiment. Laboratory instructor helps students carry out the experiment as well as find the connection between theory and laboratory work. The laboratory instructor also ensures the student’s experiments be conducted properly before being activated for safety reasons.

Research. Students start researching by small project in class. With an assigned problem, students are demanded to combine their own knowledge with proposed solutions. Students have to write academic reports where all research activities and results are clearly described. By doing this, they can self-assess their achievements and improve their work.

In order to graduate, students have to register for final thesis. Thesis is an independent research project. Each student is allowed to suggest an interest topic and appropriate advisor. Research topics are up-to-date and usually contemporary issues of electrical industry. With the help of advisor, the student forms his/her research topic and accordingly, designs his/her research plan. Student’s research topic and plan are evaluated by Thesis committee to ensure the research problem can be solved by applying knowledge that the curriculum covers. Student is supervised by advisor during his/her research process. Finally, he/she has to write a thesis report based on the results of the research and orally defend it with the Thesis committee.

Page | 26 6. Student assessment The validity of the assessment of students learning is strongly depends on assessment methods and grading system which must ensure that students’ learning outcomes are assessed thoroughly, exactly and fairly. The EE program applies the assessment methods and activities which are stated in the program specification to assess students’ learning. Then, students are evaluated by the university grading system form the first time enrollment until graduated on each course, semester, academic year and whole learning process [Exh.6.01. IU Academic Regulations]

6.1. Assessment of Incoming Students

From the year of 2005, the IU-VNU has two ways for selecting new students, which are National Entrance Examination (NEE) and Direct Apply (DA).

Selecting new students by NEE. This method is for high school candidates graduated from Vietnamese high school. There is almost 100% of Bachelor Degree students of the school were accepted through NEE tests that are taken place in July annually [Exh.6.02. Student Recruitment Plan; Exh.6.03.Student Recruitment Board; Exh.6.04.Student Recruitment Process]. In order to get admission for the EE program, students must pass the examination in three subjects: mathematics, physics, and chemistry.

Selecting new students by DA. This method is for high school candidates graduated in international programs. In this case, the applicant just needs to submit the application to the University. The Student Recruitment Board will screen the application documents, interviewselect qualified candidates.

After getting admission into the university, if students don’t have qualified international English certification such as TOEFL or IELTS, they have to take the English test for categorizing students’ English level. Finally, each new student then participates in his/her adequate program.

Selecting transfer students.IU-VNU accepts transferred students from oversea universities. Students, who want to transfer to IU-VNU program, need to fill in the application form [Exh. 6.05. Transfer Student Application Form]. The Student Recruitment will screen the applicant

Page | 27 documents, and then interview the applicant to make admission decision. Next, the school dothe course articulation for transfer students. They will know which courses and work they need to complete in order to get degree [Exh.6.06. Transfer Student Profile].

6.2. Assessment of student’s learning progress

Assessment Methods

In the IU-VNU, a variety of assessment methods for determining students’ performance during their study are applied. Almost major subjects of EE program use various assessment methods and tools such as mid-term exam, final exam, and other evaluation methods through assignments, quiz, home-works, class discussions, attendant check, and laboratories. Classroom assessment and examination evaluate students’ ability according to six major categories of cognitive domains, which are: remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate and create (Benjamin Bloom, 1981; Anderson &Krathwohl, 2001). Students still have to remember relevant information. However, it does not mean “rote learning” is a requirement of assessment activities. [Exh.6.07. Midterm Exam Paper; Exh.6.08. Final Exam Paper]

Figure 3. Categories in the cognitive domain of Bloom’s Taxonomy

Educational objectives of EE program are transferred into expected learning outcomes. Then, teachers of SEE base on the expected learning outcomes of the program to build up the objectives of their courses and criteria to assess students’ achievement in the courses [Exh.1.15.EE Academic Curriculum; Exh.4.01.Course vs. Learning Outcomes]. These criteria are referenced when teachers set up the assessment means to evaluate students’ learning. SEE check if the assessment criteria of all subjects in the EE program cover the educational objectives and expected learning outcomes of the program. To ensure all students study the

Page | 28 same subject at the same time are assessed by the same criteria, problems of examinations for a subject are discussed among teachers who teach that subject at that time. Teachers of SEE examine the validity and reliability of each assessment tool after every time they get the results of its use. The improvement of assessment methods and tools of a subject are discussed among the group of teachers who teach that subject every year [Exh.6.09. List of courses and instructors in charge]. The necessary changes in assessment arrangements are made based on conclusive reasons.

By EE curriculum and students’ handbook, course outlines and classroom meeting, students are clearly informed the objective of the courses, criteria to assess learners’ achievement, assessment methods and university grading system.

Grading System

Performance of each student in every subject is expressed by the grades. According to the Academic Regulations of IU-VNU [Exh.6.01. IU Academic Regulations], these assessments fall into three categories with their allowed percentage in the final grade of a theory course as follows: . Final exam: 40% - 60% . Mid-term exam: 20% - 30% . Others: 20% - 30% The final grade of a laboratory course includes: . Laboratory assignment: 70% - 80% . Laboratory final exam: 20% - 30% Since a subject uses many different evaluation methods or requires several assignments, the syllabus also shows the weight or percentage given to each assignment in order to form the final grade of the subject. Valid assessment percentages are set by the teachers, approved by the School and publicly announced in the first meeting of the class. Any category percentages that are outside these allowed ranges has to be accepted by Dean of SEE and approved by the Rector of IU-VNU before the course is delivered. IU-VNU uses the grade-100 system (from 0 to 100). It can be converted to letter grades by the scale published in the Academic Regulation.

Page | 29 Table 4. Grading Scale

GPA 100 Point Grading Scale Point Grading Scale in letters Classification

Passing Excellent 90≤ GPA ≤100 A+ Very Good 80≤ GPA <90 A Good 70≤ GPA <80 B+ Fairly good 65≤ GPA <70 B Fair 55≤ GPA <60 C+ Average 50≤ GPA <55 C No passing Weak 30≤ GPA <50 D+ Rather weak 10≤ GPA <30 D Too weak GPA <10 F

To pass a subject, students must obtain a minimum of C grade. The grades that the students obtain from each subject are accumulated to form the students’ grade point average or GPA for each semester and for the whole period of study (cumulative GPA).

Students that do not pass the minimum criteria for the subject or get lower than the point of 50 must retake the subject in the following semesters.

Written Examination

IU-VNU has strict regulations about the mid-term and the final exams. For each group of maximum 40 students, there are at least 2 proctors who check the student ID cards and sign each student paper. There is a detailed set of rules for proctors during an examination.

There is also a well-defined process for making and approving the exam texts. Lecturers have to submit the exam texts at least 03 days before the test date. Each proposed exam has to be approved by the Dean of the School to ensure the learning outcome of the course. The approved exam is copied confidentially for each student and all copies along with the original are stored at School [Exh.6.07. Midterm Exam Paper; Exh.6.08.Final Exam Paper].

Laboratory Report Assessment for each lab is carefully constructed by instructors. After practicing the lab, students have to record the results into the laboratory report [Exh.6.10. Laboratory Report]. Each

Page | 30 assessment is based on attendance check, pre-laboratory activities, lab activities and marking of submitted laboratory report. Students also have to take the final exam for laboratory course. The grading scheme is set by IU-VNU as follow: . Laboratory report : from 70% to 80% . Final examination : from 20% to 30%

Assignment Report and Presentation

At IU-VNU, most courses have quiz and homework assignments. Each assignment has to be documented and submitted to the instructors. Depending on the instructor’s requirement, the result of assignment can be presented in front of the class.

Thesis Defense

A thesis committee is set up by the Dean of School and approved by the Rector of IU VNU [Exh.3.07.Thesis Committee].For each thesis, an assigned reviewer carefully reviews the report and discusses the result of the thesis with the students. At the defense date, student(s) presents the results in the present of Thesis Committee, which are assigned by the university, for around 20 minutes. The Thesis Defense Committee members ask questions to clarify the results of students’ research and evaluate students’ insight of the thesis. Then, thesis’ advisor and reviewer publicly inform their evaluation reports. These evaluations contribute equally as the assessment of each member from the Thesis Committee to the final grade. The defense ends with marking done by the committee members [Exh.3.09. Thesis Evaluation]. The final grade is the average of all committee members, thesis’ advisor and reviewer grades. The student has to earn at least 50/100 for passing the thesis defense.

Graduation Assessment

University Graduation Committee is form to evaluate students for graduation. Normally, it consists of the Rector of IU-VNU, Dean of SEE and Head of Academic Affair. The studying process of each student is carefully checked along with the requirements of the program. The conditional graduation of students is based on the fulfillment of at least 144 credits. Course equivalences are also taken into account. Exceptional cases have to be approved by this committee. Here, the committee will determine whether a student has completed all required

Page | 31 subjects with satisfactory performance and thus is eligible for the degree award [Exh.6.11. Graduate Student Decision].

Page | 32 7. Staff quality Recruitment process

All engineering programs in IU-VNU which refers to ABET criteria, benchmark to prominent universities in USA, England, Australia and taught in English. Thus, to ensure a high-quality human resource to develop these programs, IU-VNU has a strict regulation for recruiting new lecturer [Exh.7.01. Recruitment Criteria]. The competence and qualification of the lecturer candidates are measured based on six components: [Exh.7.02. Recruitment Procedure; Exh.7.03.Recruitment Evaluation Form]

. Academic qualification . Place of training . Teaching experience . Teaching methodology . English ability . Professional experiences The recruitment is done regularly by announcing on the University’s website, newspaper and recruiting sites. The first requirement to be recruited as a lecturer is that candidate at least holds a Master degree in Science or Engineering. A University Recruitment Committee that is formed to consider candidate applications consists of the Rector, Head of Personal Office, Head of Academic Affair and Dean of SEE. In addition to teaching competence, previously conducted research and publication, industrial experience and academic standing are used to assess the applicant’s qualification. In the recruiting process, an applicant’s competence to teach is assessed based on a teaching demonstration in front of the recruiting committee. During the demonstration, the applicant’s teaching and English skills, mastery of the subject, classroom management, and student-teacher communication are evaluated [Exh.7.04. Teaching Demonstration Evaluation Form].As a result of this strict process, SEE has successfully recruited high-quality lecturers. Almost of the lectures in the School are trained in foreign universities. While international characteristic is seen as the main characteristic of IU-VNU, SEE gives the first priority for international recruitment. As a result, SEE has three foreign lecturers (two Americans and one Germans).

Page | 33 Quality of Academic Staff

SEE has 13 permanent lecturers currently working at IU-VNU (07 of them with PhD degrees and 06 with master degrees) [Exh.7.19. SEE Faculty CV], 01 researcher,04 teaching assistants, and another 04 faculty members have been working towards their PhD degree in developed countries [Exh.7.08. Decision for SEE faculty study abroad].The main characteristics of SEE lecturers are enthusiastic, creative and experienced in teaching and research. [Exh.7.05. List of SEE faculty publications]

Table 5. List of lecturers of SEE

Experience in Number of No. Full Name Degree Age teaching (in publication Position year) s

1 Tran Van Su Master 48 24 08 Dean

2 Bui Pham Lan Phuong Master 32 06 03 Vice Dean

3 Udo Klein Doctorate 51 09 46 Lecturer

4 Tran XuanPhuoc Doctorate 58 12 10 Lecturer

5 Nguyen DinhUyen Doctorate 43 13 07 Lecturer

6 Hoang Tuan Anh Doctorate 35 08 15 Lecturer

7 Mai Linh Doctorate 39 06 62 Lecturer

8 Nguyen Tuan Duc Doctorate 30 02 12 Lecturer

9 Nguyen Binh Duong Doctorate 35 03 20 Lecturer

10 KieuTrungLiem Master 34 04 02 Lecturer

11 Nguyen Quy Ha Master 28 02 04 Lecturer

12 Dao Thi Phuong Master 33 09 0 Lecturer

13 Vo Minh Thanh Master 36 14 02 Lecturer

Page | 34 According to the nature of the subjects in EE program, lecturers are grouped into three divisions: Communications, Electronics and Signal Processing (Table 6). In order to create a scientific communicative environment for SEE lecturers, SEE has invited visiting experienced lecturers from well-known Vietnamese and oversea universities. Visiting lecturers also have to pass the strict recruitment process as mentioned above.

Table 6. Distribution of lecturers in divisions

Division Communications Electronics Signal Processing

Permanent 4 4 5 lecturers

Visiting lecturer 2 1 1

Total 6 5 6

Table 7. Distribution of lecturers in degree

Majors Professors Doctor Master

Permanent lecturers X 7 6

Visiting lecturer 2 1 1

Total 2 8 7

It can be seen that the distribution of lecturers at SEE is balanced in term of major, certificate, experience and work status.

Students and teachers ratio

Quality of teaching and learning is affected by the ratio between the number of students and lecturers. According to the regulation of Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training, the ratio between students and lecturers in university in Vietnam is 25. SEE has the ratio between students and lecturers shown in Table 7, which can be seen as an ideal condition for university education.

Page | 35 Table 8. The ratio between EE students and teachers

2008 2009 2010 2011

Permanent lecturers 10 12 14 15

Visiting lecturer 5 4 3 3

Number of students 192 181 200 197

Students/permanent 19.2 15.1 14.3 13.1 lecturers

Students/permanent 12.8 11.3 11.8 10.9 and visiting lecturers

Teachers development strategies

To remain the high-quality human resource, SEE makes a commitment in developing its human resources by several activities:

. Maintaining of connections with current Vietnamese PhD students in well-known ov erseas universities, especially VEF fellowships, to recruit talented lecturers in the fut ure. . Cooperate with the Personnel Office to continuously recruit new lecturers to the nu mber of 18 in year 2012. There is a strategic plan to improve the didactic pedagogic competence of lecturers. There are t wo types of training which are provided to teachers every year: (1) Seminars provided by IU-VNU [Exh.7.06. Training Certificate] (2) Training program: each year, IU-VNU sends one lecturer from SEE to partner univers ities for one semester. The objectives of this program are to improve the teaching m ethodology and to exchange research topics. [Exh.7.07. Decision for lecturertraining at partner universities] Table 9.List of training courses and seminars

Seminar Short Training

2009 Seminar by Prof. Cam Nguyen, LabView Tutorial; Laboratory Texas A&M, USA. Equipment Uses and

Page | 36 Management, by Dr. Christopher Schmitz, UIUC [Exh.7.09 ]

2010 “Digital Communications”, by Training by Prof. Minh Do, UIUC. Prof. Le Ngoc Tho, McGill University, Canada

Seminar from TI, by Dr. Thanh Tran and Franz Bio, USA. [Exh.10.09]

2011 “Digital Signal Processing”, by Agilent Training on ADS Prof. SanjitMitra, USC, USA. [Exh.7.10]

To improve the quality of lecturer, IU-VNU and SEE strongly encourages lecturers to attempt PhD program in high-quality universities in Vietnam or abroad [Exh.7.08. Decision for SEE faculty study abroad].

Workload and duty of teachers

In the SEE, workload distribution refer to competency and total load (teaching, research and administration/community work) and balance distribution among lecturers. [Exh.7.11. IU Internal Expenditure Regulation; Exh.7.12.Faculty Evaluation Form; Exh.7.13.Teaching Plan 2008 – 2011; Exh.7.14.SEE Research Project 2008 – 2011; Exh.7.15. List of Academic Advisors; Exh.7.16. EE Teaching Workload]

Lecturers are assigned to teach a course corresponding to their expertise. Each full-time lecturer who holds Master degree is required to cover 240 teaching periods per year for lectures. It is about 180 teaching periods for researchers and 225 teach periods per year for full-time lecturers with Doctoral degree. For the faculty in a management role, the requirement of teaching periods is reduced a half. Each theory credit course is equivalent to 15 teaching periods (one teaching period is equivalent to 50 minutes). One lab period is considered equivalent to a half of a standard period, and equivalent to 30 – 45 laboratory hours [Exh.7.11. IU Internal Expenditure Regulation].

Page | 37 In running the program, the average number of opened courses in one semester at SEE is around 20courses; each course is organized in one or two classes [Exh.7.17.School Schedule]. Thus, each lecturer of SEE is only required to teach maximum two classes and supervise one or two students to do research thesis per semester. Each course is equivalent to 3 credits (45 period hours) in general and the workload for one research thesis is 10 period hours. The workload of each lecturer is from 75 – 110 period hours per semester. With this reasonable workload, lecturers still have enough energy and time for research and administration/community services.

The organization diagram of the school is shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4. The organization diagram of SEE

Page | 38 School members have different duties depending on their roles. The roles of school faculty with their duties are summarized in Table 10.

Table 10.Staff members’ roles.

Teaching Research Academic advisor

Lecture Lab sessions

Faculty X X x x

Researcher X x x

Laboratory manager X x

Workshop supervisor X x

Staff support students

The description for each position is shown in the Table11.

Table 11. The description for positions in SEE

No. Position Description

1 Dean/Vice Dean o Manage and control activities involving staffs and faculties in schools. o Plan and develop operations in school. o Do training activities. o Look for research fund from industrial areas 2 Lecturer o Do teaching and research o Take duties of academic advisor 3 Researcher o Support student as Lab instructor o Do research o Take duties of academic advisor 4 Laboratory manager o Manage devices (hardware and software) o Support activities for studying and teaching

Page | 39 o Maintain devices and network systems o Repair, re-install and fix all problems of laboratories. 5 Workshop supervisor o Support student for doing hardware 6 Staff o Support the Dean to manage materials involving students, training, administrative works.

With small number of 20 staffs, the closed contact between faculty members is easy to create and it forms a good environment for cooperation between faculty members. Each faculty members can contact to discuss with the Dean and Vice Dean of SEE about the issues of their work whenever needed.

Duties allocated are appropriate to qualifications, experience and skills. Two months before each semester, the Dean and Vice Dean of SEE plan the list of courses for the next semester [Exh.7.13. Teaching Plan]. Based on this list of opened courses and the expertise of the permanent faculties, the Dean assigns appropriate courses for available faculties. If there are some courses left without lecturers, visiting lecturers will be invited. Visiting lecturers with teaching experience, lecturers with industrial experience and foreign lecturers will be considered first.

Time management and incentive systems are designed to support the quality of teaching and learning.

Faculties and researchers normally teach from 2 to 4 classes per week. The labs begin after the first three weeks of theoretical lectures. In the lab, the instructors help students to apply knowledge from the lectures. Beside the class time, students can meet the lecturers and instructors at the office and ask about anything involving his or her lectures. Students can find the office hours of faculties on the notice board or in the first lecture. They can also see teaching assistance whenever needed.

Teaching assistants support lecturers to review basic knowledge or complement the background for the students. For classes with large numbers of students, lecturers can have one or two teaching assistants who are senior or master students who have good knowledge about those courses.

Page | 40 To support students in their study, the academic advisor system is established [Exh.7.15. List of Academic Advisors]. All lecturers and researchers are expected to be academic advisors for around 80 students. The academic advisors are responsible for helping students to understand the major they are learning, for advising students on choosing and registering their courses.

In support of teaching, an assessment system is also used. At the end of each course, student feedback is taken [Exh.4.02. Course Evaluation]. The feedback result will be sent to the Dean of the School and he will privately work with each lecturer to improve his/her teaching methodology.

Accountability for staff members is well defined

The accountability rules for all staff members are clearly defined. There are four groups: faculties, researchers, teaching assistants and administrative staff. Faculties are recruited to be lecturers. Their responsibility is doing research, teaching, being thesis supervisor and academic advisor. Researchers are recruited to be lab instructors. Their responsibility is doing research, helping students to do lab sessions, being thesis supervisor and academic advisor. Teaching assistants assist lecturers in class, and help students whenever for academic issues. When students have any problems with administrative formalities, they can ask the administrative staff for help.

Provision for review, consultation and deployment

After each semester, faculties are evaluated by the management and the students. Full-time faculties who have missed classes have to conduct make-up classes, and those with low students’ evaluations are asked to improve their teaching methodology. Contracts of part-time or visiting lecturers that have attendance or teaching problems are not renewed for the next semester.

The faculties are also assigned to teach many different courses to improve their major knowledge, and trained in teaching methodologies at foreign universities. There is also a system of reviews and proposals for potential candidates to be nominated or arranged in suitable positions.

Termination, retirement and social benefits are planed and well implemented

Page | 41 The IU-VNU manual specifies all possible reasons for termination of faculty members. The IU- VNU ensures that there is a due process in such cases, so the board of rectors and the recruitment group review the cause of termination. The IU-VNU provides the faculty members with the following benefits: health care plan, maternity/paternity leaves, service leave, research incentive, longevity benefits, sick leave, disability benefit, death benefit, faculty development, and other benefits as mandated by law.

The IU-VNU provides faculty members with a financial retirement package that is specified in the University Manual. Furthermore, retired faculty members still enjoy access to the university library, sports facilities, clinic and computer facilities. They are still invited to teach classes, research and other activities.

The efficient appraisal system

Annually, the Appraisal Committee considers and selects the outstanding candidates and school to receive the awards such as: Lecturer of the year, the Academic Unit of the Year, etc. Beside th ese awards, the faculties will be evaluated once every semester for a raise or reduction of the sa lary [Exh.7.18. SEE Awards].

Page | 42 8. Quality of support staff Library Staff. The number of library staff is 05 and they support for the whole university. IU-VNU also hires part-time students for library service.

Computer Facility Staff. At the school level, all lecturers have been facilitated by in-connected PC. Maintaining the IT system is assigned for staffs of Computing Service Center and staffs of Office of Facilities Management [Exh.8.01. Report of Facilities].

Administrative Staff.The function of administrative staff in the school level is to plan short term and long term programs of the school. It has the role of organizing, conducting, carrying out, supervising and supporting all the teaching and studying work. Total of the supporting staff of SEE are 6.

Moreover, the administrative supported staffs should be counted from Office of Academic Affair, who is responsible for coordinating with SEE to help students in academic issues, organize teaching schedule, register testing and evaluating studying results. Total of the supporting staff are approximated 4 (in total of 19 staffs support 4 schools and 6 departments).

Technicians.The tasks of technician are to maintain equipments and tools in a good condition and assist laboratory services, including research by students or lecturers. There are 2 technicians working at 2 (two) laboratories and 1 technician working at electrical workshop.

The relationship between SEE and other schools/ offices are presented in Figure 5.

Office of Office of Office of Finance Academic affairs Facilities management

School School Office of Electrical Electrical Center of quality Personal Engineering Engineering management administration

School of Department Department Department Computer Science of English of Physics of and Engineering Mathematics

Page | 43 Figure 5. The relationship between SEE and other schools/offices at IU-VNU

Page | 44 9. Student quality Student Number

The number of students of SEE in last five years is shown in Table 12 and Table 13.

Table 12. Intake of first year students

Academic Year Full Time Students Male Female Total 2005 83 6 89 2006 46 5 51 2007 59 6 65 2008 48 9 51 2009 46 6 51 2010 27 3 30

Table 13. Total Number of Full Time Students (last 6 academic years)

Academic # applicants # student # student # student # student Year into SEE enroll in SEE graduated in remaining SEE dropout/withdrawal SEE in 2011 2005 79 89 56 08 25 2006 95 51 23 13 15 2007 94 65 46 19 2008 76 51 46 05 2009 79 51 48 03 2010 51 30 29 01

The school has produced 79 Bachelors of Engineering until September 2010.

The number of student intake is decreasing for EE major in recent years. There are three possible reasons which can cause this problem as follows:

Page | 45 (1) In 2010, when the economic and financial crisis have many negative effects on Vietnamese families’ incomes, the Electrical Engineering programs at IU-VNU with its tuition fees is about six times greater than those of other public universities could not become the first choice of Vietnamese students.

(2) In recent years, business and financial programs in higher education have a strong attraction to Vietnamese students. That caused the decreasing number and quality of candidates for other programs including engineering programs.

(3) The IU-VNU is located in Thu Duc District, which is 30 km far from the center of HCM City. Meanwhile, the transportation system from the center of HCM City to Thu Duc District is overloading, students tend to save their time to go to school by choosing universities which locate in the center of HCM City instead of IU-VNU.

This situation leads IU-VNU and SEE to have many efforts to introduce the EE program to applicants [Exh.9.01. Student RecruitmentInformation ; Exh.9.02.EE Leaflet]. To increase the quality of students, the IU-VNU annual scholarship program which aims to attract the best new students to IU-VNU and nurtured IU-VNU gifted students are published. [Exh.9.03. Scholarship for freshmen; Exh.9.04.Scholarship for IU students; Exh.9.05.Scholarship for engineering students; Exh.9.06. IU Scholarship Policy]

Besides, the university and SEE continuously improve the quality of lecturers/staffs, academic facilities and student services. In addition, SEE puts many efforts to innovate the EE curriculum to meet the demands of industry and society in order to increase good job opportunities for graduates. Accreditation according to AUN and ABET criteria become educational objectives to be achieved by SEE in order to insist on providing students with the high quality education.

Selection of the students for EE program

For the EE program admission, two sets of criteria are applied as follows:

(1) If the applicant is a graduate from Vietnamese high schools education, he/she has to register for the EE program at IU-VNU and pass the national university entrance examination that is organized by the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) in July annually. To prepare for the exam, the university provides the information of training degrees in the handbook that is delivered to each high-school student. Besides, IU-VNU also opens campaigns that are organized in well-known high schools, to introduce the university to

Page | 46 students [Exh.6.02. Student Recruitment Plan]. This plan aims to attract bright applicants to apply to the university. As a result of this, students from all over the country can know about and apply to IU-VNU. Only applicants with higher mark than the pass mark, which is set by the Student Recruiting Committee, can get an entry to the university.

(2) If the applicant has international high-school certificate, he/she has submitted the application to the university. The Student Recruiting Committee considers case-by-case and selects applicants whose academic ability is relevant to the EE program to interview. Only applicants who pass the interview can get an entry to the university.

Students, who have passed the entrance exam, will be arranged into different classes according to their English levels. Students who do not have any English certifications (TOEFL or IELTS) required by IU-VNU will take an English examination for class classification. This exam is similar to the TOEFL. Three levels are considered [Exh.1.14. Student Handbook]:

. Score < 430: Students cannot study any courses of the academic curriculum immediately. They have to take the intensive English classes at IU-VNU or they can learn English at any English center outside until their TOEFL score reach 500 or equivalent.

. 430  Score < 500: Students can only register for few general courses of the academic curriculum and have to take the intensive English classes at IU-VNU until their TOEFL score reach 500 or equivalent.

. Score  500: Students can study courses of the academic curriculum immediately.

Intake policy

There is a quota set for IU-VNU by MoET. This means that the number of students who get entry to the HCMIU every year is limited by this quota. Based on this quota and the result of the university entrance examination, the Student Recruiting Committee decides the pass mark for each program at IU-VNU. The quota for SEE program is 60 students per year.

Quality of incoming students playsa very important role in the educational process. Logically, with better incoming students, the University would able to produce the better graduates.

Page | 47 The pass mark (for SEE) and the base mark (set by MoET) from 2005 to 2010 are shown in Table 14. The base mark is the minimum mark for degrees using Group A (Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry) in the university entrance examination as their test. These marks are varied dependent on the difficulty of the university entrance examination. From this table, the pass mark of SEE is always higher than the based mark of MoET. This means that SEE only recruits the upper tier of high school applicants.

Table 14. Pass mark and base mark for entry of SEE

Year 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Grade

Pass mark (for SEE) 18 15.5 16 14 14.5 14.5

Base mark 15 13 15 13 13 13 (set by MoET)

From Table 14, in the years of 2008, 2009, and 2010, the quality of incoming students decreased. However, this decreasing trend is common in most engineering programs of Vietnam higher education.

Based on the admission score, the number of students passing the entrance exam of SEE programs is presented in Figure 6.

Page | 48 Figure 6. The number of applicants and students passing the entrance exam vs. years

All undergraduate students are full-time. The number of intake students is taken each year based on the quality of students and the available lecturers at the time.

Credit point system

Undergraduate programs in IU-VNU use an American-based credit-based system indicating the student’s program of study. One credit is generally equal to 15 theoretical periods or 30-45 practical periods in laboratory. Each course is assigned a number of credits based on its study load. The breadth of the subject covered and the course requirements are also used as bases for assigned credit units. All details about teaching and studying are in document “Academic Regulation under Credit System”, published by the HCMIU in 06/01/2005.[Exh.6.01. IU Academic Regulations; Exh.9.08. Regulations for course registration]

Study load

The educational program in the SEE follows the program managed by the IU-VNU. The study load of each student is measured in credit. The accumulation credit is clearly declared in academic handbook [Exh.9.07. Academic regulation under credit system] or student handbook

Page | 49 [Exh.1.14.Student Handbook]. It is also explained to the first year students during the orientation programs of OAA and SEE, as well.

For the bachelor of engineering degree, study load is converted into credit with total of 144 credits distributed in 8 academic semesters.

Electrical engineering students can choose one of these three majors: Communications, Electronics and Signal processing. All three programs have 144 credits. A student is allowed to learn a minimum of 14 credits and a maximum of 24 credits per semester [Exh.9.07. Academic regulation under credit system].The study load of a course is designed based on the academic demands of the course and credit system. To learn one period hour in class, a student has to work 3-4 period hours at home for materials preparation and homework. According to this rule, the program administrators allocate appropriate and balance study load for students on semesters. If a student has difficulty in learning including complying with the credit requirements for a semester, his/her advisor will provide him/her with relevant counseling until he/she goes over the challenges or at least can cope with his/her situation.

Students can drop or add courses in the first weeks of the semester. During this week, they can come to the classes freely, listen to the content and requirements of the course, and decide which courses they want to take in the semester.

Evaluation of the ongoing course in a semester is done by fill out in a series of open questionnaires for students [Exh.4.02.Course Evaluation Form]. Regularly, this process is carried out within the last week of the course. The course evaluation gives chance to students to give feedback of the ongoing teaching and learning activities in the SEE in particular and at IU-VNU in general. Therefore it helps SEE and IU-VNU enhance the quality of students’ learning.

Page | 50 10. Student advice and support 10.1. Student Counseling

Student Academic Counseling

To guide and assist student during their studying, several lecturers of SEE have been assigned as academic advisors [Exh.7.15. List of academic advisor; Exh.1.14.Student Handbook]. Those advisors are responsible to explain curriculum and help student in any academic issues such as study plan or course selection, etc. or any problem that student may have during they study at SEE until they graduate. In SEE, all advisors have to have schedule for meeting student weekly. They also have to organize at least one meeting with his/her student’s group in every semester during academic plan. Besides, students are freely to meet their advisor whenever he/she needs advice by making appointment or via telephone or email systems.

Student Association and Youth Union

With these two societies, the students would be able to get better care during their study in the University. Whether student is a member of these two societies, he/she can take part any activity [Exh.10.01 – Exh.10.07. Student Activities] opened by the societies. In other hand, students with problem will be helped by mentioned societies. In case of students who have specific problems often find difficulties to continue their study, these societies could help them to solve problems in the smart ways.

10.2. Student’s Academic Progress

Student academic progress is recorded and fully administrated through web-base academic information system called EduSoft managed by the Office of Academic Affairs (OAA). Before each semester, the school will announce the list of opened courses. Thus, a student can consult the program checklist to identify which subjects are available the following semester and can check the required pre-requisites. A student who has not studied a prerequisite course will not be allowed to enroll in a downstream subject. Therefore, academic advisors play an important role in helping student in course registration. Student progress through their program of study is monitored by the OAA. Students can obtain their printed studying result at any time.

Page | 51 At the end of each semester, each faculty submits the subjects’ grades to the secretary of SEE and the secretary records and sends it to the OAA. Finally, the scores in each subject are announced to the students.

10.3. Feedback on students’ performance

Students can sign in website http://ee.hcmiu.edu.vn, managed by the Computing Center, to see their studying result and manage their progress. Besides, the university sends the official student performance to their family once a year. Student advisors also track the progress of each student and contact the parents if necessary.

10.4. Coaching of the first-year students

The system of academic advisor is established to support students during the time they study at the university. Therefore, in the first semester of the first year, the new students can get advice how to study and keep up with the academic advisors. Moreover, the seminars are opened for students before beginning of the first semester [Exh.10.08. Agenda of welcome new students]. Seminars consist of orientation on studying in university, orientation about majors… and some sample solutions or suggestions to help student to be able to response to certain problems in the society using various knowledge in the future.

10.5. Scholarship

Scholarship is available through various schemes and varies sources of fund and distributed to the University or directly to Faculty. The sources of funding are from the University, foundations and industries. The scholarship is based on academic and covers wholly or partially the living costs, tuition fees, and final project research fund [Exh.9.06. IU Scholarship Policy].

10.6. Labor Market Information

SEE, Student Association and Youth Union that together help students in their career planning. Via these helps, SEE’s students having many chances to interact with industries [Exh.10.10. – Exh.10.12. Industrial Relations]. SEE or Student Association or Youth Union may invite companies to introduce their line of business as well as to recruit graduates [Exh.10.09. Industrial relations – TI seminar]. Especially, SEE has developed a good relationship with the industry by organizing “Alumni Meeting” and industry’ involvement in SEE’s activities. Those

Page | 52 help students to familiarize themselves with the labor market. Other effort is sending students to take internship/practical training course program, both at national and international levels.

Page | 53 11. Facilities and infrastructure Teaching Rooms. Class-rooms are managed by the University and shared among 4 (four) schools and 6 (six) departments. Capacity of class room is varied from small classes of 29 m 2 for 17 students and big classes of 395 m2 for 150 students. The building is a 7-storey building where 1st and 7th floors are used for library and university headquarters. The rest are for school office and class-rooms. Currently, IU-VNU has total of 6550 m2 for classrooms and laboratories. The ratio of classroom area to the student body is about 2.78 m2/ student.

Lectures are scheduled from 08.00 to 16.00 for five days per week. Depend on number of credits, session is 135 and 180 minutes for 3 credits and 4 credits subject respectively. The department of Electrical Engineering runs about more than 20 subjects for each semester .Class- room and lectures schedule centrally managed by the OAA.

Computer Centre & IT. The main function of Computer Centre is to manage IT system and to serve courses that require computer facility and also as supporting facilities for students. Courses in Electrical Engineering Study Program that use computers are Introduction to Computer for Engineers, Programming for Engineers and many software-used laboratories. The Computer Center also serves the school activities related to IT development, lecturing, researches and academic administration. EE have been provided internet and local networks within the school with network capacity up to 100 Mbps. Wi-Fi points are also available for internet access at 2 different locations in the school area and can be accessed 24 hours. The SEE shares 05 computer laboratories with other schools/departments with total 200 computers and has its two own laboratories equipped with computers and other equipments (Lab601 and Lab602).

Didactic Aids & Tools. All teaching rooms are equipped with PC, LCD projector, loud speaker, blackboard and air conditioner. The Blackboard system and internet can always be accessed from class, which support lecturer and student a lot in teaching and learning.

Laboratories & Workshop. The 2 Laboratories in Electrical Engineering Department are: Electronics and Communications Laboratories which have been invested more than 1.5 millions USD from World Bank.

Page | 54 The Electronics laboratory has 3 modules [Exh.11.01. List of equipments in Electronics Lab]:

 Equipment for fundamental training  Equipment for advanced training such as ASIC, FPGA & DSP modules  Equipment for embedded system and computer architectures modules

The communications laboratory has 5 modules [Exh.11.02. List of Equipment in Communications Lab]:

 Modelling& simulation  Modulation and transmission  Signal generating and analyzing  Mobile wireless communications  Microwave techniques and optical communications

The laboratories are mainly used for: laboratory works of electrical engineering bachelor degree program, final project and academic researches.

Library.There are two related Library available:

(1) Central Library is under the management of the Vietnam National University – HCM city

(2) IU Library

The collection of books and journals are considered satisfactory for bachelor and master but not for doctoral program. At IU library, to serve school of Electrical Engineering, there are total 1078 book titles with 2158 copies. The library adds more collections every semester based on the study program proposals [Exh.11.03. Annually Textbook Purchase Plan]. In addition, study programs also regularly spend some funds for books and journal and keep some of them under the study program collections.

Types of services provided by the Library:

Circulation; loan, return and loan extension of library collection for members

References: like dictionaries, encyclopedias, manuals, annual books and others teaching materials

Page | 55 Final Project reports and Theses can only be read by members

Research Reports by lecturers (842 items)

Magazines and Journals which can only be read or copied at the library

Field Work Reports and Seminar Reports

The Library is open five days a week from 8 am to 4 pm. Service facility from the library can be accessed though the website: http://csc.hcmiu.edu.vn/TraCuuSachEN.aspx . Instead of using the Faculty Library, students can also go to the Central Library, during working days at 8 am – 4 pm. Students can visit the website of the Central Library at http://www.vnulib.edu.vn and access books, final project reports, theses and others.

Dormitory. IU students can use Dorm system managed by Vietnam National University – HCM city. Currently, there are 25 students of school of Electrical Engineering living in Dorm.

Sport & Arts Centre.IU is so young and on developing process. As the result, there are not much sport facilities available at this moment. As per April 2011, there are 1 table tennis room with an area of 200 m2 in 4th floor, 1 standard volley ball and 1 standard basket ball yard provided free of charge.

Beside, IU students can hire sport facilities from University of Sport which take about 10 minutes walk from IU. Some EE’s lectures and staffs organize football match weekly and encourage student to attend. To enhance and promote sportsmanship, 2 compulsory subjects of 3 credits on Physical Training are offered as part of curriculum. Students may choose type of sport on their interest.

Student Activity Centre. To facilitate various students’ activities, the University provide a center named Student Affair in 2nd floor and Youth Union office in 1st floor.

Cafeteria. Student Cafeteria or canteen is available at the University and all other faculties within IU at affordable prices. New canteen with an area of 1071 m 2 with 432 seats hasbeen serving to students and staff since 2010. Besides, there is a coffee shop with an area of 200 m 2 in 2nd floor. IU-VNU also provided with drinking water machines for free in every floor. [Exh.11.04. Canteen Contract]

Page | 56 Books Stores. Book store (200 m2) is in the 3rdfloor.It sells not only books but also offers other services, such as photocopied- and binding services.

Shuttle Campus Buses. Shuttle buses are provided to serve all university members between campus area and downtown. The total number of shuttle bus is 45 with air-condition. Operational hours are from 5:35 to 17:35 from Monday to Friday, and from 07.00 to 14.00 on Saturdays. Bus timetable is designed to meet student’s need and the interval of services is approximately 15 minutes during normal hours [Exh.11.05. Bus Schedule].

Page | 57 12. Quality assurance of the teaching/learning process Curriculum is designed based on (1) MOET accredited criteria [Exh.12.01. MOET Engineering Program Framework], (2) ABET-accredited criteria [Exh.4.05. ABET Criteria], (3) reference from top ranking US universities [Exh.4.06. EE Curriculum Comparison], and (4) Vietnamese industry needs. The curriculum is constructed by all members of the School, reviewed by external examiners, approved by the Academic Committee of HCMIU and the VNU-HCM. It is periodically updated based on the feedback of faculty, student, alumni, and industry and professional organizations. After being approved, it is printed as an official document, published on the School website and handbook for students [Exh.1.14.Student Handbook].

All lecturers have a clear understanding of the syllabus and have to follow its content in teaching. All course teaching is carefully checked by different ways including discussion with lecturer and students, class attend and course evaluation.

Students can report direct to the Dean for any opinions related to the course. The auditor system from Office of Academic Affairs frequently checked for class regulation. Any issue related to the class will be reported to the Dean for correction.

All the mid-term and final examination topics have to be approved by Dean[Exh.6.07. Midterm Exam Paper; Exh.6.08.Final Exam Paper].All the original test topics are stored in the Office of Academic Affairs and School for further reference. The examinations are strictly organized by the Office of Academic Affairs. Examination papers, after being marked, are stored in the School office. If students have questions about grading, they can submit the re-evaluation form [Exh.12.02.Exam Re-evaluation Form]to the School. The re-marking of examination papers is carefully carried out by the lecturers and approved by the Dean.

International University has the Quality Assurance Center [Exh.12.03. Decision of Establishment of QAC] working independently with school/departments to improve the quality of teaching and services. The center can access to all corners of teaching and learning to ensure the highest quality.

Page | 58 13. Student evaluation Frequently, students are given a chance to participate in teaching-learning evaluation processes at the end of every course, right before the final examination [Exh.4.02.Course Evaluation Form]. Students are asked to write their overall feedback towards any aspects of the course that they would like to comment feedback as well as recommend further development of the course. The results of course evaluation will be used for improving the course and evaluate the performance of lectures. Since it is anonymous, the lecturers may receive clearer description on positive and negative points of their performance and then figure out the way how to improve for the next time. Furthermore, students also are required to assess the training activities of the School such as services and facilities. The feedbacks of student provided through evaluation become the basic process of reviewing and improving curriculum.

The forms are designed by HCMIU including 12 criteria. These criteria can be grouped into three components: (A) Teaching materials, (B) Teaching methods, and (C) teaching evaluation system. The result of evaluation is ranked into five levels with the scale of 1-5. Since Academic Year 2009-2010, the result of student evaluation from previous semester is currently used as one of parameters to determine variable allowance for lecturers to continue collaboration with school on the next semester.

All evaluation and comments are delivered to corresponding destination [Exh.13.01. Reports on Course Evaluation ]:

. Evaluating in lectures and curriculum are sent to the Dean of School

. Facilities ratings are sent to the Facility Management Office

. Quality of services rate are sent to the Office of Academic Affair

Page | 59 14. Curriculum design The program is built with the contribution of the all lectures of SEE [Exh.4.09. MOM – Annually Academic Panel – 2006; Exh.4.10.MOM – Annually Academic Panel – 2007; Exh.4.13.MOM – Annually Academic Panel - 2009]. The lecturers, managers, and enterprises are invited to review to ensure that training program satisfying the demand of workforce. During the curriculum design, the evaluation of the training program is sentto stakeholders such as scientific council of the university, students, and enterprises [Exh.4.03. Alumni Feedback Form; Exh.4.04. Industry Feedback Form].The end of academic year, all feedbacks will be collected to improve the curriculum by Academic Committee.

The scheme of curriculum design and development is shown in following figure.

Page | 60 SEEMISSION, VISION

5 YEARS SEE EDUCATIONAL GOALS, AIMS

STUDENT- 3 YEARS EE PROGRAM EDUCATIONAL CENTERED POINT OBJECTIVES OF VIEW

BLOOM’S TAXONOMY

EE PROGRAM EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES

ABET CRITERIA

ANUAL INSTRUCTION ASSESSMENT

LECTURER DIRECT MEASUREMENT INDIRECT LAB MEASUREMENT ORAL TEST EXIT SURVEY PROBLEM BASED LEARNING LAB REPORT ENTRY SURVEY

CO-OP & INTERSHIP STUDENT PAPER FACULTY SELF ASSESSMENT EXTRA CURRICULUM STUDENT ACTIVITIES PRESENTATION STUDENT EVALUATION CO-OP & INTERSHIP EVALUATION

ALUMNI

ACTIVITIES REPORT EMPLOYER RECOMMENDATIONS (Updates to program outcomes, EVALUATION Updates to curriculum, courses, lab facilities, students activities) EXAMS ADVISOR EVALUATION

THESIS STRENGHTS & WEAKNESS ACCREDITATION

SEE ACADEMIC COMMITTY DATA ANALYSIS, INTERPRETATION, REVISION & MODIFICATION

Figure 7. Scheme of curriculum design and development

Page | 61 15. Staff development activities New faculties have to undergo training on teaching for at least one semester. They can audit some courses, take part in lab sessions, prepare lectures for the next semester, and research as well. As a result of the training, new faculties master the teaching methodologies and standards to become a true sense of lecturers.

In order to keep up with the new developments in their field of expertise, the faculties are encouraged to attend seminars and conferences locally and internationally. Some awards are given for the faculties having papers or articles annually. There are promotions (such as promotions in salary, tenured-track, and professorship) and training in teaching methodologies. Moreover, all faculties with only Master of Science or Engineering are encouraged to obtain PhD degree (currently, 04 lecturers are studying abroad) [Exh.7.08. Decision for SEE faculty study abroad].The faculties with doctorate degrees are considered for the title of Associate/Full Professor (by the Ministry).

All faculties with teaching experience can be considered for Senior Lecturers positions (by the National University) or manager (Dean or Vice Dean) of the school (by the Board of rectors).

To update with emerging technologies and encourage research, the school also organizes many seminars for students and faculties (see Table 15)

Table 15. List of seminars

No. Content Seminar Date Address

1 (by Prof. Nguyen Cam, Texas A&M, Seminar 2009 InternationalUniversity USA)

2 (by Prof. Minh Do, UIUC, USA) Seminar 2010 InternationalUniversity

3 (by Dr. Smith, UIUC, USA) Seminar 2009 InternationalUniversity

4 (by Gene Frank, Dr.TranThanh,TI, USA) Seminar 2010 InternationalUniversity

5 Agilent, Labview, Arm, AWR Seminar 2011 InternationalUniversity

Page | 62 16. Feedback stakeholders Feedback from stakeholder is conducted through student progress and alumni evaluation and labor market.

Student feedback [Exh.4.02. Course Evaluation]: Student evaluations of courses are organized by the Academic Affair Office in the end of the course. There are also some various channels where students can voice their concerns about teaching and learning, such as report to the Dean or the Rector, make an official comment to the School or Academic Affair offices, and Rector Board.

Feedback from labor market [Exh.4.04. Industry Feedback Form]: Stakeholders’ feedbacksare necessary for improving the quality of teaching and learning activities. The stakeholder is representatives from companies such as training and recruitment department. Discussion and meetings with representatives from companies and associations give illustration on the quality of graduates and expected competences.

Feedback from employers and professional associations are usually done in the revision of curriculum in an each year period by labor market’s feedback form.

Feedback from Alumni [Exh.4.03. Alumni Feedback Form]: Feedbacks from alumni are obtained from survey annually by summer time. Method to obtain feedback is done by sending the alumni rating form to each. This survey consists of facilities and services requirements, evaluation of the level of stability of the job within the 3 next years.

Some suggestions raised are the content and the richness of subject thought, relevance of knowledge and information during study and real word of civil engineering industries and profession.

Page | 63 17. Output 17.1 Achieved Outcomes (graduates)/ Graduate Profile

The first class of Electrical Engineering Program is class of 2005 and the first graduate batch is graduated in 2009. At the moment, the SEE has total of 79 graduates [Exh.6.11. Graduate Student Decision]. The specific number was shown in Table 12.

Table 16. Profile of graduate students

Academic year Enter year 2005 Enter year 2006 Enter year 2007 2008-2009 31 X X 2009-2010 25 23 X

17.2 Pass Rate and Drop out Rate

The average percentage of subject pass rate in each semester is presented in Table 17 (data were collected from EduSoft)

Table 17. Average Subject Pass Rate

Average Pass Rate Academic Year Percentage 2005/2006 – Semester 1 72.1 2005/2006 – Semester 2 70.6 2006/2007 – Semester 1 69.9 2006/2007 – Semester 2 71.1 2007/2008 – Semester 1 69.5 2007/2008 – Semester 2 70.8 2008/2009 – Semester 1 71.3 2008/2009 – Semester 2 72.2 2009/2010 – Semester 1 70.4

Table 18. Graduate-rate and drop-out rate in the last 05 years

Academic Size % first degree after % dropout after year Cohort 3 years 4 years > 4 years 1 year 2 years 3 years > 3 years 2005/2006 89 X 31 25 15 8 2 0

Page | 64 2006/2007 51 X 23 x 8 5 2 0 2007/2008 65 X x x 10 6 3 x 2008/2009 51 X x x 4 1 X x 2009/2010 51 x x x 3 x X x 2010/2011 30 x x x 1 x X x

Graduate-rate and drop-out rate in the last 05 years is shown in Table 18. Student is declared as drop out from university because of two reasons:

(1) Poor academic performance

(2) Administrative reasons

17.3 Average time to degree

As shown in Table 16, the graduates in each semester come from different batches. The average time to degree for the last 02 years is between 08 to 09 Semester. It is expected that 08 semester would be the closest target to be achieved. The shortest is 8 semesters and the longest time to graduate is 12 semesters.

Page | 65 18. Stakeholder satisfaction One of the main jobs of School of Electrical Engineering is to assure high quality of graduates that satisfied stakeholders as much as possible. Hence the SEE try its best to develop and improve its academic quality. Generally, stakeholder is the combination of students, alumni, public and industries. There are two keys factors that are used for measuring the level of stakeholder satisfaction: the process and the outcomes of the educational activities.

18.1. Opinion – Students

Students’ satisfaction is recorded through their educational process that consists of learning, teaching, academic services, and social activities happened during their study. In SEE, all the lecturers are evaluated their level of performance by students. In other hand, students are required to evaluate the lecturers, teaching and learning methods, course materials, etc. in every semester. The evaluation forms provide a menu of choices, such as a satisfaction rating scale including the options “1 : strongly disagree”; “2 : disagree”; “3 : uncertain”; “4 : agree”; and “5 : strongly agree”. In addition, these forms also allow students to write down their views through free comments

Table 19. Teaching method and lecturers evaluated by the students

Option

Content Criteria 1 2 3 4 5 Lecturer’s delivering method make the 1 0% 0% 24.2% 57.6% 18.2% course more interesting Lecturer encourages the student to 2 0% 9.1% 18.2% 66.7% 6.1% outperform themselves Lecturer spends time on correcting and 3 0% 6.1% 45.5% 39.4% 9.1% commenting on students homework Lecturer gives necessary and timely 4 0% 6.1% 33.3% 57.6% 3% feedback to students Lecturer has profound knowledge on 5 0% 0% 15.2% 66.7% 18.2% the courses

Page | 66 Lecturer conveys the content of the 6 0% 6.1% 33.3% 45.5% 15.2% course clearly and easy-to-understand

Table 19 shows the average evaluation of teaching method of EE students in the time from 2006 to 2010. In general, the highest percentage of student selected the option “4 : agree”. As a result, the teaching delivery method get the average above 3 and most of lecturers get the score above 4.

The figure 8shows the course materials’ satisfaction of EE students in the time from 2006 to 2010. Here, the criteria number 1 is “The textbooks are up-to-date and appropriate to the course” and 2 is “The content of the courses requires student to think independently, not just memorizing”. Evidently, the largest student number decided to give score 4.

Figure 8. Course materials’ satisfaction

An other satisfaction parameter evaluated by the students is extracurricular activity of student during period 2006 – 2010, as shown in table 20. According to the collection data, the

Page | 67 percentage of students give the scores of 3 and 4 for criteria 16, 17, and 19 seem equal each other. 54.5% student highly sastified with those extracurricular activities during those years.

Table 20. Extracurricular activity evaluation

Option Content Criteria 1 2 3 4 5 The extracurricular activities are 16 3% 9.1% 36.4% 39.4% 12.1% announced widely to students The extracurricular activities are regularly organized and best-fit with 17 3% 9.1% 39.4% 39.4% 9.1% student curriculum The extracurricular activity meets 18 3% 3% 27.3% 54.5% 12.1% students’ need The extracurricular activity helps 19 9.1% 9.1% 9.1% 9.1% 9.1% students develop personal skills.

18.2.Opinion – Alumni

The alumni are an important bridge that connects students and fresh graduates to the industry. Thus, SEE considers relationship with the alumni as an important part of its educational program. The School regularly contacts with alumni in several ways such as sending the survey forms, meeting events and so on…From those contacts, SEE could get from alumni’s views and also suggestions about the curriculum. The data collected from alumni’s feedback includes the “waiting time” to get the first job after they graduate (Figure 9), the evaluation about the job orientation activities opened by University as well as the evaluations of the job consulting and supporting activities after graduation. Besides, the satisfaction of trained soft-skills for student during 2006-2010 that are useful for student after graduate is also collected and tabulated in table 21.

Page | 68 Figure 9. “Waiting time” versus percentage number of student get the first job after graduation

Table 21. Soft-skills of student’s evaluation

Option Content Criteria 1 2 3 4 5 Evaluationof the job orientation 25 0% 12.1% 18.2% 63.6% 6.1% activities opened by University

Evalutation of the job consulting 26 6.1% 6.1% 30.3% 51.5% 6.1% and supporting activities after graduation.

18.3. Opinion – Labor Market

In order to receive opinions from the labor markets, SEE has selected several companies employing the EE graduatesOf course, these companies are very well-known in electrical engineering field. Consequently, the companies’ feedbacks are considered as industry general opinion. The feedback data was gathered by sending the “Labor Market’s Feedback Form” directly to the selected companies.

Page | 69 18.4 Opinion – Society

Another method to have opinions from society regarding the quality of education in the program is by recognizing from media highlights. Various articles[Exh.18.01. News about SEE] in the media have highlighted the role of SEE’s students/ lecturers concerning their contribution to the environment in the societies.

Opinion about the students/lecturers from society or public is one of important parameter that reflects the educational quality conducted by the School. However, because of very young University, the SEE has not yet set a systematic method to gather general view and perception from the society. Nevertheless, at present, the School has taking seriously consideration that any achievements of the students/lecturers would gain some insight of the opinions when exposed to the public.

Page | 70 Part 3: Strengths and Weaknesses Analysis

Page | 71 Goals and Objectives; Expected Learning Outcomes

The IU-VNU has a clearly formulated mission statement for its academic training, research activities and role in society. These are published on website and other documents such as brochure and student handbook. Consistent with the stated mission and vision of IU-VNU, the goal and objectives of EE program are clearly stated and translated into the curriculum.

The program also has clearly learning outcomes which inline with outcome set by ABET. The expected learning outcomes cover appropriate both skills and academic knowledge and they are based on the contribution make by each course.

Program Specifications

The program specifications are published formally in website, hand book, curriculum and leaflet. It is informative for students and stakeholders.

Program Content (Curriculum)

The curriculum reflects the mission and vision of IU-VNU and SEE. Curriculum is up-to-dated and compatible with EE curriculum of well-known universities. EE curriculum is articulated and approved by all partner universities. 22 courses of the curriculum is used in ACTS (Asian Credits Transfer System).

The content of the program is balanced between general and specific skills and knowledge. It clearly shows the basic courses, intermediate courses, specialist course and the final thesis activities.

Program Organization

The program organization is clearly stated and introduced to all students at the beginning. Based on this organization, especially the difference between English levels, students can prepare for their study plan.

The relationship between courses as well as the pre-requisites is clearly shown in the network program, which leads students to choose the appropriate courses with their levels.

Didactic Concept and Teaching/Learning Strategy

Various didactic concepts such as lectures, tutorials, laboratory etc. are being used for teaching and learning. The student centered approach is emphasized for lecture hours. However, it takes times for

Page | 72 new student to be acquainted with these methods since they are different from the high school teaching methodology. The SEE will organize more seminars on didactic methods for students.

Student Assessment

Various student assessment methods are being used such as quizzes, homework, project, mid-term and final exams. Assessment criteria are clearly stated in course syllabus and introduce to students at the beginning of the course.

Staff Quality

Full-time faculty staffs graduated with outstanding ranking from well-recognized universities from all over the world. Visiting professors are well-known and experience in the EE area from top university in Vietnam as well as overseas.

The staffs can balance between teaching and research workload as well as contribute to the school’s activities.

Quality of Support Staff

The SEE have a good number of support staff who are dedicated and efficiently help students in academic and administration activities. Besides, students also get support from Office of Academic Affairs and other students’ services such as student youth union, computing center and library.

Number of technician is adequate for laboratory.

However, the supporting services are offered during office hours. SEE will make plan to provide service to students later and over weekend if needed.

Student Quality

All students have to pass the National entrance exam or the University interview to be admitted to the program. However, the pass grade and number of enrolled student is not as expected. The SEE is planning for more promotion activities to attract students.

The English levels are diverse among students; as a result, students with lower English level need more efforts to be with the program. The intense English is being focus at IU-VNU in order to help these students when entering the program.

Page | 73 Student Advice and Support

Every student has academic advisor who accompany with them during their study at SEE. Various students’ activities are organized such as sport competition, academic games, youth union and student association’s activities.

However, the students’ facilities need to be developed such as dormitory, sport center and bus route.

Facilities and Infrastructure

The university has modern infrastructure and well-equipped facilities. The laboratories are very well- equipped, up-to-dated and highly utilized for internal uses and also for members of VNU.

The library has many textbooks and reference books with new edition. However, the online magazines and journals are not rich.

Quality Assurance of the Teaching/Learning Process

Quality assurance is considered as an important factor of SEE. Academic board is available to evaluate the implementation of the curriculum. However, it is recently established and not fully functions as expected.

Student Evaluation

Student evaluation of teaching activities is carried out regularly every semester through Center of Quality Assurance. Data from this evaluation are used for curriculum development and staff evaluation. The satisfaction of students keeps increasing by semesters.

Curriculum Design

The curriculum is reviewed annually and follows the Curriculum design and improvement scheme. The improvement considered the demands of stakeholders.

Staff Development Activities

Various trainings such as English improvement, didactic method, etc. are provided for staff development. Faculty staffs are encouraged to collaborate with partner universities for research and have change to go to overseas universities one semester for exchange research and teaching methodology. IU-VNU also has merit award for best academic and support staff annually.

Page | 74 Feedback Stakeholders

The feedbacks of stakeholders are taking annually by the end of academic year. The results are used for curriculum development. However, since the SEE just has few graduated batches and number of graduate student, the information from employers is not rich.

Output

Graduates have good jobs and can apply to graduate program from abroad universities.

Stakeholder Satisfaction

The stakeholders are satisfied with the program in general. However, the SEE needs to do more survey regarding this criterion.

Page | 75 Completed checklist

Criteria 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1. Goals and Objectives; Expected Learning Outcomes

1.1 The program has clearly formulated learning outcomes X

1.2 The program promotes learning to learn and life - long learning X

1.3 The expected learning outcomes cover generic skills and knowledge as X well as specific skills and knowledge

1.4 The expected learning outcomes clearly reflect the requirements of the X stakeholders

Overall Opinion 5.0

2. Program Content

2.1 The program content shows a good balance between general and specific X skills and knowledge

2.2 The program reflects the vision and mission of the university X

2.3 The expected learning outcomes have been adequately translated into the X program

2.4 The contribution made by each course to achieving the learning outcomes X is clear

Overall Opinion 5.0

3. Program Specification

3.1 The university uses program specifications X

3.2 The program specification shows the expected learning outcomes X

3.3 The program specification is informative for the stakeholders X

Overall Opinion 5.0

4. Program Organization

Page | 76 4.1 The curriculum is coherent and all subjects and courses have been X integrated

4.2 The curriculum shows breadth and depth X

4.3 The curriculum clearly shows the basic courses, intermediate courses, X specialist courses and the final project (thesis, etc.) activities

4.4 The curriculum is up-to-date X

Overall Opinion 5.0

5. Didactic Concept/Teaching/Learning Strategy

5.1 The staff have a clear teaching/learning strategy X

5.2 The teaching/learning strategy enables students to acquire and manipulate X knowledge academically

5.3 The teaching/learning strategy is student oriented and stimulates quality X learning

5.4 The curriculum stimulates action learning X

5.5 The curriculum stimulates active learning and facilitates learning to learn X

Overall Opinion 5.0

6. Student Assessment

6.1 Student assessment considers student entrance, student progress and exit X tests

6.2 The assessment is criterion referenced X

6.3 Student assessment uses a variety of methods X

6.4 The assessments reflect the expected learning outcomes and the content X of the program

6.5 The criteria for assessment are explicit and well-known X

6.6 The assessment arrangements cover the objectives of the curriculum X

6.7 The standards applied in the assessment are explicit and consistent X

6.8 The assessment schemes, the assessment methods and the assessment X itself are always subject to quality assurance and scrutiny.

Page | 77 Overall Opinion 5.0

7. Staff Quality

7.1 The staff are competent for their task and able to fulfill the requirements X of criterion 7.1

7.2 The staff are sufficient to deliver the curriculum adequately X

7.3 Recruitment and promotion are based on academic merits X

7.4 The roles and relationship of staff members are well defined and X understood

7.5 Duties allocated are appropriate to qualifications, experience and skills X

7.6 Time management and incentive systems are designed to support the X quality of teaching and learning

7.7 Accountability of the staff members is well regulated X

7.8 There are provisions for review, consultation, and redeployment X

7.9 Termination, retirement and social benefits are planned and well X implemented

7.10 There is an efficient appraisal system X

Overall Opinion 5.0

8. Quality of the Support Staff

8.1 There are adequate support staff for the libraries X

8.2 There are adequate support staff for the laboratories X

8.3 There are adequate support staff for computer facilities X

8.4 There are adequate support staff for the student services X

Overall Opinion 5.0

9.Student Quality

9.1 The selection of entering students (if there is selection) is adequate X

9.2 There is an adequate intake policy X

9.3 There is an adequate credit points system X

Page | 78 9.4 The actual study load is in line with the calculated load X

Overall Opinion 5.0

10. Student Advice and Support

10.1 There is an adequate student progress system X

10.2 Students get adequate feedback on their performance X

10.3 Coaching for first-year students is adequate X

10.4 The physical and material environment for the student is satisfactory X

10.5 The social and psychological environment for the student is satisfactory X

Overall Opinion 5.0

11. Facilities and Infrastructure

11.1 The lecture facilities (lecture halls, small course rooms) are adequate X

11.2 The library is adequate and up-to-date X

11.3 The laboratories are adequate and up-to-date X

11.4 The computer facilities are adequate and up-to-date X

11.5 Environmental health and safety standards should meet the local X requirements in all respects

Overall Opinion 5.0

12. Quality Assurance

12.1 The curriculum is regularly evaluated X

12.2 Revision of the curriculum takes place at reasonable time period X

12.3 Quality assurance of the curriculum is adequate X

12.4 Quality assurance of the assessments/examinations is adequate X

Overall Opinion 5.0

13. Student Evaluation

13.1 Courses and curriculum are subject to structured student evaluation X

13.2 Student feedback is used for improvement X

Overall Opinion 5.0

Page | 79 14. Curriculum Design

14.1 The curriculum was developed as a joint enterprise by all the staff X members

14.2 Students are involved in the curriculum design X

14.3 The labor market is involved in the curriculum design X

Overall Opinion 5.0

15. Staff Development Activities

15.1 There is a clear vision on the needs for staff development X

15.2 The staff development activities are adequate to the needs X

Overall Opinion 5.0

16. Feedback Stakeholders

16.1 There is adequate structured feedback from the labor market X (employers)

16.2 There is adequate structured feedback from the alumni X

Overall Opinion 5.0

17. Output

17.1 The pass rate is satisfactory X

17.2 The level of the graduates is satisfactory X

Overall Opinion 4.0

18. Stakeholder Satisfaction 5.0

18.1 The university has a structural method for obtaining feedback on the level of satisfaction from stakeholders: students, alumni and graduates, employers and the general public

Final Opinion 4.94

HCM City, May 16, 2011

Page | 80 Dean

Page | 81 Part 4: Appendices

Glossary

IU – VNU : The International University – Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City.

SEE : School of Electrical Engineering

MoET : Ministry of Education and Training

NEE : National Entrance Examination

DA : Direct Apply

OAA : Office of Academic Administration

Page | 82 Supporting documents and evidences

No. Title of evidences Category Criteria Code

1 Decision No. 472001 – University Establishment Decision 1 Exh.1.01

2 IU Website www.hcmiu.edu.vn 1 Exh.1.02

3 IU Academic Panel Decision 2 Exh.1.03

4 Agreement with Nottingham 1 Exh.1.04

5 Agreement with West of England 1 Exh.1.05

6 Agreement with New South Wales 1 Exh.1.06

7 Agreement with Rutgers 1 Exh.1.07

8 Agreement with Binghamton 1 Exh.1.08

9 Agreement with AIT 1 Exh.1.09

10 Agreement with Auckland 1 Exh.1.10

11 Agreement with CUA 1 Exh.1.11

12 Agreement with UIUC 1 Exh.1.12

13 AUN SAR Committee Decision 1 Exh.1.13

14 Student Handbook 1 Exh.1.14

15 EE Academic Curriculum 1 Exh.1.15

16 Academic Calendar 2 Exh.2.01

17 EE Academic Panel Decision 2 Exh.2.02

18 Conditions to choose majors 2 Exh.2.03

19 EE Industrial Advisory Board Decision 2 Exh.2.04

20 Political Education 2 Exh.2.05

21 Student Internship 3 Exh.3.01

Page | 83 22 Internship Evaluation Form 3 Exh.3.02

23 Internship Report Sample 3 Exh.3.03

24 Senior Project Evaluation Form 3 Exh.3.04

25 Senior Project Report Sample 3 Exh.3.05

26 Thesis Students Decision 3 Exh.3.06

27 Thesis Committee Decision 3 Exh.3.07

28 Thesis Schedule 3 Exh.3.08

29 Thesis Evaluation Form 3 Exh.3.09

30 Thesis Report Sample 3 Exh.3.10

31 Thesis Procedure 3 Exh.3.11

32 Senior and Thesis Plan 3 Exh.3.12

33 Course vs. Learning Outcomes 4 Exh.4.01

34 Course Evaluation Form 4 Exh.4.02

35 Alumni Feedback Form Form 4 Exh.4.03

36 Industry Feedback Form Form 4 Exh.4.04

37 ABET Criteria 4 Exh.4.05

38 EE Curriculum Comparison 4 Exh.4.06

39 EE Scheme of Curriculum Design and Improvement 4 Exh.4.07

40 Decision for EE program Decision 4 Exh.4.08

41 MOM – Annually Academic Panel – 2006 4 Exh.4.09

43 EE Curriculum Improvement Panel Decision 4 Exh.4.11

44 Updated Curriculum 2008 Decision 4 Exh.4.12

46 English Outcome Requirement Decision 4 Exh.4.14

47 Procedure for Annually Curriculum Development 4 Exh.4.15

48 Student Lists of Typical Classes Sample 5 Exh.5.01

Page | 84 49 Critical Thinking Syllabus 5 Exh.5.02

50 IU Academic Regulations 6 Exh.6.01

51 Student Recruitment Plan 6 Exh.6.02

52 Student Recruitment Board 6 Exh.6.03

53 Student Recruitment Process 6 Exh.6.04

54 Transfer Students Application Form Form 6 Exh.6.05

55 Transfer Students Profile Sample 6 Exh.6.06

56 Midterm Exam Paper Sample 6 Exh.6.07

57 Final Exam Paper Sample 6 Exh.6.08

58 List of courses and instructors in charge 6 Exh.6.09

59 Laboratory Report Sample 6 Exh.6.10

60 Graduate Student Decision Decision 6 Exh.6.11

61 Recruitment Criteria 7 Exh.7.01

62 Recruitment Procedure 7 Exh.7.02

63 Recruitment Evaluation Form Form 7 Exh.7.03

64 Teaching Demonstration Evaluation Form Form 7 Exh.7.04

65 List of SEE faculty publications 7 Exh.7.05

66 Training Certificate Sample 7 Exh.7.06

67 Decision for lecturer training at partner universities Sample 7 Exh.7.07

68 Decision for SEE faculty study abroad Decision 7 Exh.7.08

69 Training Report – 2009 7 Exh.7.09

70 Agilent Training Certificate – 2011 7 Exh.7.10

71 IU Internal Expenditure Regulation 7 Exh.7.11

72 Faculty Evaluation Form Form 7 Exh.7.12

73 Teaching Plan 2009 – 2011 7 Exh.7.13

74 SEE Research Project 2008 – 2011 7 Exh.7.14

75 List of Academic Advisors 7 Exh.7.15

Page | 85 76 EE Teaching Workload 7 Exh.7.16

77 School Schedule 7 Exh.7.17

78 SEE Awards 7 Exh.7.18

79 SEE Faculty CV 7 Exh.7.19

80 Research Funding 2010 7 Exh.7.20

81 Procedure for Staff Evaluation 7 Exh.7.21

82 Teaching Regulation 7 Exh.7.22

83 Report of Facilities 8 Exh.8.01

84 Evaluation of Supporting Staff 8 Exh.8.02

85 Student Recruitment Information 9 Exh.9.01

86 EE Leaflet 9 Exh.9.02

87 Scholarship for freshmen 9 Exh.9.03

88 Scholarship for IU students 9 Exh.9.04

89 Scholarship for engineering student 9 Exh.9.05

90 IU Scholarship Policy 9 Exh.9.06

91 IU Student Regulation 9 Exh.9.07

92 Regulations for Course Registration 9 Exh.9.08

93 Regulation on Evaluation of Student Sefl-Development 9 Exh.9.09

94 Student Activity – Football League 10 Exh.10.01

95 Student Activity – EE Camping Trip 10 Exh.10.02

96 Student Activity – Robocon Competition 10 Exh.10.03

97 Student Activity – Eggdrop Competition 10 Exh.10.04

98 Student Activity – Car Racing Competition 10 Exh.10.05

99 Student Activity – Seminar on Career Orientation 10 Exh.10.06

100 Student Activity – Student Research Project 10 Exh.10.07

101 Agenda of welcome new students 10 Exh.10.08

102 Industrial Relations – TI Seminar 10 Exh.10.09

Page | 86 103 Industrial Relations – Seahorse Company Trip 10 Exh.10.10

104 Industrial Relations – Sonion and SHTP Lab Visit 10 Exh.10.11

105 Industrial Relations – Renesas Visit 10 Exh.10.12

106 Student Scientific Research Announcement 10 Exh.10.13

107 Regulation for Academic Advisors 10 Exh.10.14

108 Regulation on Student Services 10 Exh.10.15

109 Student Request Process 10 Exh.10.16

110 List of Equipment in Electronics Lab 11 Exh.11.01

111 List of Equipment in Communications Lab 11 Exh.11.02

112 Annually Textbook Purchase Plan 11 Exh.11.03

113 Canteen Contract 11 Exh.11.04

114 Bus Schedule 11 Exh.11.05

115 MOET Engineering Program Framework 12 Exh.12.01

116 Exam Re-evaluation Form 12 Exh.12.02

117 Decision of Establishment of QAC 12 Exh.12.03

118 Report on Course Evaluation Sample 13 Exh.13.01

119 Faculty Feedback Sample 14 Exh.14.01

120 Training Course for SEE Faculty 15 Exh.15.01

121 Feedback from Industry 16 Exh.16.01

122 Feedback from Alumni 16 Exh.16.02

123 News about SEE 18 Exh.18.01

124 Technology Transfer 18 Exh.18.02

Page | 87