ODE and the role of Hanoi Open University

ODE AND THE ROLE OF HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

Mission and organization:

Hanoi Open University (HOU) is the soul public open university in Vietnam. Since 1993, ODE has been used to meet changing labor market needs and unmet demand for higher education. The market economy has generated new motivation to learn, either for advancement in the workplace or for change of occupation. ODE has been also used by many students at traditional universities, who simultaneously enroll in Open University courses in order to add computing, English skills, etc. to their degree subjects, in preparation for a competition job on graduation

Distance education operation and research are the important tasks given by the Government. Currently, HOU is the key provider of distance education in Vietnam. The needs for education and continuous retraining really exist and become more popular in the community, especially in the market-oriented economy. Besides, the tradition of learning and hard-working of the people to improve themselves and the policy of the Government to promote distance education are the stable foundation for developing distance education at HOU. Distance education is the only solution to many people who are not able to take face-to-face courses for various reasons. The ODE programmes really create opportunities to the people in islands, remote and mountainous regions.

Courses and Enrolment:

Hanoi Open University has eight faculties, offering courses in business management, accounting, information technology, biotechnology, industrial designing, English language, tele-communication, law, fashion design, architecture, and tourism. There are two categories of courses offered by HOU including degree courses and non-degree ones. Currently, there are over 44,000 students taking degree courses, of which there are 24,000 distance education students. To support the students HOU cooperates with 40 local centers in provinces and cities throughout the country.

Technologies:

The major technologies used for distance education in Vietnam are print, radio, television, CD and VCD. The same technologies are used in ODE at HOU, of which print is the prominent medium. On-line and web-based courses have recently been introduced to improve the information sources to students. In March, 2004 HOU started a video conferencing system connecting HOU with the local centers, which enables two-way communication effectively. Non-degree programs are provided by HOU via the National Television, Hanoi Television and Vietnam Radio. These programs include business management, rural development, English for tourism, business English, trading, environment protection, etc. to meet the needs of millions of people throughout the county.