By Vu Quang Giang, Vietnam
Between November 2017 and May 2018, luck came to me when I was selected to participate in the Australia Awards Short Course on “Undergraduate Curriculum Development and Renewal “. The Course was delivered by Queensland University of Technology and managed by Aus4Skills in Vietnam. It was an inspirational experience for me to think about change, about how to reform the curriculum to improve the quality of teaching and learning, to make contents of the training program more attractive to learners, and above all, more relevant to the reality. This would help the students get a job and a respectable position in society after graduating from our university.
Based on the knowledge and skills gained from the course, with support from QUT facilitators, I developed and implemented an application project, which was designed to improve the curriculum, teaching methods, as well as performance assessment of students enrolled in the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry at Tay Bac University. This pilot project was about reforming the “Honey Beekeeping” Module, through which theory was linked with production practice. The project achieved positive outcomes, receiving excellent feedback from students and leaders of the university. My successful curriculum renewal initiatives were then accepted and have now been implemented across the Faculty. More significantly, the project has contributed to leveraging students’ enthusiasm and passion in learning and research.
I am very pleased that my project has exerted in substantial impact on improving the quality of training for students majoring in the Agriculture and Forestry discipline, and more broadly promoting socio-economic development in the Northwest Region of Vietnam. With those contributions, I was honored to be named by the State of Vietnam as “The Scientist of Farmers” in 2018.
Through this personal success story, I would like to express my deep gratitude to the Australian government, QUT, Aus4Skills, and Tay Bac University for giving me the opportunity to participate in the Short Course. The Course was not only an excellent experience for me to gain knowledge and skills useful for my teaching job at Tay Bac University, but also made my dream of visiting Australia, a beautiful country and wonderful home of lovely kangaroos, into a reality. I trust that those who have attended Australia Awards capacity-building short courses delivered by QUT would achieve success in their profession and share the same love with me about Australia.
