By Huong Thi Thu Nguyen
Change comes from an impact, and improvement results from your industrialism. This expression is true to me.
In 2018, I participated in a short training course on university quality assurance funded by the Australian Government through Aus4Skills and delivered by Queensland University of Technology (QUT). The course had a profound impact on my professionalism in the field of quality assurance and was an inspiration for the improvement of this activity that I led at Thai Nguyen University.
In addition to a one-week pre-course session in Hanoi, we spent two weeks on QUT’s green and picturesque campus to deep dive into quality assurance in higher education. When we were there, we learned what we had anticipated, achieved the objectives we had expected, and enjoyed Australian culture and life too. With support and assistance from the course facilitators I developed an application project, which has contributed to the improvement of the quality assurance system across Thai Nguyen University. It was not smooth-sailing when we first introduced new methods, concepts that we learned from the course to the field. My colleagues and I had to invest time and effort in helping other colleagues to familiarize with these new concepts and methods. But our efforts gained rewards in the end.
The success of my application project made me feel more confident in my work. I realised that being a woman was not a weakness if you had the courage, determination, and belief in what was the best to apply.
Success has followed after success. I recently had a small-scale project to enhance the quality of the four bachelor programs of Thai Nguyen University’s International School funded by the Australian Alumni Award scheme. The project was successfully implemented and contributed to the quality improvement of the curriculum and learning outcomes of our students.
The knowledge that I gained from the course was not only translated into the project, but moreover has been used to improve quality assurance management at Thai Nguyen University including, for instance, making quality assurance strategic plan as well as developing 
regulations and guidance on QA process applicable across Thai Nguyen University.
Let me avail this opportunity to echo my sincere thanks to the Australian and Vietnamese Governments, Aus4skills, and QUT for giving me the opportunity to participate in the course and become an alumnus of one of the prestigious universities in Australia. My work and the improvement of quality assurance has been inspired by QUT facilitators and best practices.
