ANNEX 3: Digital and Disruptive Technologies 1. Below is the current status at the three universities under VUDP
• No central University ICT Strategy - each member entity (member university, college or research institute) has its own policies and plans
• No centralized IT Organization - each member university has own IT department, some of them with lower capacities than others.
• No centralized IT systems or IT operations - each member university has own IT systems, own Management Information Systems (MIS), own applications. ICT systems are not inter-operable. Hanoi has centralized a few IT systems such as Admission and Registration system rest is still siloed
• No centralized Data Centers - each member university and institute have their own Data Centers
• No central network at UD. VNU-Hanoi and VNU-HCM: Network connections between member universities is reported to be 1Gbps. HCM: Each member university have their own ISPs. VNU-Hanoi:
There are two links to public internet at 1 Gbps
• No standards for smart classrooms, computer labs or specialized labs. University can’t take advantage of economies of scale in buying technology or in sharing technology resources
• No connection to VinaRen, the National Research and Education Network (all three)
• Limited use of e-learning- a few member universities have set up Moodle and Blackboard but most of these are not used much anymore (VNU-HN). A few member universities have e-learning but no central system
• VNU-Hanoi: University has developed a comprehensive Digital Plan called the Smart VNU-HN, not clear how they want to implement the plan.
• UD has hired a consultant to review its IT systems and recommend a unified strategy.
• VNU-HCM: With the goal to strengthen use of technology for teaching, learning and research, to create single MIS, to develop Big Data Center, the University has now set up a Data Center at the Information Technology Park (ITP). VNU-HCM has plans to create single ID and authentication system and to hire more ICT staff at the ITP. Not clear if member universities are required use the services of this Data Center. Backup Data Center is not planned.
2. Based on the assessment of digital technology gaps, the following activities were discussed with the universities as part of the VUDP project as they seek to integrate digital/disruptive technology in their teaching-learning, research and management practices.
Intervention Area 1. Improve quality of teaching and learning
a) Build/Consolidate new data center + Create Private Cloud system for all hosting requirements.
Currently, member universities of three national universities have their own data centers, mostly small and inefficient. It is recommended that VNU-HN, UD and VNU-HCM use this opportunity to build new data centers in Hoa Lac (VNU-Hanoi), in new UD campus location (for UD) and consolidated Data Center at ITP (VNU-HCM) to centralize the data centers and use new cloud technology to efficiently service the entire university. In the case of VNU-HCM, ITP-based Data Center can consolidate data centers into 2 or 3 centers. A backup data center is also recommended, and three universities can negotiate with each other to have their back-up at another university. In each of the three national universities, member universities
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can be provided computers, storage, database and software hosting services from this central data centers through a university private cloud system offering
• Infrastructure as a Service or IaaS with virtual machines for cloud computing,
• Platform as a Service or PaaS including application development environments and Database as a Service or DBaaS and
• Software as a Service or SaaS for specific applications such as EMIS, ERPs and e-learning/Learning Management System or LMS applications.
• The cloud service can be offered on a charge-back basis with member universities paying for the services as they consume or budget can be centralized. Clear policies will be required to ensure that the member universities use the cloud service rather than building their own infrastructure.
b) Improve connectivity and bandwidth
If the universities are going to increase their use of disruptive technology, then they will need to improve their networks and increase their network bandwidth. The following will be required:
• Design new campus network at the new campus site (VNU-HN or UD) or the current VNU-HCM campus and ensures that fiber cabling is provided across the campus. This can be done in phases as construction goes on.
• Campus network at Hoa Lac should have minimum 40 Gbps core
• Create a connection to VinaRen to serve all member universities so that researchers can access global research facilities and budget for recurring fees to VinaRen
• Upgrade network security across entire network and institute single sign-on (as well as set up eduroam)
• Set up a single network monitoring, operations and management center
• Set up a single security operations center
• In the interim- consider upgrading campus network in the current universities to 40Gbps c) Adopt/ Scale up E-learning and create a University-wide MOOC
Each of three universities should take this opportunity to take bold steps and scale up use of e-learning, set up a MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) and pilot new disruptive technologies such as adaptive learning systems. For this to happen, it is recommended that they consider the following:
• Standardize e-learning software/ LMS and set up one cloud based LMS- The University should consider standardizing the e-learning software on 1 application, centrally hosting this application and offering it as a SaaS to the member universities. This will make it easier to manage, maintain and support the software applications, free member universities to focus on teaching and learning and ensure faster adoption of e-learning
• Create and staff Instructional Design Center- buying e-learning software is easy. Creating e-learning courses and managing them is hard. The university should consider setting up a central instructional design center and staffing it with e-learning experts that can work with individual universities, departments and lecturers to create e-learning content.
• Make available all the e-learning courses on the LMS to create the VNU-HN MOOC or UD MOOC or VNU-HCM MOOC
• Provide student and lecturer support system - the same instructional design center can provide student and lecturer support. Consider offering telephone and email/online/automated support. This might require setting up a small call center at each university.
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• Pilot Adaptive Learning System - consider pushing the innovation envelope and investing in an adaptive learning system on a pilot basis. Adaptive learning systems will require e-content so the instructional design center would still be required to work with lecturers and professors to create this content.
d) Standardize labs and smart classroom infrastructure
To take advantage of economies of scale, ensure inter-operability and to streamline support and maintenance, it is recommended that the universities develop standards for smart classroom and computer labs and decide how many of each type of lab or smart classroom they need per member university. This will also make budgeting easier. Examples of standards could be along the lines of:
Smart Classroom Standards: Can have 2 or 3 standard smart classrooms.
• Type 1 can be a basic Smart Classroom with only projector and screen and lectern + WIFI
• Type 2 can have a smart board and lectern + WIFI
• Type 3 can have a Smart board and full video conference system + WIFI
The university can decide that every Classroom/ lecture room will be turned into a smart classroom following the defined standards.
Computer Lab standards: The university should define standards for computer labs and then decide how many of each type of lab they need for the member universities. Examples of lab standards:
• Type 1 or Basic labs- for general internet access and general productivity. 50 PCs + Furniture + Wi-Fi or wired network + standard software bundle
• Type 2: Virtual Labs- e.g. physics, chemistry and simulation– 50 PCs + Furniture + VR/AR kits + software bundles + wired network
• Type 3: Media labs with high end PCs + Furniture + software bundles + wired network
• Type 4: High performance computing lab- 50 workstations for intensive data analysis + Wired network + software bundles
These are provided as examples for guidance only. Universities should develop standard labs and smart classroom based on their specific needs. The universities should seek industry partnerships to tap into their resources to set up cutting edge advanced labs.
Intervention Area 2. Excellence in scientific research and technology transfer in key areas.
Technology is now indispensable to research. To support excellence in scientific research, the Universities should:
a) Set up a multi-purpose High Performance Computing (HPC) Infrastructure
To support research, in addition to improving connectivity and bandwidth and a central Data Center (described in Component 1), universities need to invest in HPC infrastructure. This HPC infrastructure can be used by all the member universities and researchers for advanced scientific research.
VNU-HN’s proposed Center for High Performance Calculations can use this HPC infrastructure to support all the proposed labs for advanced materials, AI, manufacturing, environment, biotech. UD’s planned HPC at the Technopole Research Complex can support all the proposed Experimental Centers on Renewable Energy Technology - Biology - Environment; - mechatronic technology - automation; Life Sciences (Gene
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technology, Animal and plant cell technology, Microbiology technology, Nanotechnology, Pharmaceutical technology and natural compounds) and Digital (Internet of Things, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Information Security). VNU-HCM can invest in HCP to support its research at Labs in emerging fields such as Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence, Information Security, Cloud Computing, Robotics in addition to the strong research groups material science, biomedical technology, biotechnology, pharmaceutical chemistry, environment and climate change, and socio-economic modeling.
The universities may consider the following critical aspects:
• Budget for full infrastructure: Data Center Facilities (power, cooling) + compute, storage and software (HPC IT system) + High-speed network to connect HPC to whole university
• Budget for Staff and training: staff to manage HPC system + training of lecturers to use HPC system + support
b) Create a connection to VinaRen
Access to the global Research and Education Networks is critical for advanced research to connect researchers and share advanced research facilities. Connection should VinaRen is critical.
Intervention Area 3. Governance and Project Management
In order to maximize the benefits of digital technology to improve its management and overall governance, each university should consider the following:
• Develop/update ICT Policy and Strategy for whole university and get it approved to guide overall investments, management and use of ICTs for teaching, learning, research and management
• Accelerate the completion of their respective digital university Plans and get it approved to guide overall investments, management and use of ICTs for teaching, learning, research and management
• Invest in TA to finalize the Enterprise Architecture (EA) for the whole university to ensure integration and inter-operability of systems. Such an EA would include technology architecture, application architecture and data architecture to support the university’s business objectives.
• To operationalize the EA, consider undertaking an application inventory and application rationalization
• Develop a single ICT Organizational Structure headed by a Chief Information Officer (CIO) reporting to Senior Management. This single structure should be responsible for procuring, implementing, managing, operating and maintaining ICT systems across all member universities
• Build on the central Student Registration system to define specifications for centralized Higher Education Management Information System (HEMIS) as well as ERP systems including for financial management, Human Resource Management and Procurement
• Develop centralized HEMIS and ERP systems in line with EA and specifications developed with TA
• In addition to the TA budget, the university management should budget enough counter-part funding for human resources, IT operations, maintenance and support of all the equipment and systems.
• Importantly, given the expected cost savings and knowledge-sharing gains on using common ICT platforms in a number of areas/applications, the three universities may want to consider sharing the resources/TA to design and operate these systems.