UEH College of Economics, Law and Government – A Member of a Multidisciplinary and Sustainable University

On October 27, 2021, UEH College of Economics, Law and Government (CELG) was launched with the mission of training high-quality human resources in economics and law. and government with the ability to identify and solve complex problems on a global, regional, and Vietnamese scale. After more than two years of official operation, UEH-CELG has obtained impressive achievements, contributing to the overall development of UEH’s Multidisciplinary and Sustainable University strategy. Let’s look back at the establishment milestones and operational journey of the UEH College of Economics, Law and Government!

Imprints of the establishment and orientation of UEH College of Economics, Law and Government

UEH College of Economics, Law and Government is the unity of schools and institutes whose programs relate to the fields of economics, law, government and public finance to carry out the mission of training high-quality human resources capable of identifying and solving complex problems on a global, regional and Vietnamese scale.

Regarding the development strategy to 2030, UEH-CELG will continue to promote the achievements of UEH in general and the Schools and Institutes of CELG in particular to improve the quality of training in economics, law and government in Vietnam as well as the region, actively promoting sustainable development and contributing to society.

In the first phase of establishment (2022 – 2025), CELG’s development orientation revolves around 05 strategies: (1) Training strategy; (2) Research strategy; (3) International cooperation strategy; (4) Social influence strategy; and (5) Management and operations strategy to actively contribute to UEH’s development in the Multidisciplinary and Sustainable University strategy while increasing UEH’s position on international rankings.

Prof.Dr. Su Dinh Thanh handing over the decision to appoint Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Khanh Nam the position of Vice Head of UEH College of Economics, Law and Government for the term 2020 – 2025

Managing and connecting the member college model in the multidisciplinary University model

Recognizing the paramount importance of University Governance in the process of developing a Multidisciplinary and Sustainable UEH University, UEH College of Economics, Law and Government has proactively changed its management mindset towards a more refined and effective direction and enhanced internal strength. It also actively enhances the application of information technology and digital transformation in most administrative operations. In particular, the operational efficiency of the General Department plays a central role in connecting the University’s training, scientific research and international cooperation activities. Since its inception, the General Department has demonstrated a high degree of adaptability and responsiveness in undertaking the diverse activities of the member college

The next highlight of the member college model in the multidisciplinary UEH University is the success of organizing joint academic activities to build an academic environment connecting lecturers – lecturers; lecturers – students; businesses – students, etc. This has not been promoted previously when there were no member colleges and the coordinating and operating role of the General Department.

Efforts to improve training quality

The outstanding feature of the training programs at the UEH College of Economics, Law and Government is their multidisciplinary nature, aiming at sustainable development goals, and CELG’s specific focus is on economic, law, government and social sciences.

In the period of 2021-2023, the training programs of CELG’s Schools and Institutes have undergone a strong transformation in the direction of constantly improving training quality, integrating technology and contemporary topics into the curriculum listed as digital transformation, multidisciplinary, sustainable development, etc. The variety of dual degree and dual major programs has been established to meet the needs of multidisciplinary and sustainable training, creating more flexible transition opportunities for learners in the plan to develop lifelong learning capacity: Agricultural Business and International Business Programs; Agribusiness – Logistics and Supply Chain Management Program; Public Management and Local Law & Governance Programs; Tax and Accounting Program. In particular, the Digital Economy Program and the International Relations Program are completely newly built programs, meeting the appropriate roadmap and requirements for CELG to be worthy of being a pillar member of the Multidisciplinary and Sustainable UEH University.

The next highlight is that many programs have completed FIBAA accreditation listed as the Master’s Program in Development Economics (a joint program between UEH and Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands); Real Estate Undergraduate Program; Business Law Program and International Business Law Program (2023).

Implementing the strategy of accompanying local development and contributing to the community: the “UEH Mekong 2030” program trains high-quality human resources for the  public sector of the Mekong Delta region; the “Senior Executive Master of Public Policy in the Mekong Delta Region” Program for 44 students from 9 Mekong Delta provinces/cities; the “Master of Public Policy in Senior Executive” program (Executive MPP 2023) for 41 students who are officials of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee.

In addition, in order to meet the requirements of practical training, in recent times, CELG has signed 166 Business Semester contracts with partners, creating conditions for students to experience practical work in the right profession before graduating.

Research Achievements

UEH College of Economics, Law and Government aims to pursue the best quality in research activities and international scientific cooperation. The period of 2021 – 2023 recognizes CELG’s strong efforts and outstanding achievements in connecting with prestigious foreign scholars and operating academic activities to expand the network for research capacity development for future CELGers.

Regarding research activities at the college, CELG lecturers have registered and are implementing 21 ministerial-level projects and 24 school-level projects over the past 2 years. Of these, 05 ministerial-level projects and 10 school-level projects have been accepted and completed. To foster and improve the capacity of young researchers, in the past two years, the College has organized many supplementary activities: (i) Pre-master course for students to gain experience and self-study skills from Mr. Howard Nicholas, an expert in banking and financial markets; (ii) Applied Panel Data Econometrics class for graduate students led by Professor Almas Heshmati (Sweden); (ii) Many direct consulting activities and sharing of research experiences, proposal suggestions for graduate students, etc.

In order for scientific research activities to reach an international level, the College invites world-renowned and highly influential lecturers and researchers to sign Research Fellow collaboration contracts with the school, including Professor John Hey, D-index 36, York University (UK); Professor Almash Heshmati, D-index 41, Jönköping University, Sweden; and Professor Bowen Mc. Beath, H-index 25, Portland State University, USA.

CELG inviting world-renowned and highly influential lecturers and researchers to sign Research Fellow collaboration contracts with the College

CELG has been continuing to promote high-quality international publication with 166 publications in the ISI-Scopus, of which 28% of articles were published as Q1 or ABCD grade A*. During more than 02 years of establishment, CELG has successfully organized and operated 04 international conferences: “A Pathway towards Carbon Neutrality in Asia”; “Innovative Philosophy and Law (IPL)”; “Food loss in the catfish value chain in the Mekong River basin”; “Accelerating inclusive green transition in developing countries”, which attracted nearly 500 researchers and experts from Asian countries and other continents to attend.

International conferences being held successfully

Regarding the expansion of its partner network, CELG has gradually connected with many high-quality educational institutions (Tokyo Keizai University, Queensland University of Technology, Portland University, Khon Kaen University, etc.), international organizations (University Network – SOAS University of London, The Asian Association of Environmental and Resource Economics – AAERE, The Environment for Development (EfD) Initiative, The Asian Development Bank (ADB)), WorldBank experts, etc. In addition, outbound and inbound delegation activities took place enthusiastically, forming and developing CELG’s partner network across continents. In addition, to complete the goal of internationalizing student activities and creating conditions for CELG students to access the global environment, CELG conducted an exchange of 62 international students, including 24 international students from universities around the world to study and exchange at CELG.

Since its establishment, UEH College of Economics, Law and Government has strengthened international cooperation activities through signing cooperation agreements with businesses and schools around the world ranked in QS World top 1000, QS Asia top 500 and The Impact Ranking TOP 1000. The college has succeeded in signing 05 MOUs and 02 MOAs with reputable international partners. From 2021 up to now, CELG School has a total of 43 partners, of which 28 partners have signed MOUs.

Main cooperation fields:

With the goal of developing the business and alumni network of UEH in general and CELG in particular, CELG has promoted the signing of MOUs, MOAs and cooperation with 28 businesses in the period of 2022 – 2026 in a variety of fields and forms of cooperation. In particular, in 2023, CELG has connected with the Vietnam Real Estate Training Association (VNREEA), accordingly, Prof. Dr. Su Dinh Thanh – President of University of Economics  Ho Chi Minh City and Dr. Nguyen Luu Bao Doan – Head of Real Estate Department, University of Economics  Ho Chi Minh City were honored to become Vice Chairman of VNREEA, representing UEH and CELG in the Standing Committee of Vietnam Real Estate Training Association, Phase I, period 2023 – 2028.

Prof. Dr. Su Dinh Thanh and Dr. Nguyen Luu Bao Doan becoming Vice Chairmen of VNREEA

The series of periodic scientific activities CELGS (every 2 weeks) has connected nearly 100 domestic and foreign researchers. The Center for Economics, Law and Government (CTELG) has operated two free programs for the community: (1) CTELG Talk Series, and (2) Macroeconomic Analysis Applied in Communication and Journalism (AMA); organized 3 sessions providing colorful aspects of Economics, Law and Government to nearly 300 participants. In addition, the CELG School of Government also organized a free short-term course on digital transformation in the public sector for senior leaders of the People’s Committee of Ba Ria – Vung Tau province in April 2022.

UEH College of Economics, Law and Government is ready for the journey to develop a Multidisciplinary and Sustainable UEH University

With the achievements in the past two years, CELG continuously strives and aims to develop into a multidisciplinary and sustainable education and research institution with international standards, contributing to the common development of UEH Multidisciplinary and Sustainable University. In particular, it focuses on well-operating the majors of economics, government, public policy and law, at the same time, enhancing academic reputation and social influence to promote sustainable development through excellent research and high social impact. With the set goals, CELG will implement the Development Strategy until 2030 including:

Enhancing research capacity, international publication and CELG’s academic reputation;

Improving applied research for localities and enhancing social influence to promote sustainable development;

Diversifying research methods for CELG’s diverse disciplines;

Improving its training quality according to international standards and accreditation from prestigious organizations;

Leading in developing interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary programs in a sustainable direction, applying technology in training;

Developing and implementing social sciences programs;

Strengthening international cooperation to improve research capacity and increase the exchange of lecturers and students with leading universities in the world;

Improving its academic reputation and contributing to enhancing UEH’s position in rankings (THE Impact Ranking, QS Asia Ranking, etc.);

Developing and implementing short-term training programs and community activities to actively contribute to the sustainable development of society. The long-term goal is to increase the quality of lecturers and researchers, with many leading researchers in each field.

On the journey of more than 47 years, UEH has created many milestones of achievements. Currently, with a new position and stature – the Multidisciplinary and Sustainable University needs greater determination and efforts from the entire UEHer, with the important role of UEH Member Colleges to jointly realize the mission of contributing to human knowledge and the country’s socio-economic development./.

News and photos: UEH College of Economics, Law and Government, UEH Department of Marketing and Communication