10 000 z nation

A survey conducted by Prof. Dr. Nguyen Dinh Duc from Vietnam National University – Hanoi reveals that in 10 years from 2009, the number of Vietnamese articles published in international scientific journals increased fivefold (between 1,764 articles in 2009 to 8,234 in 2018).

After the introduction of Resolution No.29 in 2013, which promotes scientific research in different fields, only in 2 years from 2017-2018, leading universities in Vietnam possess around 10,000 research result reports announced internationally.

Statistics of Web of Science (WoS) and SCOPUS also display that in 2018, the quantity of annual international announcements related to research result reached nearly 10,000, 70 percent of which belongs to tertiary educational institutes. Vietnam National University – Hanoi and Vietnam National University – Ho Chi Minh City are the two with the most articles.

Minister of Education and Training Phung Xuan Nha commented that since 2014, 23 universities in Vietnam have piloted comprehensive autonomy in operation, in accordance with Resolution No.77 by the Government. This means more organizational-scaled prizes and awards for successful research and published articles.

Following that was the implementation of the Law on Higher Education on July 1, 2019. They have become the driving force for bustling scientific research activities among tertiary educational institutes in the country, leading to an impressive breakthrough in both training and researching tasks.

As a consequence, in 2019, Vietnamese tertiary education was ranked 68/196 nations worldwide, an increase of 12 positions compared to 2018. 2019 was also the first year that 4 Vietnamese universities appeared in the list of Top-1000 Global Best Universities and 11 in the list of Top-500 Asian Best Universities.

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Dinh Duc voiced his opinion that there should be different policies for research groups of different fields. These policies should be sensibly adjusted to ensure the highest performance possible. He then shared that basically, research groups are divided into 3 groups of organizational, national, and international levels, with different financial needs.

Prof. Nguyen Van Tuan from New South Wales University (Australia) suggested that Vietnamese higher educational institutes need to clearly identify their research goals to fulfill the ultimate one of socio-economic growth.

Director of Vietnamese National University – Ho Chi Minh City Vu Hai Quan said that national universities must be bolder to apply breakthrough investment mechanisms to boost scientific research, with a clearer vision.

“A true scientist doesn’t conduct research for the sake of awards or prizes. Rather, he or she must treat research as a lifetime mission, a passion. No matter what the motto of a university is, its teaching staff must carry out scientific research to have a sustainable development”, stated Associate Prof. Dr. Bach Long Giang from Nguyen Tat Thanh University.

By Thanh Hung – Translated by Thanh Tam

Following the qualification round, ACEBEAR and BabyPhD from Vietnam, together with eight strong teams from the USA, Russia, the Republic of Korea, India and Germany, will vie for the top prize in the eight-hour finals, set to be held online at the competition’s website https://grandprix.whitehatvn.com/ on December 27.

Hosted by Vietnam under the theme of Vietnam Today, WhiteHat Grand Prix 06 has a format consisting of Jeopardy, Attack/Defence and WhiteHat Bug Bounty programmes, finding vulnerabilities on important information systems and popular software in Vietnam.

In the final round, after passing the Jeopardy challenge, 10 teams will enter the Attack/Defence phase in a simulated environment.

The organisers have built a Security Management System that uses real hardware devices for teams to fight in real life situations. The mission of the teams, on the one hand, is to attack and exploit the other team’s vulnerabilities in order to disable their security camera system and detect motion and surveillance lights, while at the same time protecting their own systems. Successful completion of the exam requires teams with practical skills as well as a deep understanding of infrastructure security, application security, encryption and web security.

The top 3 finishers in the finals will be rewarded with VND230 million (US$10,000), VND45 million (US$2,000) and VND23 million (US$1,000), respectively. In addition, teams have the chance to get bounties for each bug they find in the WhiteHat Bug Bounty.

Nguyen Thanh Phuc, Director of Authority of Information Security under the Ministry of Information and Communications, said: “In the work of ensuring network safety and security, experts play a key role. Contests like the WhiteHat Grand Prix help promote the development of human resources in cybersecurity in Vietnam, while affirming the country’s reputation in the international cybersecurity community.”

The WhiteHat Grand Prix was held for the first time at national level in 2014 and began to expand globally in 2015. Vietnam Today is the message that WhiteHat Grand Prix 06 wants to convey to the international community on a developing Vietnam with its positive cultural, economic, scientific and technical achievements.

The qualifying round attracted a record number of participants with 739 teams from 84 countries and territories around the world, including teams from the top 10 in the CTFTime rankings – the leading assessment and ranking platform in information security.

The contest, sponsored by the Ministry of Information and Communications, is being co-organised by the Bkav Corporation and the Authority of Information Security.

Lùng Thị Hoài (second, left) and her electric firework device in 2021 STEM festival in Si Ma Cai District, the northern mountainous province of Lào Cai. Photo khoahocphattrien.vn

LÀO CAI — Lùng Thị Hoài, a Nùng ethnic minority student of Nàn Sán Secondary School, uses equipment to show off electric fireworks she and her peers made to celebrate the 2021 STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) festival in Si Ma Cai District, the northern mountainous province of Lào Cai.

STEM is an approach to learning and development that integrates science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Students are expected to develop their skills through STEM education including problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity, curiosity, decision making and acceptance of failure.

Hundreds of students in the district have benefited from STEM education.

This was the first year the STEM festival had been held in the district – one of the poorest districts of the country after the provincial Department of Education and Training Department issued a document to instruct the implementation of STEM education in secondary schools in September 2020.

Nguyễn Thị Kiều Oanh, head of the district’s Education and Training Office, said officials of the department had visited many localities to plan the festival.

The festival was not only a chance for the students to show off the electric firework device but also run toy cars on race tracks using kinetic energy, Khoa học và Phát Triển (Science and Development) online newspaper reported.

Also at the festival, the office invited two students in Lý Tự Trọng Secondary School in the province’s Lào Cai City to operate a robot, programmed by them, Oanh said.

The two students won the first prize in the robotics competition in the north, held by the Central Youth Union in November 2020, she added.

Oanh said the office wanted students in Nàn Sán Secondary School to do more in the next festivals, such as programming robots like the students in Lý Tự Trọng Secondary School in Lào Cai City did.

To do that, the office plans to hold a training course for programming robots for both teachers and students in a total of eight schools in the district this month, she said.

The training course will be organised with the support of teachers in Lào Cai City and the STEM Alliance, she said.

Established in 2015, the STEM Alliance – an organisation dedicated to connecting volunteers participating in STEM promotion activities – has trained some 10,000 general teachers about STEM education and helped establish more than 500 STEM clubs across the country, especially in rural areas.

The alliance also plays an important role in organising six National STEM Festivals and five Open Math Festivals.

STEM universal education

The district administration issued Project No 04- DA/HU on July 31, 2020, on improving the quality of education and training for 2020-25. The project aims to promote STEM education at all schools in the district.

The move came under the goal of STEM universal education of the provincial education sector.

Over the past five years, the provincial education sector has conducted many STEM education training programmes for thousands of teachers.

The education sector has also set up STEM advisory groups for all levels of the education sector to build a formal system of STEM education.

To do that, the provincial education sector has received support from experienced STEM educators such as Đặng Văn Sơn of Hà Nội National University, Hoàng Vân Đông of Electricity University, Dương Tuấn Hưng of Việt Nam Academy of Science and Technology, Lê Chí Ngọc and Hàn Huy Dũng of Hà Nội University of Technology. — VNS

Hanoi was placed 10th in this list with a value of €4.35 million ($5.23 million). The club consists of many key players in the national team, like Nguyen Quang Hai, Doan Van Hau and Do Hung Dung.

The most valuable club in Southeast Asia is Thai League side Buriram United at €6.9 million, followed by Malaysian club Johor Durul Ta’zim with €6.73 million and Thailand’s Port FC with €6.33 million. Thai clubs dominate the top ten list with six entries, while Indonesia has two and Malaysia has one.

Hanoi is the only Vietnamese club in the top 10. In Vietnam, it is the most valuable club, following by Hoang Anh Gia Lai with €3.73 million and the V. League champion last year, Viettel FC with €3.66 million.

The top 10 most valuable clubs in Southeast Asia. Photo courtesy of ASEAN Football.

The most valuable player in Hanoi’s squad is Brazilian forward Bruno Cantanhede. He is valued at €400,000. Quang Hai is the Vietnamese player that has the highest value in Hanoi FC with €300,000.

The capital club is preparing for the return of V. League on March 13, after the tournament was postponed following a new Covid-19 outbreak at the end of January. Hanoi has not been in great form so far this season, losing two games against Nam Dinh FC and Becamex Binh Duong and being placed at the bottom of the table.

Yesterday, the Military Service Council of Thu Duc City and 21 other districts in Ho Chi Minh City held ceremonies to see off local young men to the army and public security force.

The new recruits from Thu Duc City are ready to fulfil their duty to the nation.

In 2021, 4,628 citizens from Ho Chi Minh City perform their service in military and public security forces, including two female citizens. Among them, 2.05% are official Party members, while 41.95% possess college and university qualifications.

On the same day, localities in Military Region 2, including Ha Giang, Lao Cai, Son La, Lai Chau and Dien Bien, also hosted ceremonies to see young people off for military service. The enlisted were sent to 10 units belonging to the Military Region 2, the High Command of the Border Guard and units under the Ministry of Public Security. Among them, over 82% are between the ages of 18 and 21, nearly 50% are from H’Mong ethnic groups, and more than 15% belong to the Dao and Tay ethnic groups. Over 1,000 sent written requests to volunteer to perform their military service.

Young men from Lao Cai City join the army.

Young army conscripts in Son La City say goodbye to family members before leaving for service.

In the northern province of Thai Binh, thousands of young men also started to perform services in military or public security forces. Previously, the Provincial People’s Committee, Thai Binh Provincial Military Council and other relevant units visited and presented gifts to newcomers in difficult circumstances. Each newly-recruit is given gifts worth at least from VND3-4.5 million.

Young Thai Binh men during a ceremony to set off for military service on March 3.

Among young people in Dong Nai Province enlisting this year, 2,803 have joined military units and 305 citizens will perform their duty in the People’s Public Security units. The handover and reception ceremonies across 11 districts and cities in the southern province yesterday took place in about 20 minutes, ensuring the prevention and control of COVID-19. Previously, local authorities visited and presented gifts worth VND1.2-3.5 million to each of the new recruits.

Young females in Bien Hoa City, Dong Nai, present a bandana and attach flowers to a young man before he leaves for military service.

Vehicles carrying newly-conscripted soldiers are sprayed with chemicals according to anti-COVID-19 treatment. All of them have been tested for COVID-19.

On the occasion of her working visit to the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang on March 3, Politburo member cum Head of the Party Central Committee’s for Mass Mobilisation Truong Thi Mai encouraged and presented gifts to local young men joining military service this year.

Youngsters from Phan Thiet City excited to enlist in the army.

Young An Giang men enlist in the army.

Lam Dong Provincial Party Secretary Tran Duc District encourages the recruits before leaving to serve the army.

Young men join the navy in Le Chan District, Hai Phong City.

Colonel Le Van Long, Commander of the Military Command of Quang Ninh Province, presents flowers to congratulate young men from Ha Long City on their enlistment.

Deputy Secretary of the Binh Duong Provincial Party Committee cum Chairman of Provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Hoang Thao presents flowers to young army conscripts before they leave for service.

Colonel Dam Thuc Thuc, Commander of the Military Command of Kien Giang Province presents a gift to a young army conscript in Chau Thanh District.