The Exhibition of Scientific and Technological Products at University of Agriculture and Forestry, Hue University
Affirming the brand
Scientific publication is seen as one of the measures of the scientific and technological development level. In order to join the world's scientific research flow, that the articles are published in the internationally - valuable scientific magazines is one of the key aspects, helping to realize the contemporary research directions and contributing to the common development of humanity. If not staying ahead of the curve, then at least we will not lag behind in the intense race of engineering and technology SR.
In the past, the training activities associated with SR were often focused only on some big universities. Recently, the training associated with SR has been carried out at the nationwide universities. It is heartening that there is the emergence of the universities under Hue University.
In March 2019, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) provided information on the number of international publication works in the list of ISI, SCI and SCIE journals of universities under the Ministry in 2018. Encouragingly, with 195 articles published, Hue University was ranked 2 out of 28 universities, just behind Hanoi University of Science and Technology (with 315 articles) up 4.3% against 2017. Hanoi University of Education increased by nearly 2.4% (with 129 articles - ranked 3rd). Concurrently, Hue University had a high increase of nearly 20% against 2017,
According to the general results, there appeared quite a few researchers' names with the internationally-published "collection". Notably, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bui Dinh Hoi (University of Education) had 19 articles published in ISI magazine related to in-depth studies on physics, or Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dinh Quang Khieu (University of Science) had 9 articles published in SCOPUS, SCIE magazines famous for physicochemical works.
It is not easy to have a large number of articles published in the list of ISI, SCI, SCIE journals. The researchers go through the process from thinking, exploring, calculating, experimenting, comparing, synthesizing, interpreting, reasoning ... to concluding then going on to presentation. In addition to expertise, they have to be good at foreign language skills.
“SR has its difficulties, but we need to regard the research and teaching as a profession, try to" live” by profession and stick to the profession. That is the motivation for me to stick to the job I have chosen, to work hard and overcome difficulties,” Assoc. Bui Dinh Hoi shared.
Because of the strict criteria, the regional and global university-ranking organizations use them as one of the bases for making rankings (the internationally - published articles accounted for 20-30% in the proportion of criteria). In the Webometrics ranking (of Cybermetrics Lab under the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), in January 2019, Hue University ranked 10th in Vietnam, 115th in Southeast Asia and 3,704 in the world. Worthy of note is that the world ranking of Hue University tended to increase gradually, from 4,122 (July 2017) to 4,107 (January 2018), 3,708 (July 2018) and 3,704 (this time). In the rankings of 400 Asian Universities that the QS-ranking organization announced, Hue University is one of five Vietnamese universities that are included in this list.
In April 2019, THE (the world prestigious ranking organization) has just announced Vietnamese universities that foreign students should attend, Hue University included. THE is the UK-based prestigious magazine, famous for making World University ranking - one of the world’s most prestigious and influential educational rankings.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Huynh Van Chuong, Deputy Director of Hue University, emphasized that now Vietnamese universities focus merely on Webometrics and QS rankings. It is very difficult to enter THE list.
Strengthening the position
In the recent Webometrics rankings, the domestic ranking of Hue University also fluctuated. Typically, in July 2017, it ranked 12 th; in January 2018, 13 th; in July 2018, 8 th, and recently in January 2019, 10th. The ranking process also depends on many criteria, but the publication of articles in internationally-prestigious journals exerts a great influence on this result.
With the vision to 2030 to become one of the leading research universities in Southeast Asia, Hue University is taking steps to make sure to achieve its target set. The most typical is the selection and recognition of 12 strong research groups that attract the leading experts to the research in the direction of in-depth or interdisciplinary expertise. The target set for them is that the international articles must enter the list of the prestigious international journals (ISI, SCOPUS), thereby enhancing the SR for universities in particular and Hue University in general.
According to the representative of Hue University's Science, Technology and Environment Board, in 2019, Hue University will soon expect and allocate the annual scientific publication quotas for each unit. And with this activity, this year, it is expected that all units will have 445-450 articles in ISI and SCOPUS magazine group. If achieved, the number will certainly reinforce the position of Hue University in the domestic, regional and world rankings.
Hue University is focusing a number of criteria to increase its ranking and formulates a policy of rewarding and encouraging talent with about VND one billion per year. In addition, the new Circular in August 2017 TT-BGDĐT requires the postgraduate students to have an international publication article. Therefore, with a large number of postgraduates at Hue University, there will undoubtedly be many additional signals of joy.
Story and photo: Huu Phuc