The Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam has made great efforts to improve the quality of foreign-language instruction. The understanding is that foreign-language instruction could greatly improve the overall quality of the country’s education system. According to Vietnam’s Minister of Education and Training Phung Xuan Nha, the government’s expected goals have not been met. The Minister has proclaimed that the standards of teaching need to be improved starting at the primary level and continuing onto to high school. This will accelerate foreign language learning so that less time would be needed to study it at the tertiary level. The Minister has also stressed the importance of having teachers with extensive training in teaching methodology and access to materials to help realize this goal. At this time, many teachers of English at Vietnamese schools are not adequately trained or qualified.
Here are a few suggestions made by the Minister to help improve teacher training:
Digitize teaching materials so that it is available for all teachers across the country;
Develop a system of standardized testing to limit variations in scoring and assessment;
Improve teacher training programs so that teachers’ qualifications do not vary from region to region and promote more equity between teachers from disadvantaged areas with those in the cities. Currently, in the provinces and cities that are economically more developed, the teacher training programs cover instruction methods for 3rd to 12th grades while in the less developed areas, the teacher training programs are for 6th to 12th grades. The Ministry is proposing to have the training cover 3rd to 12th grades regardless of socio-economic differences between regions.
For more information on the reforms proposed by the Ministry, click here.
The Academic Credentials Evaluation Institute, Inc. (ACEI), was founded in 1994 and is based in Los Angeles, CA, USA. ACEI provides a number of services that include evaluations of international academic credentials for U.S. educational equivalence, translation, verification, and professional training programs. ACEI is a Charter and Endorsed Member of the Association of International Credential Evaluators. For more information, visit www.acei-global.org.
On July 10, 2019, a network representing more than “7,000 higher and further education institutions from six continents have announced that they are declaring a ‘climate emergency’, and agreed to undertake a three-point plan to address the crisis through their work with students.” As the letter from the representatives of the 7,000 plus institutions states: “The young minds that are shaped by our institutions must be equipped with the knowledge, skills and capability to respond to the ever-growing challenges of climate change. We all need to work together to nurture a habitable planet for future generations and to play our part in building a greener and cleaner future for all.”
In this week’s blog, we share this insightful piece by our guest blogger, Tom Schnabel who writes about the Apollo 11 Moon landing and the music it inspired about our blue planet called Earth. For, as Tom mentions in his piece, it was the “magnificent sight of our planet earth seen from the moon as a small blue ball (that) provided a spark in the environmental movement.” As those involved in international education, let’s work together to bring awareness to the plight of our planet, the well being of its inhabitants, and the future we would like to leave behind for generations to come.
The Apollo 11 lunar lander Eagle returning to the Columbia command module for the journey back to Earth. Photo: NASA
The Apollo 11 moon landing that took place on July 20, 1969, represented a staggering achievement for the human race. The desire to explore outside the earth’s boundaries reached back to Mesopotamia, ancient Babylon and Persia, also with Aristotle and the ancient Greeks, and later with cosmologists Tycho Brahe, Copernicus, and Galileo’s observations. While Einsteinian physics had unlocked more information about the universe, nobody ever viewed the earth from the moon until 1969.
President Kennedy promised in 1961 to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade, and he put forward the resources to make it happen. The Apollo space capsule and the computer systems of Mission Control in Houston are primitive by today’s standards, but the astronauts made the voyage there and back in eight days. Rocket scientist Wernher von Braun said of the moon landing, “What we will have attained when Neil Armstrong steps down on the moon is a completely new step in the evolution of man. For the first time, life will leave its planetary cradle, and the ultimate destiny of man will no longer be confined to these familiar continents that we have known so long.”
Over the past fifty years since the landing, many musicians have found inspiration in the historic moment and responded in song. Brazilian superstar Caetano Velosowas in a sweltering Brazilian jail when his wife handed him a newspaper with a picture of a little blue planet as seen from the moon. He was so moved by it that he later wrote the song “Terra” (“Earth”). Read the English translation of the lyrics here.
Brian Enocomposed an ethereal, floating suite called Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracksfor the documentary film For All Mankind, which celebrates the earth’s beauty and the Apollo space program. An expanded edition of the soundtrack with 11 new tracks will be released on July 19 in celebration of the 50thanniversary of the landing. You can listen to the original remarkable sonic journey in its entirety below:
The electronic artist Michael Adam Kandel, aka Tranquility Bass, took his stage name from the Tranquility Base landing site in the Sea of Tranquility, the area of the moon where the Apollo 11 crew touched down. I’ve always liked his catchy tune called “Cantamilla.”
I learned from this past Sunday’s New York Times Apollo 11 special section that Duke Ellingtoncomposed and performed the song “Moon Maiden” for the event.
There have been countless tributes to this historic achievement over the years, some listed here in thisNew York Times article. I highly recommend the 2019 documentary Apollo 11, which tells the story with previously unseen footage from the development to the actual landing. You might also check out an interesting show called Apollo 11: the Immersive Live Show, playing at the Rose Bowl through August 11.
Fifty years ago, the magnificent sight of our planet earth seen from the moon as a small blue ball provided a spark in the environmental movement. This anniversary seems all the more poignant today as governments and climate-change deniers roll back environmental protections and cut down huge swaths of rain forests to plant soybean and palm oil trees. It is a dire situation–global warming will increase to the point where life as we know could be seriously threatened by 2050. One can only hope that this anniversary will serve as a reminder of what’s at stake back home on earth, even as we seek to return to the moon and continue to explore beyond our solar system.
The first step in evaluating non-U.S. academic documents is to determine whether the institution where the studies were completed is recognized and approved by the education authorities in the country, which in most instances is the Ministry of Education.
In the U.S. there is no central government body that establishes, maintains and sets standards to oversee academic institutions. Instead, there are accrediting groups which themselves have met or exceed recognition standards in order to review and accredit academic institutions. Accreditation as defined by the United States Department of Education is “the process whereby an agency or association grants public recognition to a school, institute, college, university, or specialized program of study which meets certain established qualifications and educational standards, as determined through initial period evaluation. The essential purpose of the accreditation process is to provide a professional judgment as to the quality of the educational institution or programs (s) offered, and to encourage continual improvement thereof.”
There are some institutions that are “unaccredited” but have formal legal authorization to operate and enroll students or issue degrees. But being incorporated as a For-Profit entity or have a business license to operate does not mean that the institution is also accredited by the nationally recognized accreditation bodies. If you’re planning to study at a college or university in the United States, it is important that you first check on the “accreditation” status of the institution.
Why is institutional accreditation important?
3 reasons why institutional accreditation is important:
helps determine if an institution meets or exceeds minimum standards of quality
helps students determine is an institutional is acceptable for enrollment
assists institutions in determining acceptability of transfer credits.
A student who attends an accredited institution in the U.S. is able to move freely from one accredited institution to another and receive recognition of his/her studies. Before you enroll in a school, institute, college or universities, check on its accreditation status first. One thing you don’t want to happen is graduating from at an unaccredited institution in the U.S. that will not be recognized by employers, the government or other schools, colleges or universities.
The Council for Higher Education Accreditation provides a list of recognized accreditation boards which is available on its website www.chea.org. You’ll be able to check on the accreditation status of a particular school, college or university or access a complete list of accredited institutions of postsecondary education in the United States.
For further information on the world education systems and credential evaluations, visit our website at www.acei-global.org or contact ACEI at acei@acei-global.org.
This was originally posted on October 12th, 2017.
The Academic Credentials Evaluation Institute, Inc. (ACEI), was founded in 1994 and is based in Los Angeles, CA, USA. ACEI provides a number of services that include evaluations of international academic credentials for U.S. educational equivalence, translation, verification, and professional training programs. ACEI is a Charter and Endorsed Member of the Association of International Credential Evaluators. For more information, visit www.acei-global.org.
ACEI-Global 