Written by Dr Athirah Azhar (Programme Co-ordinator)
On January 16, 2025, the Social Work Programme at UNIMAS embarked on a benchmarking visit to two universities in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. This marked the programme’s first international visit since 2012, when it engaged with four universities in Melbourne—The University of Melbourne, RMIT University, La Trobe University, and Deakin University. Prior to this, local benchmarking visits were conducted in 2018 at Universiti Malaysia Sabah and in 2019 at Universiti Sains Malaysia. The primary objective of this visit was to explore new opportunities and strengthen cross-border collaboration in social work.
The delegation comprised all members of the UNIMAS Social Work Programme, accompanied by a social science lecturer, support staff, undergraduate social work students, and a postgraduate student.
In the morning, we visited the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USSH), located just 15 minutes from our hotel. Coincidentally, our visit aligned with a special occasion, resulting in the limited availability of faculty members. However, we were warmly hosted by Dr. Lee Van Cong, Vice President of the Faculty of Social Work, who has 15 years of experience as a social work practitioner before transitioning into academia.
The faculty at USSH comprises 18 academicians and serves over 250 undergraduate students. During our two-hour engagement, we exchanged insights on the structure and curriculum of our respective social work programmes. We discovered striking similarities in course content and pedagogical approaches, laying the foundation for potential collaboration in the future.
As social work involves practice with agencies and communities, financial support is crucial. Dr. Lee shared how the university manages to send students into the community at minimal cost. Currently, the faculty offers only a social work degree at the university.
In the afternoon, we visited Ton Duc Thang University (TDTU), which was a 30-minute journey from our hotel. We were warmly welcomed by Dr. Pham Thi Ha Thuong, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities; Dr. Nguyen Minh Huan, the Dean’s Assistant; and MSW Nguyen Thi Phuong Linh, the person in charge of the Social Work Department.
The Dean gave welcoming remarks and introduced the university and the courses offered by the faculty. The Social Work Department at TDTU shares a similar programme structure and course offerings with our social work degree.
At the end of our discussion, a TDTU representative highlighted the potential for future collaboration based on one of our research projects.
We welcomed staff and students from both universities to pursue postgraduate social work studies by research at UNIMAS. In conclusion, the similarities between the social work degree programmes at USSH and TDTU are evident, as both offer nearly identical courses. Both universities provide students with practical experience within the community and various agencies.
Moving forward, the Social Work Programme at UNIMAS hopes to establish a collaborative online platform through global classrooms or webinars. We aim to launch the first global classroom by the end of this year, partnering with either or both universities, using one of our social work courses.
We also aim to foster partnerships in student mobility programs, research collaborations, joint publications, internships, faculty exchange programs (for both lecturers and students), knowledge-sharing workshops, conferences, symposiums, and alumni networking events with the Faculty of Social Work at USSH and the Social Work Department at TDTU in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.