Vietnamese female doctor points out a fear with university students

Dr. Jenny Dung Le, lecturer of the School of Business Administration, VinUni University, studied and taught at Cornell University (USA) for nearly 1 year (from February to December 2022) under the Future faculty program.

This is a program to improve the research and teaching skills of young lecturers, meeting the standards of leading universities. Therefore, during one year of working at Cornell, lecturers will be directly involved in teaching and research. After being advised and guided by a Cornell professor, lecturers will practice teaching in class and conducting group research on practical topics.

The Pressure of Teaching for the First Time at Cornell

Dr. Jenny Le (born in 1986) graduated from Foreign Economic Relations at Hanoi Foreign Trade University. She continued her master's degree in France for 2 years and returned to teach for 5 years. Before joining VinUni, Dr. Jenny spent time studying for her doctorate in Australia.

“I never thought I would become a teacher. It was true that the profession chose me. Perhaps the fate of being attached to teaching has been with me since then. Coming to VinUni, I believe I will create a bigger impact, supporting the development of a whole generation of young people in Vietnam,” Dr. Jenny shared.

Recalling her early days teaching at Cornell, she said that in order to stand on the podium, lecturers had to attend lectures, read and develop course content for an entire semester, under the supervision of a full-time professor. Then, lecturers would practice and rehearse with the professor before teaching.

Students in the US have the habit of asking questions and participating in lectures very actively, so lecturers have to prepare 5 to 10 times more knowledge than in the lecture, to be ready to answer and expand on the topic with students.

“Cornell University’s entrance competition is terrible. Therefore, the students at this school are very good. You are all the elites from many different countries around the world ,” Dr. Jenny shared her impressions of Cornell University students.

“Teaching at Cornell is a bit stressful, like after only 5 minutes of teaching, a student raises his hand to ask a question. During class, students can raise their hand to ask a question at any time. This is not an easy pressure for a lecturer to bear when standing on the podium,” Dr. Jenny recalled.

However, because the students are very active and have a high spirit of progress, the atmosphere in the classroom is very exciting.

American universities say no to things that haunt students

After studying and teaching directly at Cornell, Dr. Jenny pointed out that the university in the top 8 Ivy League (top 8 leading universities in the US) has 2 main advantages. Firstly, Cornell has very strong connections with businesses, practical experience, often directly solving business problems, so their lectures and teaching activities are highly applicable and closely linked to practice.

Second, the training program for students at Cornell not only focuses on imparting knowledge but also fosters thinking skills, the ability to think, evaluate, analyze and solve problems. Lecturers will evaluate students based on "challenges" and contributions in the classroom.

Cornell’s faculty includes leading experts. They are involved in research, consulting for businesses, and solving real-world problems. Theory and practice always go hand in hand at Cornell University.

According to Dr. Jenny, the most difficult thing when applying the Cornell University learning and teaching model to Vietnam is how to attract talented lecturers and create an environment for lecturers to have the opportunity to work practically with businesses, thereby enriching the information and quality of lectures.

Therefore, applying this model is feasible for startup universities like VinUni, which has close ties with Cornell and the Ivy League system.

Currently, Dr. Jenny is participating in a project to evaluate and improve the customer experience management system at Vinpearl. Initial assessments show that the system still has some limitations and needs to be improved based on the application of customer behavior understanding and artificial intelligence (AI). This project is expected to support Vinpearl more effectively in optimizing resources and improving customer satisfaction.

“I changed the way I teach”

At VinUni University, Dr. Jenny teaches Hotel Management, Digital Marketing, and Customer Behavior. She highly appreciates this program for its outstanding advantages.

Firstly, the training framework and teaching materials are inherited from Cornell, ensuring world-class training quality.

Second, inheriting the spirit of business leadership training from the number 1 university in the US in the hospitality industry, VinUni focuses on developing industry knowledge and management thinking, the ability to deeply analyze business situations and solve problems, innovative thinking and a dedicated service spirit. VinUni focuses on developing vision and strategic thinking so that graduates can compete fairly with trainee managers from multinational corporations around the world.

Third, VinUni students have been developing their professional skills through summer internship programs with VinUni partners such as Marriott, International, Melia... The school is discussing with partners about overseas internship opportunities for students, putting them in a favorable position to develop their careers in the industry.

After nearly a year of studying and teaching at Cornell University, Dr. Jenny made many changes in her teaching when she returned to Vietnam.

Accordingly, instead of going to class and listening to the lecturer, students will follow the self-study model. Specifically, before class, Dr. Jenny lectures, shares the lesson content, students have the task of reading the book in advance to learn more deeply, and at the same time answer some questions related to the lesson topic, with the criterion of remembering what they learn, instead of rushing to review at the end of the semester.

Dr. Jenny gave 4 main factors to evaluate students at VinUni, including attending classes regularly, participating in discussions and debates in class; answering questions, doing quizzes for each lesson; solving a business problem; What is the biggest lesson learned after the course?

Going to class to present and debate helps students feel more excited, instead of learning in the traditional way.

“Don’t be afraid, be confident! There is never a perfect solution. But learning to listen and respond to other people’s opinions will help students improve themselves,” said Dr. Jenny.

NGOC LINH

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