University of 120,000 students and the turning point of digital transformation

Special Freshman Class

In the 2025-2026 school year, new students of many schools under Thai Nguyen University will enroll in a completely different way. Instead of having to wait in long lines, wait to submit paper documents, and struggle to find departments, through the digital student application on the phone, all procedures for new students have been prepared in advance: ID photos, personal information, policy proof... All have been digitized and sent to the system from home.

With just a few scans, each student’s data is automatically compared and transferred to the relevant departments. Student cards are pre-printed, class schedules and necessary information are displayed immediately on personal accounts. This change helps students have time to visit the campus, meet teachers, or attend welcoming activities….

This is perhaps the most easily felt change from the digital transformation journey of Thai Nguyen University, one of the five two-level universities in the country. Although it is a school in the Northern midland and mountainous region, Thai Nguyen University still spends 100 billion VND to carry out comprehensive digital transformation, aiming to become a digital university.

Associate Professor Dr. Hoang Van Hung, Director of Thai Nguyen University, said: "From 2021 to now, Thai Nguyen University has implemented a series of key projects such as a shared data management system, smart lecture halls, digital libraries, electronic learning materials systems and AI solutions to support personalized learning."

According to Mr. Hung, the University of Natural Sciences is transforming digitally with the orientation of "taking students as the center and lecturers as the core", gradually replacing traditional teaching and learning methods with modern forms such as online learning, flipped classrooms, AR/VR simulations, digital learning materials and learning analytics using Big Data.

Accordingly, students will study in a personalized, flexible, intelligent environment suitable for the digital economic context. At the same time, the school will review and standardize the training program according to international criteria, enhancing digital capacity and adaptability to the labor market.

In the next step, on the occasion of the Vietnamese Teachers' Day on November 20, Thai Nguyen University launched the application "Digital Student - S-TNU". This is a technological product marking a new step in the comprehensive digital transformation strategy of Thai Nguyen University.

In terms of management, smart electronic portals and "super apps" such as digital student applications help meet all the needs of students in particular and the entire school in general, in teaching and learning and related activities.

12 months of digital transformation for a university with 120,000 students

As a digital transformation solution provider for Thai Nguyen University, Mr. Dao Duy Thai, Deputy Director of Viettel Thai Nguyen Information Technology, said that the scale of the university’s digital transformation implementation is exceptionally large with more than 100,000 students and thousands of staff and lecturers. This is also the first two-level university in Vietnam to promote comprehensive digital transformation – an unprecedented thing.

“Core platforms must be interconnected and synchronized based on data. Digitizing data and standardizing processes for such a large number of users — in just one year and with 10 system platforms — is really a huge amount of work,” said Mr. Thai.

However, the digital transformation at VNU has a great advantage which is the high determination from the teachers, leaders, especially the head. The school gives strong priority to the digital transformation, thereby helping the implementation go smoothly.

“What impressed me most was the determination of the leaders of Thai Nguyen University, especially the University President. He has a great vision and determination in building a digital university, continuously directing closely through regular monthly and quarterly meetings to review progress between the university, member schools and Viettel,” Mr. Thai shared.

A comprehensive look at Thai Nguyen University's digital student application.

Meanwhile, thanks to its technological mastery, Viettel carries out digital transformation according to the motto of accompanying universities. Viettel staff go to each member school and each unit under the University of Technology to coordinate and listen to the actual usage process to adjust the software accordingly. Viettel directly supports users, even if they have to work overtime, on holidays or on weekends, because changing working habits is a huge challenge.

Currently, those efforts are beginning to bear fruit. Viettel has successfully deployed the first phase of the entire digital transformation platform at VNU. From the foundation that has been achieved, Viettel is bringing Made in Vietnam technology, gradually turning VNU into a digital university, thereby improving management and training capacity to gradually move towards the goal of being in the Top 500 in Asia by 2035 as expected by the school's leaders.

Source: https://giaoducthoidai.vn/dai-hoc-120000-sinh-vien-va-buoc-ngoat-cua-chuyen-doi-so-post757521.html