On December 11, 2019, the international E-Library BNEUF was officially launched in the Asia – Pacific region by The Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (Francophone University Association, AUF). The press conference was held at the University of Science and Technology of Hanoi (USTH).Attended the press conference, from AUF there were Mrs. Ouidad Tebba, Director of AUF in the Asia – Pacific region and Mr. Abdelkader Zighed, Director of Digital Technologies at AUF; from USTH – Prof. Etienne Saur – Principal Rector of USTH, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Van Thanh, Manager of FabLab USTH’s Project, members of FabLab USTH’s Project; as well as more than 20 journalists and reporters from prestigious journals and magazines in Vietnam.
E-Library BNEUF is a part of 4 action programs IDNEUF (the Initiative for digital development in the francophone universities), which was assigned to AUF by French Ministers to implement the program and find the solutions to the current challenges of higher education, especially in the developing countries.
The material resource of this library will be established by 990 member universities of AUF in 118 countries including 40 universities in Vietnam. It is expected to provide more than 10 million academic materials and documents in many fields in various languages. E-Library BNEUF is expected to become the world’s biggest library of scientific materials in the near future.
At the press conference, Mr. Abdelkader Zighed shared the mission of launching E-Library BNEUF: “The higher education institutions currently face the explosive number of students with the diversity of home countries and cultures studying in various specialization areas. In that context, the digital tools becomes essential to meet the needs from a huge number of users, also assuring the personalization in approaching knowledge.”
As one of the first universities in Vietnam to participate in the establishment of E-Library BNEUF’s database, Prof. Etienne Saur, Principal Rector of USTH, said: “USTH has decided internationalization as the focus of the development strategy for a long time. Thanks to E-Library BNEUF, the University can expand the global cooperation network, share and exchange experience to improve the quality of teaching and research.”
Besides BNEUF, AUF has also supported USTH to establish and develop FabLab with the aim of becoming an open creative space, where is participated by the individuals that have passion in technology and creation to share knowledge and implement the community’s projects.
After one year of implementation, FabLab USTH becomes the space to nurture and make the creative ideas of USTH’s students become realistic, also participating in the community STEM programs to spread the passion in science to young people.
Mrs. Ouidad Tebba hoped that the cooperation between USTH and AUF will be expanded in the near future not only in the project of FabLab and E-Library BNEUF, but USTH also connects the member universities of AUF in Vietnam.
Currently, AUF has actively coordinated with USTH in establishing the francophone training programs at USTH to promote French language in the activities of education, training and research.
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