Universities kick-start reform of higher education system

As part of Laos’ efforts to develop and modernise the educational system, plans are in place to reform the higher education framework to meet the demands of a globalised world.

Prof. Dr Dexanourath Seneduangdeth, Acting President of National University of Laos.

To this end, the National University of Laos last week hosted the first general meeting of the “Erasmus+ Capacity Building in Higher Education project (REAL): installing the culture of comprehensive internal quality assurance necessary for implementing an outcomes-based approach”.
The meeting was attended by experts and representatives from the Ministry of Education and Sports, National University of Laos (NUOL), Souphanouvong University, Champassak University, and Savannakhet University and 17 higher education programmes directly involved in the project, and resource persons from the project’s European partners.
The project is coordinated by the Netherlands’ University of Groningen, with other project European partners being the Polytechnic University of Madrid (Spain), University of Poitiers (France), and the Association of Tuning Experts and Educators (Spain).
The REAL project, co-funded by the European Union, aims to promote structural reform for the effective implementation of the outcomes-based approach, creating strategies, mechanisms and resources essential to modernise the Lao higher education system.
In alignment with the project’s aim, NUOL’s Acting President Prof. Dr Dexanourath Seneduangdeth, said “We recognised that delivering high-quality educational programmes and adopting contemporary teaching-learning approaches, such as outcome-based education, are essential for fostering student mobility, credit transfer recognition, and improved graduate employability.”
The nine partners, including the Ministry of Education and Sports and the four public Lao universities, will work together for four years to develop strategies that can ensure the relevance of higher education in Laos, enabling universities to meet the country’s development needs.
They will implement mechanisms that can ensure the feasibility of higher education programmes, supporting sustainable structural improvement and innovation within the Lao higher education system.
Cooperation in this work will increase the capacities of individual academics, programme teams and universities to ensure the effectiveness of the teaching required to implement and monitor the reform process and also engage competent authorities at the national and institutional levels in defining and fostering the full adoption of comprehensive Internal Quality Assurance efforts that can ensure coherent and sustainable structural changes.
Director General of the Ministry of Education and Sports’ Higher Education Department, Assoc. Prof. Dr Lavanh Vongkhamsane, said “As Laos continues to develop and modernise its educational system, it has become increasingly clear that the current higher education framework needs to evolve to meet the demands of a globalised world.”
Seventeen undergraduate programmes will lead the process in Food Technology, English Language, Transportation and Logistics Engineering, Livestock, and Business Management courses at NUOL.
Improvements will also be made to courses in Electrical Engineering, Veterinary Medicine, English Language, and Tourism & Hospitality at Souphanouvong University; and Electrical Engineering, Transportation Engineering & Logistics Engineering, Animal Science, and Rural Development & Business Extension at Savannakhet University.
At Champassak University, restructuring is planned for courses in Food Technology, Veterinary Medicine, English Language, and Livestock.
University authorities from the four institutions and the Ministry of Education and Sports will share in efforts to ensure structural impact on all programmes at the four public higher education institutions and on the Lao higher education system as a whole. 

By Times Reporters
 (Latest Update April 8, 2025)