The X-Factor Driving Digital Transformation Success at British University Vietnam

From becoming Asia’s first university to deploy global education apps, to developing an AI framework now used by more than 300 organizations worldwide, British University Vietnam isn’t just a follower, it’s a pioneer driving progress in digital education.

Beyond traditional factors like campus facilities and faculty quality, universities now compete fiercely through new elements, including digital student services and personalisation.

Young people are gradually adapting to seamless experiences from leading brands like Amazon, Uber, and Netflix. Therefore, technology improvements toward “service-ification” aren’t optional anymore; they’re a strategic imperative, especially for international universities.

British University Vietnam (BUV) exemplifies this shift. The university is scaling up to serve more than 10,000 local and international students while launching online courses that eliminate geographical barriers to higher education.

“Comprehensive digital transformation across all operational aspects will establish a solid and powerful launch pad for these important projects,” says Professor Rick Bennett, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Chairman of BUV.

BUV builds its roadmap on proven international standards from JISC – the UK’s leading organization for information technology and digital transformation in higher education. BUV inherits JISC’s comprehensive theoretical framework and specialized model assessing universities’ “digital maturity” levels.

JISC’s approach has proven effective at prestigious institutions like the University of London, currently helping BUV identify focus areas and resources needed for successful digital transformation in Vietnam.

“Tailored” Higher Education

The Student Information Management System (SITS) encompasses BUV’s entire student journey – tracking students from prospective candidates through graduation to alumni status. SITS is the most widely used system at British universities and globally, utilized by institutions like the University of Oxford, University of Sydney, Nanyang Technological University Singapore, etc.

All student information flows through one unified system using cloud technology. This enables BUV to eliminate information fragmentation, reduce errors, and save time for both students and staff. On this same system, BUV applies Big Data analytics to proactively analyze academic results, learning styles, strengths and weaknesses of individual to recommend learning paths, support methods, and necessary resources.

All student information flows through one unified system using cloud technology

This approach abandons traditional one-size-fits-all student support. Services are now “tailored” to each student. For example, BUV can predict academic outcomes and identify at-risk students for counselling and support to redirect their learning paths. Conversely, high-potential students are identified for university-level and national projects to maximize their capabilities.

BUV’s AI chatbot handles 24/7 student inquiries, instantly processing most questions without staff intervention. The chatbot manages 5,000 questions monthly, significantly boosting satisfaction and convenience.

“Cloud-Based” Learning

Combined with the AI chatbot, BUV unifies all campus life data in the BUV Campus Central app. Students can “attend university” from anywhere with internet access to view materials, watch lectures, check academic progress, and receive faculty feedback. The app also enables students to track and register for events, clubs, extracurricular activities, and monitor BUV’s exclusive Personal and Social Growth transcript.

For learning resources, BUV ranks among Vietnam’s first organisations to implement the modern digital library management system WorldShare e-Services. The digital library connects to six prestigious databases (EBSCO, ProQuest, Emerald, Euromonitor, PressReader, etc.), providing hundreds of thousands of research articles, e-books, journals, and specialized case studies completely free for students.

Students can “attend university” from anywhere with internet access to view materials, watch lectures and receive faculty feedback

Alongside the digital library comes a suite of online learning tools including: Learning Management System (LMS) enabling faculty to upload materials, assign work, grade, and communicate with students; cloud collaboration tools like OneDrive and Microsoft Teams enabling group work, document sharing, and real-time interaction. Together, these create BUV’s QS 5-star international standard “cloud-based learning” experience.

Many BUV programs integrate world-leading training software. For instance, Codio – famous in computer science education in developed countries like MIT (US) and Cambridge University (UK) – is pioneered for use in Asia within BUV’s School of Computer and Technologies. Codio provides cloud-based programming environments with AI-supported learning, automatic grading, and plagiarism detection, giving students real programming experience while maintaining academic standards through intelligent source code analysis.

Additionally, AI platforms like Imagine Explainer support visualization of abstract concepts, helping students absorb complex knowledge more effectively, while game development platform GDevelop connects theory and practice through project-based learning, developing problem-solving thinking and programming skills.

Scaling up Knowledge

Beyond inheriting and applying existing digital transformation achievements, BUV actively researches and deploys new initiatives.

Associate Professor Mike Perkins – Head, Center for Research and Innovation led the forum on digital transformation.

BUV’s EduGrade AI application supports grade review processes and strengthens consistency in grading standards among faculty, enhancing fairness and transparency in academic assessment.

The AI Assessment Integration Scale (AIAS) – BUV’s pioneering five-level AI usage model – serves as a “lighthouse” helping students use AI ethically in academics. AIAS has been adopted by over 300 organizations globally, translated into 27 languages, recommended by Australia’s TEQSA, and won the 2024 Tracey Bretag Award for Academic Integrity.

With a “lifelong learning” spirit, BUV continuously runs AI Skills Enhancement courses for operational staff. Beyond this, BUV promotes cooperation with units like Hanoi Department of Education and Training, Foreign Business Associations, and Vietnam Ministry of Foreign Affairs to scale AI knowledge to the community. Training courses and experience exchanges focus on practical approaches for integrating GenAI tools into teaching methods and policy planning.

BUV currently leads the project enhancing Vietnamese universities’ digital transformation capabilities called “SOARing to Successful Digital Transformation in Vietnamese Universities.” This collaborative project between BUV, Bournemouth University (UK), and major Vietnamese universities, funded by the British Council. Serving as the UK-Vietnam bridge, BUV both shares experience and learns from UK partners to create solutions suited to Vietnam’s educational context.

The X-Factors

According to Deputy Vice-Chancellor Rick Bennett, BUV doesn’t consider digital transformation as a destination. It’s an ongoing journey that continuously reimagines core functions and organisational culture, rather than isolated digital platforms.

“While digital transformation demands substantial financial investment, BUV’s preliminary success largely stems from culture readiness, leadership determination, and spot-on strategy,” Professor Rick Bennett affirms.

Looking ahead, BUV actively tests next-generation GenAI assistants to further enhance student experiences across campus life. The BUV Centre for Applied AI will launch soon, researching and spreading practical impacts from AI applications beyond campus boundaries to reach the community and economy. BUV’s online education platform will infinitely expand the university’s training space into digital environments by addressing constraints around physical facilities and geography.

BUV actively tests next-generation GenAI assistants to further enhance student experiences across campus life.

With the vision of being viewed as the number one university in Vietnam and the surrounding regions, BUV maintains the leadership position in technology transfer to educational organisations and government organisations, making practical contributions to the overall transformation process of the entire education sector and society.