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Aside from teaching quality, the promotion of the reading culture among students has always been high on the agenda of the University of Languages and International Studies (ULIS) – Vietnam National University (VNU). 

Specialized in language training, not only does ULIS – VNU prioritize its teaching quality and students’ capacity, but it also attaches great importance to cultivating a reading culture among students. In recent years, the university is seeking to spur students’ reading habits by organising activities and competitions that attract great attention.  

What are the activities? 

Specifically, in the first two years (of the standard four years of training), the curricula dedicated to Reading subjects require each student to read at least one book throughout one semester (15 weeks) and present their favourite one at the end of the term. The presentation makes up 10% to 15% of the subject’s grade.

In a response to the Project of building a reading culture in the community by 2020 and orientations by 2030 on education and training reform of the Ministry of Education and Training, since 2018, ULIS has held an annual competition known as “Book Review” with attractive rewards of up to $500 for the special prize. Students can join the competition to present their books of both domestic and foreign literature to a wider audience. 

This is a meaningful activity for those interested in literature to share and exchange their experiences. 

The competition has been quite well received by the students. 

In 2019, with a view to digitalising learning resources and developing E-learning, the Learning Resource Center (LRC) (ULIS – VNU) introduced a digital library (E-library) that allows the students access to learning and research materials owned by ULIS without having to visit the library directly. 

Recently, on November 7th, 2020 the ULIS Book Fair 2020 was held.

The event was accompanied by seven book distributors and partners of ULIS, namely, Xunhabasa bookstore, University of Education Publishing House, Thai Ha bookstore, Ngoc Ha bookstore, RIO bookstore, Alpha Books and Indochina Telecom JSC.,.

The multicoloured and book-packed booths where a wide range of books, including both domestic and foreign literature, could be found drew great attention from the participants. An exciting activity to be acknowledged was the book exchange. Readers brought with them their old books and exchanged them for either those of others or even new ones.

Through a number of activities and competitions, the reading culture among students has witnessed significant changes, felt by both students themselves and staff in charge of learning resources:

“I reckon that these activities have proven a boon to the development of the reading culture among students in my university. Specifically, I can see that my classmates have been paying greater attention to and joined the (book) competitions. That might just be on the surface, yet certainly we can draw something from that.”