This was the first time a higher education institution in Vietnam has been chosen to host an important international event in the field of quality assurance.

This year's ASEAN-QA Forum with the theme "Networking for Building and Sustaining Quality Culture in Higher Education Institutions" attracted the participation of more than 250 delegates from more than 150 higher education institutions of 15 countries in the region and the world.

From ASEAN - QA, there was the participant of Ms. Barbara Michalk - Head of the Section ‘Higher Education Reform in Germany and Europe’ of the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK), Mr. Frank Niedermeier - Head of ASEAN-QA Project and Head of Higher Education Research Department of the University of Potsdam of Germany, Prof., Dr. Alyssa Peleo-Alampay - Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs (Curriculum), Mr. Jamaluddin bin Ibrahim - Quality Director of University Teknologi Petronas of Malaysia together with experts, scholars, and scientists.

On the side of FTU, there was the presence of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dao Thi Thu Giang - Vice President, leaders of units and numerous of lecturers.

Closing remarks, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dao Thi Thu Giang - Vice President of FTU gave her sincere thanks to experts, scholars and scientists of ASEAN - QA for their coordination and support during the preparation and organization of the Forum. She said that the successful results of this Forum was an important premise for the newly established ASEAN - QA Association and the basis for connecting higher education institutions for purpose of building and maintaining a culture of quality assurance.

Mr. Frank Niedermeier - Head of ASEAN-QA Project also thanked FTU in general and Center for Testing and Quality Assurance in particular as the host of this year's Forum. He affirmed that this year's Forum had achieved good results. In addition, he expected the realization of the ASEAN-QA Association's missions, goals, plans and the effort to build a solidarity, effective and sustainable association in the near future.

At this year's ASEAN-QA Forum, with the theme "Building and Sustaining Quality Culture in Higher Education Institutions", participants focused on exchanging and discussing the following issues:
- The role of the Quality Assurance Network in the context of higher education in ASEAN which has many changes;
- Participation of learners in ensuring the quality of higher education in ASEAN - Dialogue between related parties;
- Digitization in higher education and its impact on quality assurance.

Besides, at the parallel workshops, some key contents in the field of quality assurance were also exchanged and discussed such as:
- Sustainability of systems and the process of development and quality assurance;
- Development and integrated quality assurance system;
- Tools for evaluating and using data in quality assurance;
- Stakeholders and student participation;
- Apply principles of regional quality assurance into practice - ASEAN Quality Assurance Framework (AQAF);
- Quality assurance of joint training programs: Capabilities and challenges ...

At the forum, the participants who attended have proposed solutions to associate higher education institutions and stakeholders as well as contribute to the process of building credibility between individuals and organizations.

The ASEAN-QA Forum is a common platform for higher education institutions and stakeholders in the field of quality assurance to build a community based on dialogue and exchange.

Previously, on November 6th, 2019, the ASEAN-QA Association officially launched and held a ceremony to announce the establishment of the association, the appointment of the Board of Directors. This was an association which was established by alumni of ASEAN-QA Project with the support of partners from Southeast Asian and European countries, including: AQAN, AUN, DAAD, ENQA, HRK, SEAMEO RIHED, and Postdam University - Germany.

After the Forum, the conference with the theme "Strategic Plan of the ASEAN Quality Assurance Association" took place on November 9th, 2019. This was the first conference of the association after its official launch in order to develop plans and directions for activities in the coming time.

Accordingly, the ASEAN - QA Association has a vision of a regional network of sharing expertise and resources to improve the quality of higher education institutions in ASEAN countries.

Mission of the Association include as follows: design capacity building programs in combination with quality assurance networks inside and outside Southeast Asia; provide technical and quality assurance support to members who are individuals and educational institutions in the region; disseminate and share good experiences on quality assurance among higher education institutions in and out of the region through publications and database system of quality assurance.

Also within the framework of the ASEAN Forum - QA 2019, the Gala Dinner night and Vietnamese traditional art performance were held at the Dong Son Drum Restaurant, events to visit Hanoi and award certificates for the best papers at the Forum.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dao Thi Thu Giang - Vice President of FTU delivered a speech at the ceremony