Along with the development of economy and society, Vietnam is facing a challenge of training a skilled labor force. This requires improving the education system, especially higher education, to meet society needs. As a flagship and the largest university system in Vietnam, the Vietnam National University-Ho Chi Minh City (VNU-HCM) System has spearheaded many initiatives to improve the quality of education in Vietnam. A key effort in these initiatives is VNU-HCM’s leadership in adopting and adapting CDIO principles to build a model framework for widespread implementation of CDIO in Vietnam. In this paper, we present the first year experience of implementing CDIO at VNU-HCM from the point of view of a system of universities and the achievements that we have accomplished. In particular, we discuss: (i) the lessons learned and the challenges in promoting cultural changes, in treating human as a the most valuable asset in bringing about changes, and in sharing and disseminating our work within our university system and engaging peer institutions in Vietnam; (ii) the policy supports needed for organizational changes at system, university, and department levels; and (iii) our evolution of the development of a model framework for widespread implementation in Vietnam and initial results which suggest that the model framework has the potential for accelerating the efforts, improve the efficiency and increasing the likelihood of success for universities that are participating in the adoption of CDIO.
