Going two decades back in time to the early autumn days of 2002, from a very small news item on Tuoi Tre Newspaper, the idea of establishing an educational research and development organization was formed. Formerly named the Institute of Accounting & Corporation Administration, the predecessor of IEDG was born on March 24, 2003. On that day, no one could imagine that 18 years later, IEDG would become an education system not only big and strong in terms of scale and diversity of services in a closed ecosystem but also reaching out to the world, becoming a leading Vietnamese education investor in Pennsylvania State, United States. Not only that, but IEDG has also expanded to Europe, Singapore and will continue to expand operations to Sydney, Australia.
IEDGers have made many miracles during the “Journey of Creation and Development”. 18 years of formation is not long enough to summarize, but far enough to look back; 18 years of development is not deep enough to evaluate, but wide enough to restructure; 18 years with many ups and downs and experiences, along with enthusiasm dreams. Therefore, IEDG begins a new journey with many challenges and difficulties waiting to be overcome to execute the aspiration of innovation & integration in the digital era.
In education, success cannot be measured by material things but by service quality and “customer” satisfaction. IEDG offers opportunities for personal development and spiritual values, contributing to the creation of global citizens. Those are also the values that IEDG is creating for teachers, staff, and students throughout the system.
During the past two decades, the rapidly unfolding digital technology revolution has changed all areas and activities in social life, including education. Cloud computing technology, high-speed wifi, the Internet of everything, artificial intelligence, and coming soon with Metaverse, etc., will change the way of service delivery from the traditional model to the model called “as a service”. The “education as a service” (EaaS) model was born as an inevitable trend in the flow of human history. Suppose the traditional educational model is often quite rigid, focusing on theory. In that case, training generally focused on developing abilities, training, and providing initial knowledge. In contrast, education as a service is highly flexible, practice-focused reverse service, detailed and specialized training geared towards skills development, training, and lifelong learning. As a result, the changing cycle of professions and their associated skill sets will shorten and happen accelerated. This reality brings forth the requirement that “Teachers cannot only teach what they know but must teach what students need in the future”. To do this, IEDG and IEDGers need to be conscious to “change” if they do not want to be left behind.
We have chosen the teaching profession as a sacred duty, in which the teacher is always respected. We have chosen the teaching profession because of love and our wish of serving, to nourish our mind and soul, not to enrich ourselves. We have every right to be proud of that choice.
In November, according to tradition, we honor and express our gratitude to those who have been doing educational work, including us. With the role and mission of a teacher, let’s continue to write the history of the nation’s educational tradition, including the history of IEDG. Let’s join together on the journey of innovation and integration in the digital era, to train global citizens, contributing to change the world.
