Improvements in business statistics teaching university of Economics HCMC

Abstract

The role of statistics in the practice of production-business aswell as in science research has been recognized by researchers and university educators in Vietnam since long time. Therefore Applied Statistics is increasingly valued in Vietnamese universities, among which The University of Economics (UEH) Ho Chi Minh city is no exception. In the recent years, the course syllabus of statistics at UEH is innovated toward internationalization and study materials of the subject are compiled with an aim of application and modernization. Recently under the policy of constructing advanced syllabus which UEH management are implementing with a mission of internationalizing the syllabus and preparing students to meet the requirements of international working market, Applied Statistics also receive ample investment. A feature of UEH is its large-size class which sometimes host up to 150 students. Teaching statistics in this context encounters many difficulties if ideal objectives are to be achieved. For example, in statistics course, the practice of data processing on computers is very important. However, due to the lack of laptop possession among students and large – size class so if teachers separate the class into smaller groups to conduct practice instruction in computer labs, it would be impossible in term of time. To overcome this drawback, in recent years, staffs of Statistics - Data analysis Department in UEH have chosen to train students in the skill of statistics output reading. Moreover, data processing practice materials are carefully compiled to help student study themselves, practice on their home computers and later the teachers will assess students self-study through exercisers, group exercises and presentations. After years of applying this teaching method, reality showed that capable students performed up to and responded well to this teaching method. End of course testing at UEH has been improved in that students are allowed to take open-book test so that they don’t have to memorize the formulas and the tests cover all contents of the syllabus. The testing also doesn’t leave out the part of students showing their ability in reading statistics output from softwares, in analyzing the information manifested on graph, diagrams, in making the right business decision after dealing with statistics problems… To sum up, the importance of evaluating the students’ ability of applying statistics in economics, business are enhanced in UEH testing structure. With these improvements, after graduation, UEH students can be flexible in dealing with practical cases related to statistics knowledge, and use statistics as a real guiding light as well as avoid being passive and confused due to their education full of theory but practical application.