Pharmacy students defend their theses online for the first time

NTTU – Under the prolonged and complicated development of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nguyen Tat Thanh University has unanimously cooperated to activate an e-learning system and create favorable conditions for students to keep up with the curriculum schedule. In addition to online learning, the Faculty of Pharmacy planned for 19 students from the 16DDS cohort to defend their undergraduate theses online. These sessions ran from November 3 to November 5, 2021, with the goal to help students graduate in time to devote their energies to community health services.

Members of the Thesis Defense Committees included highly-qualified and experienced lecturers in teaching and research such as Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Thanh – Vice President and Dean of Faculty of Pharmacy; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Tien Thang – Former Director of the Institute of Tropical Biology; MSc. Pham Hong Tham – Deputy Dean of Pharmacy Department at Gia Dinh People’s Hospital; Dr. Vo Thi Ngoc My – Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy as well as other subject leaders and deputy leaders from the Faculty of Pharmacy, Nguyen Tat Thanh University.

Each of this year’s thesis defenses was examined by one of the five Committees: Pharmaceutical Administration, Chemistry – Quality Control, Pharmacognosy 1, Pharmacognosy 2, Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacy. Each student had 20 minutes to present his/her thesis to the Committee. Following that, students would answer questions from two thesis reviewers as well as other Committee members. Despite numerous challenges posed by students’ unfamiliarity with online presentations, the defense sessions went on in an exciting and straightforward atmosphere in which students fearlessly expressed their views and knowledge in order to defend their theses.

Overall assessments revealed that all of the Committees’ online sessions took place quite successfully. Committee members noted that students had a serious work ethic and a humble but confident demeanor. The majority of the theses were of high quality, meeting all of the requirements for a Bpharm thesis, and could be further researched and developed into applied products or transferable technologies. Supervisors and Committee members worked diligently and fairly with students, offering sincere, constructive suggestions.

This is the most special thesis defense conference that both teachers and students at the Faculty of Pharmacy have ever experienced. The reason for this is that the entire process was conducted online, from supervision to defense, counter-argument, and discussion. The Faculty of Pharmacy had determined that an online thesis defense is just as important as a face-to-face thesis defense, so everything had been carefully and meticulously prepared, from the broadband and equipment to the background used by each Committee, to ensure that everything was consistent and appropriate. As a result, the thesis defense conference was successfully held and produced outstanding results.

Prof. Dr. Meritorious Teacher Nguyen Van Thanh said: “Despite the difficulties and complicated development of the pandemic, students have put a lot of work into their theses and the results obtained were remarkable; this stems from the collective efforts of teachers and students working together”. As the person who directly organized the thesis defense conference, Dr. Vo Thi Ngoc My – Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy – had the same opinion: “Students from the 16DDS cohort and their supervisors had a successful and meaningful thesis season. Although the pandemic situation have been extremely complicated and caused numerous difficulties, students were able to meet the requirements and achieve excellent results.” On the part of the students, this was probably an unforgettable experience as one of them put it: “Despite my thorough preparation, I was still nervous about being “disconnected”.

Student Mai Thi Thanh Hoan defending her thesis “Evaluating students of the 16DDS cohort, Faculty of Pharmacy, Nguyen Tat Thanh University, according to the basic competency standards of Vietnamese pharmacists in Decision No. 4815/QD-BYT”

Student Le Moc Nhien defending her thesis ” Investigating the acute toxicity, antioxidant activity and anti-inflammatory effects of Cao Khai”

The majority of the students who participated in this year’s online undergraduate thesis defense sessions gave very positive feedback on this new way of defending their theses. Online thesis defense provides Pharmacy students with not only an exciting new experience but also an opportunity to adapt to technological devices in the era of digital transformation.

Author: MSc. Doan Tran Ai Thy

Translated by MA. Phan Thanh Thuy