JOB DESCRIPTION
Location: Hanoi, Vietnam
Department: Higher Education
Report to: CEO, Millennia Education
POSITION OVERVIEW
The President holds overall accountability for the academic mission, stakeholder engagement, institutional reputation, operational performance, and long-term success of Hanoi University — from initial launch in September 2028 through full campus establishment. The President serves as the University's chief executive and academic leader, and, subject to confirmation of eligibility under Vietnamese law, as its legal representative before the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) and other state authorities. The President is also the single point of accountability for delivering an institution of the high calibre and national significance.
The President works closely with the Board of Directors, CEO, Chief Higher Education Officer, and COO. The President also represents the University externally to government, international academic partners, industry, and prospective students. The President's personal credibility — with the state, academic community, international partners, and with the students and faculty the University seeks to attract — is itself a founding asset of the institution.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
1. Academic Vision & Institutional Leadership
- Develop and safeguard the University's academic vision, philosophy, and programme architecture in line with founding intent, market demands, and national aspirations.
- Lead the University's positioning as Southeast Asia's defining institution for national leadership formation.
- Chair or co-chair the Academic Board and senior academic governance forums.
- Ensure academic quality and coherence across all future programmes.
2. Governance, Legal Representation & Regulatory Compliance
- Serve as the University's principal point of accountability to the Board of Directors.
- Act as the University's legal representative to MOET, holding statutory responsibility for regulatory filings, licensing, and compliance.
- Oversee the University's regulatory strategy, licensing pathway, and accreditation roadmap.
- Ensure institutional policies and governance frameworks meet both MOET requirements and international good practice.
3. Financial Stewardship
- Own overall financial sustainability of the University, working with the CEO/COO on budget, tuition strategy, and investment planning.
- Approve major financial commitments within Board-delegated authority.
- Ensure financial models and reporting are in line with Group standards.
4. Faculty & Academic Talent
- Lead recruitment of the University's senior academic leadership (Provost/Academic Dean, Deans, core faculty).
- Set standards for faculty quality, ensuring the practitioner-immersion model is delivered at the calibre the concept requires.
- Build and protect a high-performing, mission-aligned academic culture.
5. Partnership & International Engagement
- Lead negotiations with the University's primary international academic partner(s) and any secondary partners.
- Represent the University to international accreditation bodies and global academic networks.
6. Campus, Operations & Institutional Readiness
- Provide executive oversight of campus development in partnership with the COO.
- Ensure institutional readiness — academic, administrative, technological — ahead of the September 2028 initial launch and September 2029 full university development.
7. Quality Assurance & Risk Management
- Own the University's quality assurance framework and its relationship to MOET accreditation.
- Identify and manage institutional, reputational, and regulatory risk at the executive level.
8. Student Experience & Institutional Culture
- Set the standard for the student experience befitting a selective, elite institution.
- Safeguard selectivity, cohort model, and alumni network as founding assets of the institution.
- Ensure graduate employability and deployment outcomes are tracked and actively stewarded as a core measure of institutional success.
REQUIREMENTS
Qualification and Experience
- A doctoral degree, with the seniority to be credible as the founding academic leader of a national institution.
- Substantial senior leadership experience in higher education, government, or a comparable high-stakes institutional-building context — ideally including prior experience founding or transforming an institution.
- well-regarded in one of the fields of expertise in relation to business, economics, computer science, or IT.
- At least five years of teaching and research experience in a relevant field.
- Having at least 5-year experience in management as dean, vice-president or president.
- Demonstrated standing with government, international academic institutions, and senior public or private sector leaders.
- Familiarity with, or willingness to rapidly acquire deep fluency in, Vietnam's higher education regulatory environment.
Key skills and Competencies
- Statesperson-level external credibility — able to represent the institution convincingly to government ministers, international university leadership, and prospective students and faculty alike.
- Strong academic judgment balanced with commercial and operational pragmatism.
- Comfort operating in a founding/start-up institutional environment, not an established university.
- Cross-cultural fluency; able to operate credibly in both Vietnamese government/institutional settings and international academic circles.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
- Institutional licensing and regulatory approvals achieved on schedule.
- Primary international academic partnership secured (Q1 2028 critical path).
- Initial programme (September 2028) and full campus (September 2029) launched on schedule.
- Academic governance structures and Academic Board established and functioning.
- Senior academic leadership team recruited and retained.
- National Alliance relationships with government stakeholders actively maintained.
- Financial sustainability targets met within Board-approved parameters.
- Institutional reputation and selectivity standards upheld from perman 1.
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