Vietnamese and Welsh Universities Strengthen Academic Exchange Through Exchange of Lecturers and Students

At the event. Photo: VNA

The Vietnam-Wales Education Cooperation Workshop was held in Cardiff, Wales, with participants from the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training (MoET), the Global Wales Program, the British Council, eight universities from Wales, and 30 from Vietnam, as reported by the Vietnam News Agency (VNA).

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Vietnam-UK diplomatic relations, a workshop was held to discuss the internationalization of education, educational cooperation, and training. Additionally, the workshop explored ways to facilitate the exchange of lecturers and students between universities in Vietnam and Wales through various programs.

The programs include the MoET’s Project 89 on capacity building for lecturers and managers of higher education institutions to meet the requirements of the sector’s fundamental and comprehensive renovation for 2019-2030 and the Taith program established with a EUR 65 million (about USD 70.1 million) investment from the Welsh Government with a commitment to creating 25,000 opportunities for international learning and exchanges between 2022 and 2026.

Nguyen Anh Dung, the Deputy Head of the Ministry of Education and Training’s (MoET) Department of Higher Education, recently outlined Project 89 with the goal of fostering stronger cooperation and exchange between the UK and Vietnam. This project aims to bolster the number of Vietnamese PhD students studying in the UK.

The Vietnamese Ambassador to the UK, Nguyen Hoang Long, has highlighted high tuition fees and living costs as the main obstacles for Vietnamese students and doctoral students who wish to study in the UK as part of Project 89.

In order to address this issue, a number of universities in Wales proposed that the two sides investigate and debate a financial arrangement to balance out the variation in living expenses.

Participating universities from both sides have agreed to strengthen their cooperation, so that more Vietnamese students and researchers from various regions can take advantage of and benefit from the program.

Ambassador Nguyen Hoang Long works with Welsh Minister of Education and Languages Jeremy Miles. Photo: VNA

On the same day, within the framework of his visit to Wales, Ambassador Nguyen Hoang Long met with a delegation of four Vietnamese universities, including Hue University; Can Tho University; Da Nang University; and the University of Technology under Hanoi’s Vietnam National University. The delegation is currently on a business trip to Wales, as part of a project on University Leadership and Governance, with a focus on Gender Balance and Social Inclusion. This project is supported by the British Council and Global Wales. On the same day, within the framework of his visit to Wales, Ambassador Nguyen Hoang Long met the delegation of four Vietnamese universities, including Hue University; Can Tho University; Da Nang University; and the University of Technology under Hanoi’s Vietnam National University, currently on a business trip to Wales within the framework of a project on University Leadership and Governance, focusing on Gender Balance and Social Inclusion supported by the British Council and Global Wales.

At the gathering, representatives of Vietnamese university heads discussed the aim of their business journey to meet, exchange, share practices, and keep track of the progress of the project with the four partner universities of Wales, namely Aberystwyth, Cardiff, Swansea, and the University of South Wales.

Ambassador Long shared the experience and cooperation needs of major British universities that are about to operate in Vietnam, helping representatives of Vietnamese universities get an overall picture of and learn more about practices at Welsh universities to explore future cooperation options both within and outside the project framework.