VietNamNet Bridge – It is now a growing tendency of Vietnamese universities to cooperate with foreign universities to enroll and train students as a part of their in the plans to expand the scale of educational training.

Expanding cooperation

Professor Vu Chi Loc, President of the Hanoi Foreign Trade University said the school is now attaching special importance to cooperating with many big universities in the world, striving to enroll and train international students. Therefore, Loc said the school has cooperated with many schools from the UK, US, France, Australia and Japan.

In late March 2011, Loc and officials of the university paid working visits to many schools in China, including the Guang Xi Pedagogical Academy in Guang Xi province and the Jiang Xi University of Education, the biggest pedagogical school in the province.

The two sides have agreed to cooperate under with a 1+3 scheme (the Hanoi University of Foreign Trade will enroll students according to the students’ academic records.

Students will have study one year at the university and then transfer credits to study at either the Guang Xi Pedagogical Academy or the Jiang Xi University of Education for three years. Chinese universities will grant bachelor degrees to graduates.

Loc said that his school has got ready for the student enrolment to be kicked off in September.

The Hanoi University of Education has also been taking steps to cooperate with foreign universities.

Do Thi Kim Cuong, Deputy General Director of the Center for International Education and Training CIET under the university, said that the university has cooperated with 110 schools from 34 countries.

Besides, the school is also joining forces with South Korea’s Pusan Foreign Language University to provide training services under a 2+2 scheme.

Students who pass exams will have to study at the Hanoi University of Education for two years, with free tuition, and then they will have study for two more years at the Pusan Foreign Language University (students have to pay tuitions in accordance with the university’s regulations).

Cuong has represented the Hanoi University of Education in working sessions with the Guang Xi Pedagogical Academy and the International Education Institute under the Jiang Xi University of Education.

According to Cuong, in the near future, the Hanoi University of Education will enroll international students under both the 1+3 and 2+2 schemes.

Nguyen Xuan Hoa from the Thai Nguyen University, said that after opening courses with the cooperation of some South Korean schools, the university has assigned him to work with a few Chinese universities to establish cooperation in the near future.

Students will benefit

The joint training programs between Vietnamese and foreign universities mean that Vietnamese students will have more opportunities to study in foreign countries.

If students do not pass the national university entrance exams to study at state-owned domestic universities, they will be able to register to join 1+3 or 2+2 training courses and get degrees granted by foreign universities.

When talking with Tien Phong’s reporters, Director of the International Education Academy said besides the models 1+3 and 2+2, the academy still wants to carry out a 1+4 training model.

This means that the Chinese school will ask Vietnamese schools to enroll students, while Vietnamese students will spend all four years studying in China.

Nguyen Le Quynh Hoa from the Hanoi Foreign Trade University, said that the cooperation among international schools will present opportunities to Vietnamese students to study abroad at lower expenses than the expenses they have to spend when registering for courses themselves.

Hoa said the university is considering the quality of education, material facilities, tuitions and living conditions provided by foreign schools in order to give advices to students.

Cooperating with foreign schools proves to be the growing tendency of many Vietnamese students.

Besides the above said programs, the Hanoi Foreign Trade University is cooperating with the British Bedfordshire, with Danish Neils Brock Copenhagen University and some Taiwanese schools.

Meanwhile, the Economics University under the Hanoi National University is cooperating with Troy University in the US.

C. V