Australian Minister of Education Anthony Chisholm welcomes Prime Minister to visit Australian National University – Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac
The program is organized by Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training in collaboration with Australian Ministry of Education, Australian Embassy in Vietnam and Vietnamese Embassy in Australia.
Participating in the program are Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son, Australian Minister of Education Anthony Chisholm, leaders of ministries, departments, local leaders of Vietnam and more than 30 Australian and Vietnamese universities.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and representatives of ministries and leaders of National University of Australia at the Forum – Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac
According to the Ministry of Education and Training, the Vietnam-Australia Education Cooperation Forum aims to enhance research cooperation between universities of the two countries with the participation of businesses; attract and promote Australian universities to establish branches in Vietnam; promote training cooperation between Australian universities and Vietnamese universities.
The forum also aims to strengthen policy cooperation, especially policies to attract branches of leading universities in the world to operate and provide opportunities for high-quality education in Vietnam for Vietnamese students and students from countries in the region. Thereby, contributing to accelerating the internationalization of Vietnamese higher education, diversifying high-quality training programs, creating conditions for Vietnamese students to study in place, attracting international students, aiming for Vietnam to become one of the international education centers in Southeast Asia.
Prime Minister speaks at the Vietnam-Australia Education Cooperation Forum – Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac
At the forum, universities from the two countries signed 8 cooperative agreements, including several priority areas of cooperation in railway construction, smart cities, semiconductor technology, artificial intelligence, biotechnology….
During his visit to Australia, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and the high-ranking delegation of Vietnam also promote education cooperation. Specifically, there are activities such as: Prime Minister working with the rector of RMIT University, attending the inauguration ceremony of Vietnam-Australia Policy Institute at RMIT University, organizing Vietnam-Australia education and training cooperation forum; Minister of Education and Training of Vietnam working, exchanging with counterparts to share, unify specific cooperation contents in the field of education and training…
Vice Director of the National University of Australia speaks – Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac
Cooperation “from heart to heart”
Speaking at the forum, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh firstly sent his congratulations and thanks to women on the occasion of International Women’s Day (March 8) and emphasized the importance of gender equality, the struggle for gender equality, and the protection of women and children’s rights and interests.
The Prime Minister said that in Vietnam, many people love, read and study the famous novel “The Thorn Birds” by Australian female writer Colleen McCullough. “This work shows the strong rise of women, the struggle for the freedom of the heart, affirming the affection from heart to heart that nothing can stop. The Vietnam-Australia relationship is also from the heart to the heart, therefore, nothing can stop us,” the Prime Minister said.
Prime Minister emphasizes that the forum is a valuable opportunity to connect educational institutions, investors from both sides to discuss, learn and share cooperation and investment opportunities – Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac
Agreeing with the speeches, the Prime Minister highly appreciated the organization of this important and meaningful forum in Australia, a country with the most modern and highest-quality education in the region, and at the Australian National University – a world-leading university with 06 Nobel laureate alumni and lecturers.
The forum is a valuable opportunity to connect educational institutions, investors from both sides to discuss, learn and share cooperation and investment opportunities, thereby contributing to further enhance Vietnam-Australia educational cooperation.
At the talks on March 7, the Prime Ministers of Vietnam and Australia announced the official upgrade of the bilateral relationship to the level of Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. The two sides agreed that educational cooperation is always a bright spot with many significant achievements.
According to the Prime Minister, Australia is one of the top popular choices for Vietnamese students. The current number of Vietnamese students in Australia is over 32,000, ranking 6th among the countries with students studying here. Many Vietnamese students who have studied in Australia have actively contributed to the development and promotion of bilateral relations, many of whom hold important leadership positions in agencies.
“We always encourage students to come here to study, to research, to work in Australia, in Vietnam or anywhere else, as long as they always think about, be grateful for and contribute to the place where they were born, where they were trained, then it is all valuable,” the Prime Minister emphasized.
Prime Minister shares his viewpoints, orientations for priority cooperation in the coming time – Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac
Attracting foreign investment in education is still modest
The Prime Minister shared that Vietnam always attaches great importance to education and training and human resource development, especially high-quality human resources.
Vietnam implements the innovation policy based on 3 fundamental elements: (1) Building a socialist rule of law state; (2) Building a socialist state ruled by laws; (3) Building a socialist-oriented market economy. In which, the prevailing principle is: Putting human beings at the center, as the subject, the driving force, the most important resource and the goal of development.
Vietnam considers education and training and science and technology development as a top priority policy; human resource development is one of the three strategic breakthroughs; developing people is associated with culture, culture is the spiritual foundation, the inherent strength, culture reflects the way for the nation to go…
So far, Vietnam has developed a comprehensive education and training system, including 244 universities with more than 2.1 million students currently studying. The quality of education and training and the quality of human resources are constantly improving. The OECD international student assessment program ranks Vietnam 34th out of 81 countries and second in ASEAN, after Singapore.
Vietnamese students always achieve high results in international and regional Olympic exams. The level of English has improved significantly. There are currently 6 Vietnamese universities in the ranking of the world’s best universities. The Human Development Index (HDI) ranks among the top countries among developing countries. The basic human resource needs are met, including industries that require high-quality human resources such as health care, education, processing, manufacturing, finance, banking, logistics, and emerging fields such as digital transformation, green transformation, circular economy, sharing economy, knowledge-based economy.
However, Vietnam still cannot meet the high-quality human resource needs for emerging industries and high-tech requirements; the training structure is still unreasonable, the ratio of high-quality human resources in basic science, engineering, and technology is still not high. The reason is that some mechanisms and policies are still inadequate and do not meet requirements; investment resources are still limited; there is no breakthrough policy to attract human resources, especially talents; international integration, international cooperation in education and training is still limited, not commensurate with potential, and requirements.
Sharing some lessons and experiences, the Prime Minister clearly stated that Vietnam takes internal resources as a basic, strategic, long-term, decisive factor, and external resources as important and breakthrough factors. Internal resources include people, nature, traditions, culture, history, and people are the decisive factor. Along with that, it is necessary to closely monitor global developments, trends of the times to react to policies in a timely, appropriate manner in education and training; to develop mechanisms, policies, and evaluate the role of education and training in each stage with appropriate approaches.
The Prime Minister affirmed Vietnam’s focus on promoting international cooperation, prioritizing attracting foreign investment in the field of education and training. Requirements for integration, enhancing international cooperation in education and training are urgent issues, of special importance and significance, contributing to improving the quality of manpower, meeting the requirements of industrialization, modernization, and the country.
However, attracting foreign investment in education in Vietnam is still modest, there are still many potentials. So far, only 5 universities have foreign investment capital; among them, RMIT Vietnam is the first university with foreign investment capital and also the only branch of an Australian university in Vietnam.
Prime Minister witnesses educational institutions of the two countries sign cooperative agreements – Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac
Proposal to Australia to double scholarships for Vietnamese students
In terms of viewpoints and orientations for priority cooperation in the coming time, the Prime Minister believes that it is necessary to continue to innovate thinking, vision, and further promote practical and effective education and training cooperation. Further promote the role of higher education cooperation, science, and technology is one of the important pillars, contributing to a strong promotion of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Vietnam commits to protect the legitimate rights and interests of foreign investors, foreign educational institutions in Vietnam with the principle that all parties benefit, harmonize interests, share risks.
Focus on reviewing and improving the system, have specific, appropriate, and feasible mechanisms, policies, and solutions to create breakthroughs, strongly promote cooperation and foreign investment in the field of education and higher education. The goal is to create maximum favorable conditions for educational and training institutions, especially leading universities to expand cooperation, long-term and long-term investment in Vietnam.
On this occasion, the Prime Minister welcomes, acknowledges, and appreciates many Australian universities that have effectively implemented cooperative training programs, exchanged lecturers, students, scientists, and postgraduates with educational institutions in Vietnam. The Prime Minister especially thanked Australia for helping to train English and train personnel during the period when Vietnam was under siege and embargo, in the spirit of “from heart to heart”.
Attracting foreign investment in education is still modest
Sharing his viewpoints, orientations for priority cooperation in the coming time, the Prime Minister believes that it is necessary to continue to innovate thinking, vision, and further promote practical, effective education, and training cooperation. Greatly exploit the role of cooperation in higher education, science, and technology, associated with innovation, transformation to the digital age, green transformation is one of the important pillars, contributing to a strongly promote the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Vietnam commits to protect the legitimate rights and interests of foreign investors, foreign educational institutions in Vietnam with the principle that all parties benefit, harmonize interests, share risks.
Focus on mobilizing and effectively using resources (including from the Government, educational institutions, universities, investment funds…) to focus on investment in key projects, suitable to the strengths and interests of Australia and the training needs of Vietnam.
Intensify student and lecturer exchanges, and strengthen research cooperation between universities of the two countries.
Provide more scholarships, focus on important areas mentioned above, and create favorable conditions for visa policies, ensuring living conditions, safety, and security; propose Australia doubles the number of scholarships for Vietnamese students in the next 2-3 years.
Require educational and training institutions, universities that have cooperation agreements to focus on implementing effective cooperation projects, specific investment in Vietnam and continue to exchange, explore cooperation opportunities, and soon jointly implement, including encouraging nonprofit universities to concentrate their resources, continue to expand activities in Vietnam.
The Prime Minister hopes and believes that the Vietnam-Australia University Education Cooperation Forum will open a new phase for the development of educational cooperation between the two sides, contributing to the development, sustainability, and long-term development of the Strategic Partnership. Comprehensive Relationship established between Vietnam and Australia.
“I hope that in the future, we will witness regionally significant projects symbolically in Vietnam-Australia higher education cooperation, commensurate with the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two countries and the historical traditions of the two countries,” the head of the Vietnamese Government emphasized.
On behalf of the Government of Vietnam, once again, the Prime Minister sincerely thanks and continues to receive cooperation, support, and assistance from the Government, Ministry of Education, partners, educational and training institutions, and the National University of Australia in the process of integration and development of Vietnam in general and education cooperation between the two countries in particular.
