A memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the US’s higher education programme for leading Vietnamese engineering universities was signed in Ho Chi Minh City on August 24.
Under the MoU, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) will work together with the Intel group, the Arizona State University (ASU) and the Portland State University (PSU) to carry out the programme.
The programme will be piloted in five universities: Hanoi University of Technology, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, Can Tho University, Ho Chi Minh City Technical Teaching University and Da Nang University of Technology.
The three-year project has a total investment of US$ 2.5 million, with Intel contributing US$ 1.5 million. It will focus on training lecturers and helping them create curricula, draw up lesson plans and apply advanced teaching methods in Vietnam.
As part of the programme, 25 Vietnamese lecturers from engineering universities will attend summer training courses every year at the ASU and PSU. They will also continue to receive help from US specialists on applying new teaching methods after finishing their training course.
The programme will train a pool of skilled lecturers for Vietnam’s engineering universities, said US Ambassador to Vietnam, Michael Michalak.
Meanwhile Deputy Minister of Education and Training Bui Van Ga affirmed that the move is in line with Vietnam’s human recourses development strategy as well as the training goals of individual engineering universities in Vietnam.
The programme is also intended to meet some of Intel Vietnam’s demand for human resources, he added.(VNA)