The Ministry of Education and Training on Mar. 19 presented the insignia “For
the Cause of Education” to Prof. Edward J. Baker from the US in recognition of
his contributions to educational development in Vietnam.
Baker was the
first US professor to receive this title.
Over the past 25 years, as
Deputy Director of the Harvard Yenching Institute, a foundation affiliated with
Harvard University , he has worked in China , Japan and Thailand .
He was
one of the first to initiate educational cooperation with Vietnam in the
1980s-1990s. He met with Vietnamese scholars, seeking opportunities to help the
country’s students to study at US universities, especially Harvard. Baker
nominated over 200 Vietnamese students who then received scholarships to study
as postgraduates in the US .
Baker was also the first person to take part
in the implementation of education cooperation programmes between Vietnam and
the US .
He has worked with the Hue University , the Can Tho University,
the Hanoi and the Ho Chi Minh City University ’s Departments of Social Sciences
and Humanities as well as various research institutes./.