Australia is to provide Vietnamese students with 200 scholarships annually under a Governmental programme, an increase from the current 175 scholarships.

The plan was announced at a meeting in Canberra on September 7 between leaders from the Australian Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations and Deputy Minister of Education and Training (MET) Pham Vu Luan.

Luan, who is accompanying Communist Party of Vietnam General Secretary Nong Duc Manh on a current visit to Australia from September 6, also informed the host of Vietnam’s policy to encourage prestigious universities, colleges and vocational training schools from Australia to open branches in Vietnam.

The plan was warmly welcomed by Australian officials, who pledged to ask their Government to provide assistance for the scheme.

The MET delegation also sought Australian assistance in a project to teach and study foreign languages for the 2008-20 period, focusing on training English teachers for Vietnamese schools.

Host and guest agreed to expand the scale of joint efforts, encouraging Vietnamese students to follow post-graduate courses in Australia.

The two sides will pave the way for universities to expand existing cooperation programmes and work closely in providing full and accurate information on Australian education for Vietnamese students in preparation for their studies there.

Australian officials also promised to help Vietnam in a project to train leaders and managers abroad.

According to Deputy Minister Luan, the Australian Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations will send a delegation to Vietnam in November to decide on concrete steps to further their shared objectives in this field.

Statistics show an increasing trend towards Australian education among Vietnamese students with an additional 1,000 or so going there for study each month, while between 200 and 300 of whom are admitted to Australian training establishments based in Vietnam.

So far the number of Vietnamese trained in Australia has reached over 17,000, in addition to some 14,000 other students attending Vietnam-based Australian universities./.