Pham Quang Nghi, Party Politburo member and Secretary of the Hanoi municipal Party Committee, has urged the Vietnam National University - Hanoi (VNU-Hanoi) to make greater efforts to become the nation’s leading scientific training and research centre.

He was speaking at an August 9 conference to launch the university’s plan for the 2011-2012 school year, during which he also asked the VNU to get involved in dealing with issues at national scale.

In the 2010-2011 school year, the university successfully carried out new training models, targeting international standards, Nghi said.

The VNU has, for the first time, been listed in Asia ’s top 200 universities that provide the best education in natural sciences, engineering and technology, social sciences and management, and life sciences and medicine.

It also ranks among 30 leading universities Southeast Asia . /.