Vietnam, UK enhance educational cooperation

Hanoi (VNA) – The Governments of Vietnam and the United Kingdom will promote educational cooperation in higher education, English training, educational technology, international education and preschool education.

To this effect, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on educational cooperation between the two Governments was signed in Hanoi on October 3 by Vietnamese Minister of Education and Training Phung Xuan Nha and Ed Vaizey, Trade Envoy of the British Prime Minister.

Minister of Education and Training Phung Xuan Nha and Ed Vaizey, Trade Envoy of the British Prime Minister sign the MoU (Source: https://moet.gov.vn)

The British Government will support its higher education institutions in expanding partnerships with Vietnamese partners to implement association programmes for higher education and postgraduate education on the basis of academic principles prescribed by the two sides.

In English language training, the two sides will work closely through regular strategic dialogues to improve English standards in Vietnam. Initiatives that the UK side can cooperate in English language training include improving English skills for Vietnamese teachers, supporting English teaching to bring the best results to learners, and collaboration in developing English language programmes. 

The British Government will assist its Vietnamese counterpart in developing educational technology policies; and in applying technology to solve difficulties and challenges in teaching and learning in Vietnamese schools.

The British Government will deploy its commitments through the Department for Education, administrative management agencies of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as well as businesses, industrial groups and other related parties in the field of educational technology.

It will also work with British private schools and investors to cooperate with Vietnamese partners in establishing schools applying a UK-styled curriculum in Vietnam in accordance with Vietnamese law, while cooperating with British preschool education providers to share experience in preschool education policy and preschool teacher training programmes.

The two sides will establish a supervisory agency to assess the implementation of the MoU.

In January 2019, Minister Phung Xuan Nha paid a working visit the UK. Thirty cooperation agreements signed during the visit between education establishments and enterprises of the two sides have been effectively implemented.

In an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency’s correspondent in the UK during the visit, Nha said he signed a MoU with Education Minister of Wales Kirsty Williams on cooperation in training, policy dialogue, and experience sharing in educational management and research cooperation between Vietnamese educational institutions and those from Wales.

The working session between the Vietnamese delegation (L) and educational officials of Wales, the UK (Photo: VNA)

Notably, the Wales administration, through its Global Wales fund, will provide Vietnam with 20 full scholarships for postgraduate students each year from 2020-2022 to pursue study at universities in Wales under the Chevening Scholarships programme of the UK Government.

Through discussions on educational reform with ministers of many countries across the world at the World Education Forum, participants learned and shared many experiences, especially in applying information technology in teaching and learning, Nha said.

Vietnam is on the right track in this field, he stressed, adding that he talked with representatives from technology companies at the World Education Technology Expo.

Everyone expects that Vietnam will be one of the fast moving countries in applying this technology in the sector, he said.

According to Nha, Vietnam registered to host the World Education Technology Exhibition in Ho Chi Minh City in March 2019, which is hoped to draw many educational technology development companies and global educators to Vietnam, especially UK educational institutions.

Educational technology and English are two important tools to create breakthroughs in improving the quality of education in Vietnam, he said.

Through the visit, many big universities, English centres, publishers, companies and large corporations providing English-related services such as Cambridge and Pearson are very interested in Vietnamese education and want to enter Vietnam to join the National Foreign Language Project of Vietnam in teaching and assessing the quality, Nha noted.

The minister affirmed that he believes in Vietnam’s training integration strategy and the UK will be an important partner in the field./.