Vietnam-Belgium agricultural education cooperation successful

Brussels (VNA) – Cooperation in agricultural education between Vietnam and Belgium has helped improve the capacity of Vietnamese agriculture lecturers, heard a recent event in the Belgian city of Gembloux.

The event, where foreign students at Gembloux Agro - Bio Tech (formerly Gembloux Agricultural University) and the school’s alumni shared experience, was held by the university’s alumni association on October 1.

Andres Thewis, head of the alumni association at Gembloux Agro - Bio Tech, praised Vietnam’s development efforts, including in agriculture – one of the pillars of the economy.

Cooperation between Gembloux Agro - Bio Tech and the Vietnam National University of Agriculture (VNUA) has improved the quality of agriculture lecturers in Vietnam, he noted.

Several Belgian professors have come to Vietnam to lecture and implement agricultural development programmes. A lot of Vietnamese doctors of agriculture received training at the Gembloux university, he added.

Prof. Vu Dinh Ton, Dean of the livestock farming and aquaculture faculty at the VNUA, highlighted the importance of the partnership in agricultural education between the two countries.

While Belgian professors have assisted Vietnamese students to complete training courses, Vietnamese students were satisfied with the studying environment in Belgium and became proficient lecturers, he said.

At the event, Ton and some Vietnamese research students at Gembloux Agro - Bio Tech presented the cooperation results and prospects between Gembloux and Vietnam, migration’s impacts on agricultural development, and the changing aquaculture systems in northern Vietnam.

On the occasion, the Gembloux alumni association in Vietnam was established. Forty Vietnamese students have graduated from doctoral training courses in Gembloux so far.-VNA