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Session 1260

ENGINEERING EDUCATION IN VIETNAM

Trevor B. Davey, Ngo Dinh Thinh California State University, Sacramento

Vietnam has begun to implement a reorganization of its higher education system. From 1979 through 1989, Vietnam was strongly influenced by the Soviet Union and higher education focused on Soviet Studies, Russian language instruction, and science and engineering curriculums dominated by work done in the Soviet Union. In 1989, the Vietnamese government embarked on a policy that would shift it away from a dominant Soviet influence and move toward a market economy featuring private property with a guiding role played by the state. Higher education was a very important component of this transformation. It was designed to ensure Vietnam a human resource base to keep pace with needs created by the anticipated economic success.

The Vietnamese government devised a plan using the concept of a national university system with campuses in Hanoi and in Ho Chi Minh City. Regional universities were to be established in Hue, Da Nang, Can Tho, Thai Nguyen, and other cities. A system of community colleges was also established and provision was made for private universities and colleges. The prior system had a large number of separate, independent universities, each with a very specialized academic role and all reporting to the Ministry of Education and Training in Hanoi. For example, in Ho Chi Minh City, there were seventeen separate universities and colleges (Fig. 1). After consolidation, the Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City (VNU, HCMC) has 10 Colleges including a College of Engineering (Fig. 2). There is also a separate University of Medicine, Pharmacy and Dentistry and a semi-public Open University. A similar structure was established in Hanoi although at the present time the Hanoi University of Technology in Hanoi remains an independent institution from the Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU, Hanoi).

Over the past 4 years, California State University, Sacramento has established a close working relationship with several universities in Vietnam. This relationship included faculty exchanges, assistance in purchasing equipment's and supplies and presentation of technical papers. In November 1996, under the sponsorship of the Division of South Asia Programs of the National Science Foundation, a workshop was convened at CSU, Sacramento to bring together engineering and science educators from the principle colleges and universities in Vietnam with some of their counterparts in the United States. The purpose of these meetings was to exchange information on science and technology curriculums, discuss educational objectives of the two countries and to investigate the possibilities of joint research projects and exchange programs for faculty and students.

The participants from Vietnam included the Vice President and senior academic administrators of Vietnam National University, HCMC in the College of Engineering, Natural Sciences, and General Studies and the Hanoi University of Technology. US participants included the Vice

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Davey, T. B., & Thinh, N. D. (1997, June), Engineering Education In Vietnam Paper presented at 1997 Annual Conference, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 10.18260/1-2--6541