Strengthening Vietnam - US higher education cooperation is becoming more and more effective and substantive.

Attending the meeting were Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son; Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Manh Hung; US Ambassador to Vietnam Marc E. Knapper; leaders of ministries, sectors, agencies and Vietnamese universities.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and leaders of US universities visited Vietnam to attend the International Academic Partnership Program (IAPP).

Pleased to meet the delegation of leading US universities on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the US and Vietnam (1995-2025), Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that right after Vietnam gained national independence, in early 1946, President Ho Chi Minh sent a letter to President Harry Truman proposing to establish full diplomatic relations with the US, demonstrating Vietnam's goodwill in relations with the US.

Through ups and downs and breakthroughs, by 2023, Vietnam and the United States officially upgraded their relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for peace, cooperation and sustainable development. The Vietnam-US relationship is considered a model in international relations. Vietnam and the United States have gone from former enemies to Comprehensive Strategic Partners; the United States supports a strong, independent, self-reliant and prosperous Vietnam; the two sides put the past behind them, exploit similarities, limit disagreements, respect differences, and look to the future.

After 30 years of establishing diplomatic relations, Vietnam-US relations have achieved many outstanding achievements, becoming leading partners of each other. In particular, cooperation in the fields of education, training, science, technology and innovation has been identified as one of the important pillars, achieving many results.

Currently, there are about 30,000 Vietnamese students studying in the United States, ranking 5th in the number of international students in the United States. There are about 50 joint training programs between Vietnamese and American higher education institutions, mainly undergraduate and master's programs. After training, many people work very successfully in agencies and enterprises of both countries.

Recalling President Ho Chi Minh's teaching that "an ignorant nation is a weak nation", the Prime Minister said that Vietnam considers education and training to be the top national policy. In the Declaration of Independence that gave birth to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (now the Socialist Republic of Vietnam), President Ho Chi Minh affirmed that "all people are born equal", so everyone has equal access to education. Immediately after gaining national independence, Vietnam focused on "eradicating illiteracy".

Currently, Vietnam is building the country with three main pillars: a socialist rule-of-law state; socialist democracy and a socialist-oriented market economy. Vietnam is focusing on implementing three strategic breakthroughs in institutions, infrastructure and human resources, especially high-quality human resources; striving to create breakthroughs in science and technology development, innovation and national digital transformation.

Vietnam has issued a number of important documents and policies on the development of education - training and science and technology to fundamentally and comprehensively innovate education and training; create breakthroughs in the development of science, technology, innovation, and national digital transformation. Vietnam commits to spending up to 20% of the total state budget on education and training to improve people's knowledge, train human resources, nurture talents, and develop people in terms of morality, intelligence, physical fitness, and aesthetics; and looks forward to sharing and cooperation with the United States in the development of education and training.

Sincerely thanking Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh for taking the time to receive the delegation, US Ambassador to Vietnam Marc E. Knapper and representatives of US universities highly appreciated Vietnam's development strategy, especially in the field of education and training; said they are ready to cooperate and stand side by side with Vietnam to implement socio-economic development strategies, especially in education, training, science, technology, innovation, improving the quality of human resources, contributing to deepening the Vietnam-US Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

Introducing the potential and cooperation program with Vietnam, representatives of US universities said that IAPP 2025 is an activity to strategically connect Vietnamese universities with US universities, supporting universities of both sides to build practical, effective and sustainable cooperation plans.

At the IAPP 2025 program, 21 US universities and 30 Vietnamese universities exchanged many cooperation contents, focusing on the fields of STEM, digital transformation, green transformation, ICT, semiconductors - microchips, AI, automation, biotechnology, advanced materials, green energy, international law, agriculture and sustainability, health, education, Southeast Asian studies and Vietnamese language studies.

Representatives of universities from the two countries shared many contents, requesting the Government and the Prime Minister to direct and support the promotion of the connection between the two educational systems to promote educational and training cooperation programs, especially in student and lecturer exchanges, joint training, joint research programs, etc.

Appreciating the opinions shared by the delegates, expressing their “heart-to-heart” feelings, the Prime Minister believes that the wishes and determination for cooperation stated in this working session will soon be realized through specific cooperation projects and programs.

Providing information about the situation in Vietnam, the Prime Minister said that Vietnam is striving to achieve 8% growth in 2025, creating momentum, strength, foundation, and spirit for a period of double-digit growth in the following years. Therefore, Vietnam must have strategies to "turn the situation around, change the state". Vietnam focuses on restructuring the apparatus; administrative reform, changing the state from passive to proactive in serving the people and businesses; identifying the development of science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation as breakthroughs and new driving forces for development; the private economy is the most important driving force of economic development... In which, education and training play a very important role.

The Prime Minister said that cooperation between Vietnamese and US universities has been implemented for many years, but has not been as deep and effective as expected. He suggested that universities of the two countries closely coordinate to develop a long-term, sustainable, practical and effective cooperation plan with diverse, creative and flexible forms such as student and lecturer exchanges, joint training, joint research programs, and entering new fields to help Vietnam exploit marine space, outer space, and underground space. The US is considering expanding scholarship programs and tuition incentives for Vietnamese students and researchers.

Recently, large US corporations such as Intel, NVIDIA, Apple... have come to learn and invest, expanding the ecosystem. The Prime Minister suggested that universities of both sides proactively exchange to have specific cooperation programs, especially in high-tech industries, AI, semiconductors, biotechnology, health, agriculture, foreign languages, training high-quality human resources according to the requirements of corporations and businesses of the two countries and cooperation in research and development.

Vietnam is well aware of and understands the concerns and priorities of the current Trump administration; is making efforts to address the trade balance between the two countries, maintaining sustainable economic growth through many solutions such as reducing taxes on key US products such as wood and agricultural products; increasing imports of products such as aircraft, liquefied natural gas (LNG), high-tech products; creating conditions for US businesses to invest and expand in Vietnam and address the concerns of the US side... The Prime Minister suggested that school leaders have a voice with the Trump administration to soon recognize Vietnam as a market economy; remove restrictions on high-tech exports to Vietnam; limit policies affecting economic and trade relations, creating conditions for Vietnam to continue to develop.

With the viewpoint of “valuing intelligence, time and decisiveness”, “what is good must be better, what is effective must be more effective”, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh believes that the educational and training cooperation between Vietnam and the United States in the coming time will be deeper and more effective, contributing to the development of each country and people, the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two countries, as well as to peace, cooperation and development in the region and the world.

According to VNA

Source: https://baobacgiang.vn/tang-cuong-hop-tac-giao-duc-dai-hoc-viet-nam-hoa-ky-ngay-cang-di-vao-hieu-qua-thuc-chat-postid415175.bbg