Prime Minister: Proposes San Francisco University to promote educational cooperation in line with Vietnam's priorities

According to VNA Special Envoy, on the occasion of attending the High-Level Week of the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly and bilateral activities in the United States, on the morning of September 18 (local time), Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh visited and spoke at the University of San Francisco (USF).

Based on the framework of the newly established Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Vietnam and the United States, the Prime Minister emphasized that promotingeducational cooperation is in line with Vietnam's priorities, the trend of the times, and the direction of cooperation between the United States and Vietnam.

USF is a private Catholic university in San Francisco, founded in 1855, the first university in San Francisco and the second oldest university in California, part of the National University System of the United States. USF has 5 affiliated schools, including the School of Arts and Sciences, School of Education, School of Law, School of Management, School of Nursing and Health Professions . Currently, USF has more than 80 undergraduate programs in arts and sciences, business, nursing and health professions and more than 60 graduate programs.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh with students of San Francisco State University. Photo: Duong Giang/VNA

Speaking to the Prime Minister and the Vietnamese delegation, Father Paul J. Fitzgerald, SJ, the 28th President of the University of San Francisco, said that USF students come from all 50 states in the United States and 111 countries. USF has more than 117,000 alumni living in the United States and 139 countries. As of now, the number of Vietnamese students ranks 3rd among the school's international students, with about 80 students (after China and India). President Paul J. Fitzgerald assessed that Vietnamese students are all very intelligent and hard-working.

Speaking here, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh expressed his pleasure to meet with the school's administrators, lecturers and students; highly appreciated the achievements that USF University has achieved; said that this working trip of the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation is even more meaningful when Vietnam and the United States are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Strategic Partnership (2013-2023) and have just upgraded to the framework of Comprehensive Strategic Partnership during the recent visit to Vietnam by President Joe Biden.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh speaks during his visit to San Francisco State University. Photo: Duong Giang/VNA

According to the Prime Minister, the Joint Statement of the Leaders of Vietnam and the United States emphasized that education and training cooperation is one of the focuses of the bilateral relationship, especially in training high-quality human resources, helping Vietnam achieve its development goals.

For its part, Vietnam identifies education as a top national policy with the policy of promoting lifelong learning; training high-quality human resources is one of three strategic breakthroughs.

In the overall bilateral relationship, the Vietnam-US educational cooperation has witnessed many strong developments in recent years, including the contribution of USF. Currently, there are about 50 joint training programs operating between Vietnamese and US higher education institutions.

Emphasizing the Vietnamese people's tradition of studiousness, "a word is a teacher, half a word is a teacher", the Prime Minister said that Vietnam always wishes to seek and expand opportunities for cooperation and development with US educational and training institutions, including the University of San Francisco with its long history, long tradition and reputation worldwide. The Prime Minister hopes and believes that the cooperation between the University of San Francisco and Vietnam will continue and promote the achievements that have been made, and develop further, with more diverse, extensive, effective and substantial forms. The Prime Minister suggested that USF take the lead in the trend of cooperation between the two countries in education and training, identify Vietnam as a key cooperation point, provide more scholarships for Vietnamese students, focus on new areas such as innovation, digital transformation, green transformation, circular economy, sharing economy, etc.; create favorable conditions for foreign students, including students from Vietnam - a developing country with a transitional economy.

On the basis of the framework of the newly established Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Vietnam and the United States, the specific contents of educational and training cooperation have been agreed upon by the two countries' senior leaders. The Prime Minister emphasized that promoting educational cooperation is in line with Vietnam's priorities, the trend of the times, and the direction of cooperation between the United States and Vietnam.

Congratulating the students from Vietnam who are enjoying very good educational conditions, the Prime Minister hopes that they will promote the spirit of studiousness, patriotism, national pride, strive to study and practice to achieve high results, both preserving the fundamental cultural values and promoting the desire to explore with modern thinking, mastering new knowledge and technology, affirming that Vietnamese people are not inferior in any field compared to the world; promoting the role of a bridge and a highly qualified workforce, contributing to the development of Vietnam and the United States, and to the relationship between the two countries.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and President of San Francisco University Paul J. Fitzgerald, SJ Photo: Duong Giang/VNA

Regarding the Rector's sharing about the contributions of religions in Vietnamese history, including the formation of the national language, the Prime Minister agreed and shared that religions have made great contributions to the formation of Vietnamese culture, to the cause of building and defending the country. The Prime Minister recalled that in the Declaration of Independence in 1945, President Ho Chi Minh quoted the Declaration of Independence of the United States, affirming the right to life, freedom and the right to pursue happiness of each person. The Prime Minister emphasized that as a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country with a rich religious life, the Vietnamese State has always consistently implemented a policy of respecting and ensuring the freedom of belief and religion, the right to follow or not follow a religion of the people; ensuring equality and non-discrimination for reasons of religion and belief; Protect the activities of religious organizations by law, and create favorable conditions for legal religious organizations with followers in Vietnam to operate.

The Prime Minister shared, "If there is anyone who does not understand about Vietnam, about Vietnam's ethnic and religious policies, I would like to ask the teachers and students of USF to explain it to them. We are also ready to invite everyone to visit Vietnam to witness the implementation of ethnic and religious policies in Vietnam; seeing is believing."

Reiterating the Vietnamese folk song "Gourd, please love the squash/Although they are different species, they share the same vine", the Prime Minister once again affirmed Vietnam's policy of great national unity and religious unity.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh with lecturers and students of San Francisco State University. Photo: Duong Giang/VNA

Also at the meeting, the Prime Minister directly answered many questions from USF students; affirmed that the Party and State respect the students' choices about study and work, but whenever they feel they can return home and make the best contribution to the country, they are welcomed. The Prime Minister said that the Government has issued Decree 140/2017/ND-CP on policies to attract and create sources of cadres from excellent graduates and young scientists. Currently, agencies are continuing to research and develop new policies and regulations that are more suitable and effective on this issue.

According to VNA/Tin Tuc Newspaper

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