A ceremony was held in the central city of Da Nang on June 16 to announce the establishment of the Vietnam - Korea University of Information and Communications Technology (VKU).

Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Van Phuc told the ceremony that the VKU - the sixth member of the University of Da Nang - will be important in providing the central region with a skilled workforce in information and communication technology (ICT).

He expects it will create breakthroughs in teaching methods and programmes meeting regional and global standards.

The official also urged the university to focus on building the capacity of its team of lecturers and improving students’ foreign language proficiency and soft skills so they can fully adapt in a competitive labour market.

VKU Rector Huynh Cong Phap said the university received over 1 trillion VND (43.4 million USD) in funding from the State budget and 16.2 million USD in aid from the government of the Republic of Korea.

He expressed his hope that the university will act as a bridge to strengthen the friendship between the two countries.

The VKU was formed on January 3, 2020, by a merger between the Ministry of Information and Telecommunication’s Korea - Vietnam Friendship Information Technology College, the College of Information Technology, and other members of the University of Da Nang.

It expects to enroll about 1,200 students this year in IT, computer engineering, and business management.

It also plans to launch undergraduate and postgraduate studies over subsequent years in trending IT fields such as artificial intelligence, data science, robotics, the Internet of Things, cyber-security, the digital economy, and e-commerce.