The first Vietnam – Russia rector’s forum convened in Hanoi on May 28, gathering representatives of 70 universities, including 30 from Russia.

Participants of the forum pose for a group photo (Photo: giaoducthoidai.vn)

In his opening speech, Deputy Minister of Education and Training Le Hai An said he hopes initiatives, proposals, and commitments put forth at the event will help bolster the two countries’ cooperation in education and training in the future.

He said besides the 90 existing cooperation pacts between Vietnamese and Russian universities, the planned signing of 16 new ones demonstrate the interest of universities in tapping the cooperation opportunities in the field of education and training.

Russian Deputy Minister of Education and Science Medvedev Alexey Mikhailovich noted that Vietnam-Russia scientific and educational cooperation already has a strong foundation and the forum will help set out specific goals to deepen such ties.

He said Russia wants to send more teachers and students to Vietnam for exchange and study in the fields of culture, science, and education and hopes the quality and quantity of Vietnamese students in Russia will be improved in the coming time.

At the forum, participants discussed ways to increase joint training programmes between the two countries’ universities, with priority given to energy, IT, law, mining and geology, transport, economics, agriculture, environment, education and health.

They recommended mutual recognition of each other’s credit system and certificates and building of training plans to boost capacity of Vietnamese lecturers.

Many urged increasing the exchange of students and lecturers as well as forming international research groups based on scholarship agreements between the two governments.

The number of Russia’s scholarship for Vietnam has increased from 795 in 2015 to 965 in 2019, with more than 6,000 Vietnamese students currently studying in the country.