Pittsburgh, Vietnam colleges collaborate

What a difference a generation or two makes.

During the 1960s and early 1970s, America's perception of Vietnam was of a guerrilla war zone.

Today, "Vietnam has a modernized economy and a goal of having citizens educated at the highest level," said Penn State Greater Allegheny Chancellor Curtiss E. Porter, who earlier this year traveled to Southeast Asia to sign an academic collaboration agreement between Penn State GA and Duy Tan University in Da Nang.

Under the agreement, about 100 faculty members from Duy Tan will take 24 courses in American business from Penn State GA faculty over the next four summers, or six courses per summer.

The training will begin for 25 to 40 Duy Tan faculty this summer for six weeks at Penn State GA, a 52-acre campus spanning McKeesport and White Oak.

Then, for the next three summers, up to six Penn State GA faculty will travel to Duy Tan to train its faculty in topics such as principles of management, human resource management, international business and financial accounting.

Once completed, the Duy Tan faculty, all of whom begin with master's degrees in business, will receive certificates in business from Penn State GA.

All expenses will be paid by Duy Tan University.

Penn State GA director of academic affairs Kurt Torell called the program "a wonderful opportunity for both institutions in building partnerships," with the Duy Tan faculty gaining knowledge and skills, and the Penn State GA faculty acquiring international experience.

Mr. Torell was part of a Pittsburgh Regional Alliance trip in February 2009 to build relationships in Vietnam, and he met with government and business leaders in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang.

It was while visiting the latter that he met Duy Tan University's vice provost and director of academic affairs, Bao Le Nguyen, who suggested the idea for the academic collaboration.

Mr. Porter said the program expands the international portfolio of Penn State GA and provides pathways for students into the global economy.

"It also broadens the efforts which we have been engaged in for about seven years," said Mr. Porter about "Teaching International," in which a part of the world is selected each year by faculty for focus in their classes to better prepare students for life and work in a global society.

This year's focus is Southeast Asia.

Mr. Porter said he foresaw a next step of establishing a program that combines academic and cultural studies in which Penn State GA students undertake six- or eight-week programs at Duy Tan in various disciplines, and undergraduates of the latter study here.

It is also, he said, a golden opportunity to contribute to the success of the region.

"Western Pennsylvania is an ideal place, which I would like to promote in Vietnam and other places. A Vietnamese businessperson might consider investment here.

"I always have that hidden notion that we can provide some economic and social development for the region," he said.