Vietnam and Switzerland are finding the ways to heighten their cooperation in higher education by setting up more joint training programmes.
University of Geneva willing to work with Vietnamese partners
On October 12, the first Forum on Swiss and Vietnamese Higher Education was held in Hanoi.
Nguyen Thi Thanh Minh, Deputy General Director of Vietnam International Education Development under the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET), said at the meeting that high tuition fees and living costs in Switzerland have been a hindrance to Vietnamese students studying in Switzerland.
Minh said that many students using Government funds to study overseas wish to go to Switzerland, but are forced to choose other countries, such as Australia and Singapore, because of their lower tuition fees and living costs.
“From 2010 through September 2011, Vietnam just sent three students and researchers to Switzerland for study using Government’s funds."
Vietnam and Switzerland have only a few joint training programmes, mostly focusing on banking and finance. Also, they offer relatively little in the way of scholarships or tuition fee exemptions, such as those that can be found in China or France.
Prof. Markus Freiburghaus, from School of Business at the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland, said that when Vietnamese students pay high tuition, they show their commitment to study, and it serves as motivation to do well.
Quality of higher education
Le Thi Huyen Trang, from MoET’s Training Support and Human Resource Development Centre, said that only about 20% of Vietnamese university graduates find work in the fields in which they were trained.
Trang added that graduates are well-versed in theory, but lack practical skills. This, she said, is due to the lack of cooperation between universities and the private sector, adding that many schools only give scholarships to students with outstanding academic records, but neglect to set up joint training programmes that would improve the labour force.
Other weaknesses include a lack of career-oriented course programmes, substandard learning facilities and the methods for evaluation and assessment.
Joint training programmes needed
The New Training Project No. 911, approved by the Prime Minister, has set a target to train 20,000 Ph.D students between 2011 and 2020 period, including 10,000 overseas, said Nguyen Thi Le Huong, Deputy General Director of MoET’s Higher Education Department. This will involve an effort increase cooperation with international institutes of higher learning.
Signing ceremony between Swiss and Vietnamese universities
Several representatives of Swiss universities, such as University of Geneva, University of Bern, World Trade Institute, University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland indicated a willingness to partner up with Vietnamese universities.
Memorandums of understanding were also signed between Vietnam National University, Hanoi and University of Geneva, between University of Saigon and University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland.
