The event was hosted on Tuesday 6 December in Rutherford House.
Dr Girol Karacaoglu and Associate Professor Christian Schott delivered presentations to the group introducing the university’s Governing for the Future project and Sustainable Tourism Education respectively. Former Dean of the Wellington Faculty of Education, Professor Stephen Dobson, outlined the virtual Centre of Excellence as a new model for university cooperation.
The informative and interactive sessions were followed by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with Ho Chi Minh City University of Education to explore academic exchange, PhD pathways and collaborative research.
This followed on the heels of the Viet Nam—New Zealand Education Forum, held on Monday 5 December at Waikato University with the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation led by H.E. Vương Đình Huệ, President of Viet Nam’s National Assembly. Two further MoUs between VUW and Vietnamese partner universities (Hoa Sen University, Hanoi University of Civil Engineering) and were exchanged at the Forum.
Vietnam has been a key international partner for Te Herenga Waka for international student recruitment and partnership development. We have three joint training programmes in Vietnam and multiple other active articulation pathways. Pre-Covid around 200 Vietnamese students were enrolled with VUW, with a significant proportion of PhD students (currently 39). Hosting this delegation will help University deepen its already strong connections in Vietnam and open up new possibilities for collaborations.