Vietnamese President attends education forum in New York

14:42' 21/06/2007 (GMT+7)

President Nguyen Minh Triet, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem and Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Thien Nhan at the forum (photo: AP) VietNamNet Bridge – President Nguyen Minh Triet, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem and Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Thien Nhan on June 20 participated in a forum on Vietnam’s higher education in New York. The forum, titled “Higher education: Driving-force of development”, started at 9am, June 20 (local time) and was presided over by former US Senator Bob Kerrey, President of The New School, and professor Henry Rosovsky from Harvard University. The forum was held on the occasion of the Vietnamese President’s visit to the US and was part of the Harvard-sponsored assistance programme for Vietnam’s higher education reforms, based on the suggestion of former Prime Minister Phan Van Khai during his trip to the US two years ago. It is interesting that all speakers praised Vietnam’s strong advances. “Vietnam’s sustainable economic growth exceeds all expectations,” said Bob Kerrey, a former senator who is interested in and supports the normalisation of US-Vietnam relationships. According to Mr Kerrey, when Vietnam is determined to do something, it performs very well. Once Vietnam is determined to develop its economy, Vietnam will gain great progress in economics. “When I ask Vietnamese people whether they want to develop like ASEAN countries, they say ‘No, we want to develop strongly and powerfully like China’,” David Dapice from Tufts University, said. Mr Dapice compared the development of Vietnam with the development of the Internet, saying that in 2007, Vietnam has the world’s highest growth rate for the Internet while this rate was the lowest in the world seven years ago. Explaining this leap, Mr Dapice said that when the State facilitated the access of its citizens to the Internet, Vietnam obtained the great leap in Internet development, which is reflected in the intellectual standards of the people and social development. President Nguyen Minh Triet presents gifts to Bob Kerry, President of The New School (photo: AP) “If the state’s management in education is reduced, Vietnam’s education can develop as fast as the Internet,” he said. At the forum, speakers shared the viewpoint: “Higher education is the driving force for social and economic development”. At noon on June 20, President Nguyen Minh Triet attended the meeting and welcome party held by the Asia Society. Speaking at the party, the President said: “I’m very happy to start my visit in New York, the symbol of the success of the American people and meet with representatives of the US political circle, entrepreneurs, scholars and friends of Vietnam. Vietnamese people wish and are willing to bring the current good relationship between the two countries to a new height. “From this forum, I want to send a sincere invitation to the American people: a peaceful, stable, dynamically developing Vietnam always opens its door to American friends to come for travelling, investing, cultural and educational exchanges and building up better relations between the two nations.” On the evening of June 20, Mr Triet and the Vietnamese delegation went to Washington DC to prepare for their third busy day in the US. “A modern university is a complicated entity. Efforts to build it often fail. Moreover, the Vietnamese government wants to have top-tier universities, so will it accept premises to reach this goal, including giving self-control to universities and expanding the domain of learning?” Mr Kerry asked. Tom Vallely from the Harvard University, who has deep understanding of Vietnam’s educational system, said that Resolution 14 (which stipulates the comprehensive renovation of Vietnam’s higher education) contained those common principles. “The current challenges are how to implement it,” he said. At the forum, attendants again affirmed “effective university administration principles” are effective everywhere. That’s the self-control mechanism, based on transparency, freedom in learning. According to professor Blair Sheppard, Dean of the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, the governments of developing countries can’t provide higher education themselves or generate money to expand and improve the quality of higher education through taxes. On the other hand, governments can’t depend on the private sector in this issue. Therefore, the government must clearly determine its role in this task and at the same time help students by contributing both finances and effort to education. An expert on higher education in developing countries, Professor Rosovsky of Harvard University, noted that Vietnam should not import some foreign models because “a high-quality university is an entity combining the national quintessence, the actual situation of the country at that moment and the selection of good foreign models.” It is important to have qualified and enthusiastic leaders, the professor said. Speaking at the forum, President Nguyen Minh Triet affirmed that education was a field that the Vietnamese state attached special importance to. He also called for American educational experts to continue making contributions to Vietnam’s education and said this should be considered ‘the strand tying the relations between the two countries”. Viet Nam Net