Twelve Vietnamese university academic and technical staff have arrived in Queensland, marking the first phase of a major University of Queensland commitment to the training and development of staff of the University of Danang.
UQ will provide doctoral development, library and IT training to the staff from the University of Danang, whose arrival follows the signing of a number of ground-breaking agreements with three of the major universities of Vietnam.
The programs are being run under a series of donor funded activities conducted by UQ in conjunction with Vietnam National University - Hanoi, Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City and the University of Danang.
UQ Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International and Development) Professor Trevor Grigg said the first cohort of staff undertaking the Doctoral Development Program from the University of Danang would be followed by further arrivals next year.
"Earlier this year the University signed agreements for programs worth an estimated US$4.1 million (A$7 million) with the three universities," he said.
"UQ's involvement with the University of Danang includes a Doctoral Development Program and a Library and Information Technology Skills Training Program, fully funded to cover the costs of the programs, participant travel to and from Australia, and stipends for accommodation and living costs for the period of the programs.
"We hope these collaborations will contribute to the continuing development and strengthening of higher education in Vietnam."
The UQ Library and UQ Information Technology Services are working in partnership with the Information Resource Centre at the University of Danang. A joint project within this program is to train eight staff, including four academics, associated with the Centre during their four-week visit to UQ.
A large number of UQ Library staff will interact with the visitors, giving presentations in their area of expertise, or working with individuals in a "shadow training" situation. The visitors will be taught information management, information skills, information technology, Internet and database searching, and functional library management skills. Academics will also receive help from people in corresponding UQ faculties and attend courses at UQ's Teaching and Educational Development Institute.
Four staff of the University of Danang who are current PhD students at Vietnamese universities will be at The University of Queensland until December as part of a separate Doctoral Development Program (DDP).
This program focuses on training in research and professional skills and academic support for each candidate's PhD research project. Each student will be allocated an academic adviser to help them plan the research phases of their projects.
The PhD students are studying in fields as diverse as optical fibre communication systems and expression of comparative meanings in English and Vietnamese.
Before coming to Brisbane, participants received English language training during a five week course delivered at the University of Danang by UQ's Institute for Continuing and TESOL Education ICTE instructor John Williames, assisted by Ms Lucy Strickland, an Australian based in Hanoi.
While in Brisbane they will complete a further five week English for Academic and Research Communication program at ICTE before moving into the Doctoral Development Program coordinated by Deputy Head of UQ's Graduate School Associate Professor Alan Lawson.
Australia's Ambassador to Vietnam Michael Mann said: "I am very pleased to see Australian education cooperation increasing in Central Vietnam. Understandably, to date most international higher education relationships in Vietnam have been directed to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The University of Queensland is another of a growing number of Australian organisations working in and around Danang, the major city for more than 20 million Vietnamese. Planning and work is well under way for Danang to become one of the crossroads of the region as trans-Asian roads, railways and air routes develop."
The UQ-Vietnamese agreements were signed under the umbrella of the 1999 Memorandum of Understanding for Education and Training cooperation between Australia and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
The University of Queensland and VNU-Hanoi, VNU-HCM and the University of Danang are being assisted by Australian Education International in Vietnam in co-ordinating the programs in Vietnam.
Media: Further information, Jan King at UQ Communications 0413 601 248.
