A Vietnam-UK educational investment and cooperation forum held in London on January 22 was successful beyond expectations with the signing of 23 memoranda of understanding.

Officials witness the signing of the memoranda of understanding at the Vietnam-UK educational investment and cooperation forum in London on January 22 

In his opening speech, Vietnam’s Minister of Education and Training Phung Xuan Nha said the Vietnamese Government defines education as one of three breakthroughs in the implementation of the socio-economic development strategy for 2011-2020.

To improve human resources development, the country has worked to integrate into global education and attract foreign investment to this field to enhance local education quality.

Foreign investment projects in education and joint training programmes have played a key role in creating high-quality human resources for Vietnam, he noted.

Introducing Vietnam’s advantages, Nha said it has a young population with a fondness for learning and high demand for studying at world-class educational establishments. About 170,000 Vietnamese are studying overseas at present.

The country also has security and political stability and an open visa policy. Therefore, once investing in Vietnam, foreign educational establishments will be able to attract not only Vietnamese students but also those from across Southeast Asia and the world, he added.

The minister said as of December 31, 2018, Vietnam had attracted 455 foreign invested projects in education with total capital of more than 4 billion USD. It had also approved 530 joint training programmes between local and foreign universities, including more than 80 programmes with British schools.

The 23 deals signed at the forum cover bilateral cooperation in secondary school, tertiary and postgraduate education, vocational training and publication, among others.

Tran Huong Ly, First Secretary in charge of education at the Vietnamese Embassy in the UK, said the event, organised by the ministry, the University of London and the British University Vietnam, drew the participation of some 200 British partners, the largest number at an event of this kind so far.-VNA