About 40 universities of Vietnam and Russia signed 23 framework documents on cooperation in training and scientific research in Moscow, Russia, on September 7, in the framework of the official visit by Vietnamese Party leader Nguyen Phu Trong.

Scene at the signing ceremony (Photo: nhandan.com.vn)

The signing ceremony was witnessed by Vietnamese Minister of Education and Training Phung Xuan Nha and Russian Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education Marina Borovskaya.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Marina Borovskaya talked about Russia’s national ‘education export’ project, which will create more opportunities for foreign students, including Vietnamese, to study in Russia.

She said the number of Russian Government scholarships granted to Vietnamese students will increase from 950 this year to 1,000 in 2019.

Before the event, Minister Nha held working sessions with officials from the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Science and Higher Education, during which Nha highlighted sound collaboration in education and training between the two nations based on traditional ties dating back from the Soviet era. He added that the Soviet Union had helped Vietnam trained generations of experts.

The minister suggested turning the Vietnam-Russia cooperation agreement into reality via a plan for science-technology cooperation for 2019 – 2021.

He stressed that Vietnam is in need of high-quality experts, particularly in technology and economics, while Russia has an advanced educational environment, which can train people meeting such demand. 

As the meeting went on, the Vietnamese side suggested establishing an annual rectors’ forum starting next year to create stronger links between the two countries’ universities in training and research.

Deputy Minister Borovskaya supported the initiative and pledged to work on it in the coming time.

Also on September 7, Minister Nha visited a number of universities in Moscow and met with the rectors of dozens of Russian universities to discuss cooperation possibilities between these educational facilities and their Vietnamese peers. 

The minister presented his ministry’s ‘For the cause of education’ insignia to a number of professors and researchers at the Moscow Power Engineering Institute (MEI) for their contributions to training Vietnamese students.-VNA