Minister Nguyen Kim Son made the statement at today’s working session with Mr. Julien Guerier, Ambassador of the European Union (EU) to Vietnam in Hanoi.
At the meeting, Mr. Julien Guerier expressed his impression of Vietnam's development and remarkable achievements and said that the education and training sector plays a very important role in this outcome.
The Ambassador commented that Vietnamese people are very well educated. The literacy rate in Vietnam today is even better than in the European Union.
He also thanked the Ministry of Education and Training for supporting the organization of the Asia-Pacific Regional Summit on the ERASMUS+ program in November 2023. During the period 2015-2023, over 3,400 Vietnamese students have participated in the European Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students (ERASMUS)+ program and short-term courses in Europe. Therefore, he hoped that the two sides would cooperate to implement this content better; at the same time, the budget for this program would be raised.
The Ambassador also informed about the EU’s Global Gateway Initiative with the funding of about EUR300 billion revealing that the EU will pay attention to promoting infrastructure-related fields such as energy and transportation, education and research with Vietnamese partners.
Vietnam is leading Asia in capacity-building programs in higher education, Mr. Guerier commented, citing the number of 85 projects with a capital of over EUR 66 million. He affirmed the EU will continue to contribute to the improvement of the quality of Vietnamese higher education. Specifically, relationships between higher education institutions and different educational organizations between countries will be promoted and more Vietnamese students will be attracted to participate in high-quality educational programs in Europe.
Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son emphasized that educational cooperation between Vietnam and the European Union is being implemented in many diverse forms, both multilateral and bilateral; between public and private systems and governmental and non-governmental cooperation. He highly appreciated the ERASMUS+ program that brings good outcomes and gives Vietnamese young people many learning opportunities.
Minister Nguyen Kim Son is especially interested in knowing that the EU side is preparing a draft Letter of Intent on education cooperation between Vietnam and the EU hoping that Vietnam can soon receive the official draft of this Letter of Intent for coordination in the coming time.
To promote Vietnam-EU education cooperation, the Vietnamese Minister expressed his wish that the Ambassador pay attention to promoting coordination in organizing regional and international conferences within the framework of the Education Ministers' Asian - European education. Additionally, he expected the EU will promote further educational cooperation between Vietnam and the EU by continuing to promote a number of active programs to achieve better results.
Minister Nguyen Kim Son revealed that the Vietnamese government is very interested in fields such as semiconductor technology, biotechnology, new energy, artificial intelligence and many other technology fields. Therefore, he hoped that the Ambassador would provide information and connections so that Vietnamese universities could have more cooperation with EU universities that have advantages in these fields.
The Ministry of Education and Training and the Vietnam Association for Promoting Education today signed a coordination program on promoting learning and talent promotion and building a learning society in the period 2024-2030. The coordination program between the two sides will build forums on promoting learning, promoting talents, and building a learning society on mass media under the management authority of the Ministry of Education and Training and the Vietnam Association for Education.
Furthermore, groups and individuals with outstanding achievements in learning, teaching, and management of the education sector, in the work of promoting learning, promoting talent, and building a learning society will be honored and rewarded.
