The University of Portsmouth hosted a visit by representatives from a number of Vietnamese universities to help promote higher education partnerships between the UK and Vietnam.
The University of Portsmouth hosted a visit by representatives from a number of Vietnamese universities to help promote higher education partnerships between the UK and Vietnam.
The visit was organised by the UK-Vietnam Higher Education Network of the British Council to discuss collaborative research and innovation opportunities. The network, which is co-chaired by Professor Raymond Lee, Professor of Biomechanics and Associate Dean (Global Engagement) in the Faculty of Technology at the University of Portsmouth, comprises over 40 Vietnamese and UK universities, providing a platform for the promotion of internationalisation of higher education in teaching, learning, research and innovation.
Professor Lee invited the delegation to the University, where they visited a number of research and innovation facilities, including the Centre for Creative and Immersive Extended Reality (CCIXR) and the Future Technology Centre. Professor Lee also presented a seminar on “Excellence in Research and Innovation” to promote partnerships between Portsmouth and Vietnamese universities, exchange experiences and share insights in strategies in research and innovation excellence.
We are now working with some of the finest institutions in Vietnam, with projects ranging from health technology to the development of research assessment framework. These partnerships have strongly established our University as a key player in higher education in Vietnam, growing our international presence and reputation.
In the seminar, Professor Lee presented the preliminary findings of a project which looks at the current landscape of research and innovation in Vietnam. This project, funded by the British Council, will provide useful baseline data for the development of a research assessment framework in Vietnam.
This was followed by a talk by Professor Jeremy Howells, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research, Innovation and External Relations, who provided an overview of REF in the UK, our successes in this exercise and the impact that our research has made. Professor Adam Amara, Director of the University’s Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, then presented our success stories in Physics research in the REF.
Professor Raymond Lee said: “We are really pleased that the “UK Inward Mission” of the British Council visited our University. This provided an excellent opportunity of facilitating high level engagement in research and innovation partnership between our University and Vietnamese institutions. We are now working with some of the finest institutions in Vietnam, with projects ranging from health technology to the development of research assessment framework. These partnerships have strongly established our University as a key player in higher education in Vietnam, growing our international presence and reputation.”
Associate Professor Nguyen Thu Thuy, Director General of Higher Education, Ministry of Education and Training, Vietnam, said: “Research and innovation is definitely the priority in education in Vietnam. Through this visit, I am impressed with how the UK government, UK universities in general and the University of Portsmouth in particular, have been doing to strengthen research, to engage business in research and to enhance social impacts of their research work. Therefore, I believe that Vietnamese higher education institutions will benefit a lot from the opportunities for capacity building & enhancement, joint research, joint publications, staff/student mobility etc, if the UK-VN HE network focuses on the research and innovation agenda.”
“Vietnam’s government has a number of initiatives to support research and innovation, and I would strongly encourage that UK HEIs in the network work closely with Vietnamese higher education institutions as well as the British Council to maximise the partnership opportunity, one of which is to take advantage of Project 89 in training Vietnamese PhDs abroad.”
Some members of the Network visited the University for a second day to look at specific areas of collaboration. Hanoi University of Science and Technology has a specific interest in biomedical engineering, whereas Hanoi University of Geology and Mining is keen to develop collaboration with our School of Civil Engineering and Surveying.