One of the biggest German higher education projects outside Germany is currently being realized in the Vietnamese metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City. Under the supervision of the Hessian Ministry of Higher Education, Research and the Arts and with support from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the Vietnamese-German University (VGU) is to become a leading centre of excellence in Southeast Asia with places for 5,000 students by 2020. “We want to build a university that is based on the German model and offers high academic standards,” says VGU’s first President, Professor Wolf Rieck. He was also appointed chairman of the association in which more than 30 German universities joined together on 17 February to develop teaching and research at the VGU. The association mediates between VGU and the German partners. Until now Vietnam has not had an autonomous university with close links between teaching and research. Vietnamese universities are primarily teaching institutions. The German model has been strongly supported by the Vietnamese Vice Premier and Minister of Education Nguyen Thien Nhan who studied engineering in Magdeburg and is well-acquainted with the advantages of the German approach. There is also considerable interest in German expertise, especially when it comes to technological and natural sciences. The association will determine which study programmes are eventually suitable for “export”. Courses focus on the high-tech sector and lead to both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. If necessary, the association’s members intend to develop new study programmes. The first semester of the Bachelor’s programme in electrical engineering has already been scheduled for 35 students. Additional programmes in electrical engineering, climate and environmental research, water supply as well as regional and traffic planning are being arranged. “We would like to invite German professors to hold short-term courses of several weeks at VGU, but we also need staff who can teach for a longer period of at least one year,” says Professor Reiner Anderl, Vice President of TU Darmstadt, who is responsible for academic affairs on the association’s board. Christian Hohlfeld
