About 40,000 Vietnamese go abroad to study each year: MoET

Students learn about information on studying in the US. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi – Around 40,000 Vietnamese people go abroad to study each year, a 2.5-fold increase compared to the figure before 2013, Pham Quang Hung, Director of the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET)’s International Cooperation Department, announced on October 31.

Addressing a symposium reviewing 10 years of implementing Resolution 29-NQ/TW on fundamental and comprehensive innovation in education and training in science, technology and international cooperation, Hung said that there are currently nearly 200,000 Vietnamese students learning abroad at the high school, university and post-graduate levels.

Meanwhile, the number of foreign students in Vietnam has also increased in the past decade, reaching around 22,000 at present, of whom nearly 4,000 come to Vietnam under signed agreements.

According to the official, in the past 10 years, the MoET has proactively negotiated and signed 161 international treaties and agreements; promoted relations with more than 100 countries and territories; and participated in a number of sub-regional, regional and inter-regional mechanisms, thus enhancing the level of international cooperation in education and training.

In the period, there have been over 3,500 memoranda of understanding and agreements on cooperation in training, scientific research, and student and lecturer exchanges signed between Vietnamese and foreign educational institutions.

Vietnam is always an active member of and proactively participates in education-related activities of international and regional organisations such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the Southeast Asia Ministers of Education Organisation (SEAMEO), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM).

According to data of the MoET, as of June 2023, 44 Vietnamese higher education institutions had 408 joint training programmes with 102 educational institutions of 26 countries and territories.

Statistics of the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment showed that as of June 2022, there had been 605 foreign investment projects worth 4.5 billion USD in Vietnam’s education sector from 33 countries and territories.