VNU-HCM chancellor Vũ Hải Quân gives a speech at the 2024-25 academic year opening ceremony held on October 20 to welcome freshmen students. — VNS Photo Nguyễn Diệp

HCM CITY — Việt Nam's leading centre of higher education and scientific research, National University-HCM City (VNU-HCM), last Sunday (October 20) held the 2024-25 academic year opening ceremony to welcome freshmen students.

Speaking at the ceremony, VNU-HCM chancellor Vũ Hải Quân said the country is facing many new challenges.

“In order to not be left behind, there is only one way to overcome the new challenges, and that is taking advantage of human resources, science and technology and innovation,” he said.

VNU-HCM enters a new era with a vision of becoming a leading higher education institution in Asia.

“Therefore, reality poses new requirements for teachers and students to improve their capacities,” he said.

He expects students to always study hard, practise and cultivate themselves to have comprehensive knowledge, social responsibility, leadership ability, entrepreneurial spirit and creatively apply their knowledge, contributing to soon bring the country into a new era of breakthrough development.

He also asked the lecturers to continuously make more efforts in research and creative innovation to discover new knowledge, new technology and new unique cultural values.

Such efforts will contribute to the implementation of tasks at the national and regional levels and the country’s sustainable economic development, promoting social progress and enriching the treasure of knowledge of mankind and Vietnamese culture.

Lê Duy Loan, a senior fellow at the global U.S technology company Texas Instruments Corporation, was a guest speaker at the VNU-HCM new academic year opening ceremony held on October 20. — VNS Photo Nguyễn Diệp

Lê Duy Loan, a senior fellow at the global US technology company Texas Instruments Corporation, was a guest speaker at the event.

Loan shared her own experiences about the journey of commitment and dedication of a young intellectual.

She believes that education is the key that could help children born into difficult circumstances rise up to escape poverty and help others.

“Life can take away so many things from you but the knowledge in your mind it cannot,” she said.

VNU-HCM is one of the country’s largest educational institutions with eight member universities.

Each year, it trains more than 95,000 undergraduate students, and more than 8,000 graduate students. — VNS