HÀ NỘI —The Vietnamese education sector wants to attract students from the ASEAN region and increase the number of Vietnamese students studying in ASEAN countries, education and training deputy minister Bùi Văn Ga said.

He made the statement yesterday while speaking at the third policy dialogue of the European Union (EU) Support to Higher Education in ASEAN Region (SHARE) Programme in Hà Nội.

About 150 education officials, university managers, academics and students from Việt Nam, ASEAN member countries and the EU attended the two-day event that concludes today.

It is a platform to discuss how to enhance student mobility in the ASEAN region, particularly through credit transfer systems and scholarship schemes.

SHARE is a four-year initiative by the EU and ASEAN to harmonise and raise the quality of higher education in Southeast Asia. From 2016 onwards it will provide some 500 scholarships for ASEAN university students to put the improved systems to the test, mainly by supporting student exchanges and credit recognition within the ASEAN region.

The ASEAN is working with a consortium led by British Council to implement SHARE.

At the event, EU Ambassador to Việt Nam Bruno Angelet said that “The EU is very pleased to bring its wealth of expertise from the European Bologna Process to support ASEAN through the SHARE programme in building its own scholarship scheme and regional systems.”

To help Việt Nam further facilitate student mobility among ASEAN countries as well as labour mobility in the ASEAN Community, deputy minister Ga said “Việt Nam is going to issue National Qualifications Framework based on ASEAN Qualifications Reference Framework.”

Universities in Việt Nam are now offering courses in English and have been preparing for foreign universities to offer joint training programmes in Việt Nam. At present, there are 400 programmes, he said.

He also affirmed that the Vietnamese Government encourages foreign investors and universities to set up training institutes in the country.

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, about 130,000 Vietnamese students are studying abroad. Some 20,000 international students are studying in Việt Nam.

As part of Viet Nam’s efforts to promote student mobility, international universities were set up in Việt Nam such as Việt Nam-German University, Việt Nam-France University, Viet Nam-Japan University, Việt Nam-UK Institute. — VNS