HÀ NỘI — Hà Nội University of Science and Technology (HUST) and UTS:INSEARCH, the University of Technology Sydney’s English college, have launched a programme to boost the English language skills of Vietnamese researchers.

The English for Academic Research Programme is the first such programme in Việt Nam, specifically tailored to help researchers and professors produce quality scientific publications in English.

The first course under the partnership between the two universities is expected to be conducted over 10 weeks as of September by experienced UTS:INSEARCH teachers.

Tim Laurence, dean of studies for UTS:INSEARCH, said the curriculum was designed to help learners improve their vocabulary, grammar, academic writing ability and independent study ability, and would help researchers to interact confidently with international peers and supervisors in English.

“Strong English proficiency strengthens Việt Nam’s competitiveness in research,” he said.

Vice-Principal of HUST Trần Văn Tớp said SCImago Journal & Country had ranked Việt Nam 64 out of 239 countries, based on the number of international publications, as the country had more than 29,230 internationally-published documents and journals, mostly in agriculture, technical mathematics, pharmacy and physics.

Modest English language proficiency was a barrier for Vietnamese researchers and research students, he said.

Tớp said Việt Nam, particularly its universities, was trying to enhance scientific research ability and foreign language proficiency.

Kim Cleary, education counsellor for the Australian Embassy in Việt Nam, said the programme was evidence of the increased co-operation between the two countries.

She said she believed it would enhance collaboration between researchers in Australia and Việt Nam.

UTS:INSEARCH Accelerate Scholarships were also announced at the programme launch, offering free tuition to masters and PhD students in Việt Nam who have accepted an offer to attend the University of Technology Sydney. The scholarships are worth VNĐ50 million (US$ 2,240). — VNS