HCM CITY — Harvard University President Drew Gilpin Faust yesterday met with leaders of HCM City University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USSH) to extend co-operation between the two schools in the upcoming time.

USSH rector Võ Văn Sen said the two universities should continue their research about sustainable development in the Mekong Delta and Việt Nam’s reform during global integration.

“Sustainable development in the Delta is necessary since the region is strongly affected by climate change,” he said, adding that more research on lifestyle and cultivation reform is needed for sustainable development.

Harvard University is the oldest institution of higher education in the US and has about 2,400 faculty members.

There are many opportunities for cooperation in different fields between the university and members of Việt Nam National University-HCM City, including USSH, Sen said.

Since 1991, 60 staff of USSH have received scholarships to study at Harvard University, he added.

Harvard University’s president said Vietnamese scholars and students were welcome to study learn and do research at Harvard.

Sixteen Vietnamese students are currently studying at Harvard.

Faust said that she wanted to visit Việt Nam after learning about its rapid growth.

After a discussion with leaders of USSH and Việt Nam National University-HCM City, Faust spoke about the war and its impact on both countries. She said it was an important historical milestone for both countries.

Faust is the 28^th president of Harvard University and the Lincoln Professor of History in Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

As president of Harvard, she has expanded financial aid to improve access to Harvard College for students of all economic backgrounds and advocated for increased federal funding for scientific research.

She has written six books, including Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War, which won the Francis Parkman Prize in 1997.  —VNS