31 October 2021, Edinburgh, witnessed by the Viet Nam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Vice Minister of Education and Training, Assoc. Prof Nguyen Van Phuc and Mr Charlie Walker, Director Global Network of the British Council, signed a renewed Memorandum of Collaboration (MOC) between the British Council and the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) in Edinburgh.
The MOC being renewed for another three years till 2024 will deepen the existing collaboration between the British Council and MOET in education and English and contribute to quality education development in Viet Nam through sharing UK knowledge, expertise and experience in areas of bilateral strategic interest.
Speaking at a meeting with senior representatives of British Council, Vice Minister of Education and Training, Assoc. Prof Nguyen Van Phuc highly appreciated the collaboration with the British Council in Viet Nam. He said: “The British Council plays an active role in developing English language teaching and development activities, supporting the connection of universities to exchange and cooperate in training programs and projects in general, and collaboration links between institutions of the two nations, thereby contributing to the development of educational relations between the two countries.”
On behalf of the British Council, Mr Charlie Walker, Director Global Network, said, “The MOC we signed today will further our long-term engagement with the Ministry to support Viet Nam’s effort in their internationalisation of education through our work in higher education leadership and development, academic and student mobility, science, and research, English language, among other areas. This will enable us to build more sustainable education connections between the UK and Viet Nam, promoting knowledge sharing and expertise, digital transformation and continued innovation.”
Key areas of strategy stated in the MOC include:
- internationalising the education sector in Viet Nam and integration regionally and globally by sharing UK experience and expertise and creating partnerships;
- development of quality assurance and accreditation, curriculum standards in Viet Nam education contributing to the eventual mutual recognition of qualifications and promoting the progression of learning and mobility for learners and academics in both Viet Nam and the UK; and
- collaboration to enhance English language teaching (ELT) capability in the Viet Nam education system and to share experience, expertise and research with policymakers, educational managers, lecturers and teachers meeting the requirements of international integration under Viet Nam’s national foreign languages strategy.
The MOC also includes a potential area of bilateral collaboration in climate change education contributing to the SDGs implementation. Climate Change is one of the thematic engagements of the British Council globally and in Viet Nam particularly. The Climate Connection programme, organised by the British Council, presented opportunities to work in a holistic approach to tackle the global challenges through science, research, education and arts with key activities such as Researcher Links on Climate Challenges, Trilateral Research Initiative; English learning resources on climate change (Climate Action in Language Education – CALE); Country Innovation Fund (Rivers of Life) and Global Youth Letter.
British Council’s Strategy25 states education as one of three key pillars and as a priority in Viet Nam, reaffirming the British Council’s commitment to work in partnership with MOET through the MOC on the traditional area of collaboration but with a more diverse and innovative approach including digital innovation, integration of arts, English, research and education etc. These will allow British Council to enable more UK – Viet Nam partnerships to provide solutions and improve Viet Nam capacity to support its government in meeting education development priorities and enhancing human capital to respond to the globalisation challenges.
The British Council wishes in the next three years to work with MOET on a long-term programme involving UK and Viet Nam organisations and institutions to address issues and challenges that ELT and higher education sectors are facing in the time of disruptive learning and digital innovation through key programmes: English for Education System and Going Global Partnerships.