Going Global is the British Council’s flagship annual conference in various countries. This is a forum for international education leaders who debate the future of further and higher education. Going Global 2017’s theme was “Global cities: connecting talent, driving change”. The conference attracted the attendance of more than 900 policy makers, higher education leaders, and business people from over 70 countries around the world.
Professor Dr Bui Van Ga, Vice Minister of Education and Training Vietnam, and Vietnamese delegates participated and contributed to different sessions in Going Global 2017.
Professor Dr Bui Van Ga said: ‘The theme “Global cities: connecting talent, driving change” of this conference has a significant meaning to Vietnam in the context of the country’s development and international integration both in width and depth. Global cities can be seen as places that have all economic, social, cultural, science and technological infrastructure advantages that can attract global investments and talents. The foundation for sustainable development of these cities is primarily the high quality human resources and the mobility of the labour force between the cities.’
‘Global cities are usually urban cities with available good infrastructure and well-known universities, and gradually expanding to other local cities. Going Global 2017 brings education policy makers significant chances to learn about international global city models. Experiences from developed countries in other regions are also beneficial for Vietnam and ASEAN economic community countries in developing education and training plans to create global cities in the region.’
Vietnam is seen as open to international education with 310 active joint training programmes of which UK is ranked third in number. Dr Nguyen Xuan Vang, Director General for International Cooperation, Ministry of Education and Training, at Going Global 2017, presented an overview of these programmes in Vietnam, including the government policies that supported international collaboration in teaching and degree awarding, the benefits and the challenges. The current policies clearly specify the approval procedure for joint training programmes that encourages the development of this type of training.
Ms Nguyen Phuong Hoa, Deputy Director General, International Cooperation Department, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism joined the session ‘Creative Hubs: igniting innovation in cities’. Ms Nguyen Phuong Hoa presented the National Strategy for 2020, with a vision to 2030, on the development of Vietnamese cultural industries, and introduced some creative hub models in Vietnam.