UEC holds first joint seminar in Vietnam

Koichiro Ishibashi
UEC Office for International Cooperation

In May this year, UEC held its first ever seminar in Vietnam, in order to celebrate and cement its links with top tier universities throughout the country ahead of UEC's 100^th anniversary in 2018. The seminar was held on 14-15 May 2015 at the main campus of Ho Chi Minh City University of Science (HCMUS).

Strong relations between Vietnamese universities and UEC have developed since HCMUS became a sister university of UEC in 2010. Vietnamese students represent the 3^rd largest population at UEC (2^nd largest being from China) thereby further enhancing the links between Vietnamese universities and UEC. A key aim of the seminar was to encourage more Vietnamese students to study at UEC.

Important members of key universities in Vietnam were invited to attend the seminar on behalf of their institutions. The seminar welcomed Nguyen Hoi Nghia, vice president of the Vietnam National University in Hoi Chi Minh City (VNU-HCM), together with Nguyen Thanh Thuy, vice rector of VNU's University of Engineering and Technology (VNU-UET). Also from VNU-HCM were vice president Vu Hai Quan, from University of Science (HCMUS), and Dean of the University of Technology, Tran Ngoc Thinh (HCMUT). Representing Hanoi University of Science and Technology (HUST) was vice president Tran Van Top, and from Le Quy Don Technical University, vice Dean Tran Xuan Nam.

More than 50 people, including the guests from all universities together with Vietnamese students, attended the seminar. Vu Hai Quan (HCMUS) began proceedings with a congratulatory message. This was followed by an introduction to UEC by UEC vice president Tetsuo Kirimoto. In the collaboration session, Tran Ngoc Thinh of HCMUT and Le Duc Hung of HCMUS introduced their current research projects in collaboration with UEC, which focus on sensor networks and the so-called 'Very Large Scale Integration' design of semiconductor chips. In a session focusing on the opportunities for study at UEC, participants learnt more about two of UEC's key research themes, namely optics science research and wireless and communication research. In the final session of the first day, alumni and collaborations with universities in the Association of South-East Asian Nations region were discussed.
On the second day, participants attended 'collaborative workshops' intended to forge new plans for collaborations between HCMUS and UEC over the next 5 years. A key focus of the workshops was to discuss the possibility of forming sister universities between UEC and HUST, Le Quy Don Technical University and VNU-UET, with the aim of launching collaborations focused on such topics as wireless communications.

Following the success of the seminar, UEC is determined to expand on collaborations with all top-tier Vietnamese universities, and looks forward to welcoming more students from Vietnam in future.

Further information

The full seminar program is available here:

http://www.uec.ac.jp/news/event/2015/pdf/20150511-3.pdf