US embassy cable - 03HOCHIMINHCITY604

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HO CHI MINH CITY 000604 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/BCLTV AND EAP/PD 
DEPARTMENT ALSO FOR ECA/A (DAS Farrell) 
BANGKOK FOR PAS/RLO BOYUM 
 
E. O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SOCI, EAGR, ECON, OEXC, VM 
SUBJECT: CAN THO AND AN GIANG UNIVERSITIES - SEEKING 
RESOURCES TO MODERNIZE 
 
1.  (SBU)  Summary.  During a recent trip to the Mekong 
Delta region, DCM met with the Vice-Rector of Can Tho 
University and the Rector of An Giang University.  Both 
expressed disappointment at the slow start to the Vietnam 
Education Foundation (VEF) scholarship program and expressed 
hope that its web site would be updated soon.  They noted 
that more and more students were expressing interest in 
studying English and IT, and indicated they would like to 
see more students studying agricultural development.  They 
also said they would welcome volunteers with professional 
experience from the U.S. to help modernize teaching methods 
and curriculum, and improve English skills.  Mission 
believes this may be a good opening for bringing Peace Corps 
to Vietnam.  End summary. 
 
Can Tho University 
------------------ 
 
2.  (U) During a recent visit, DCM, Embassy Poloff, ConGen 
EconOff, and ConGen Pol/Econ assistant met with Dr. Nguyen 
Anh Tuan, Vice Rector in Charge of International Relations, 
and Dr. Ha Thanh Toan, Director of the Biotechnology 
Research and Development Institute at Can Tho University 
(CTU).  Dr. Tuan, who completed graduate studies at Auburn 
University (Alabama), described CTU as a public university. 
The administration is elected by the faculty and then 
formally appointed by the Ministry of Education and Training 
(MOET), in consultation with the People's Committee of Can 
Tho Province.  The curriculum is set by the professors and 
approved by MOET.  Tuition to attend CTU is $100 a year, and 
the VND 100 billion annual budget (approximately USD 6.5 
million) is funded by a combination of tuition, central 
government funding, international aid, and research 
sponsorships.  Approximately five percent of the students 
are eligible to receive merit-based scholarships.  Students 
in CTU's Education College -- like all students who study 
the profession of teaching in Vietnam -- do not pay tuition, 
provided they work as teachers after graduation. 
 
3.  (U)  According to Dr. Tuan, CTU has roughly 34,000 
students enrolled at its main campus and satellite colleges 
throughout the Mekong Delta, making it one of the five 
largest universities in Vietnam.  Its staff numbers about 
1600, of whom six are currently studying in the U.S.  About 
22 percent of Vietnam's population lives in the Delta 
provinces.  Until An Giang University (AGU) was established 
in December 1999, CTU was the only university in the Mekong 
Delta region.  While 17,000 students attend classes at the 
main CTU campus, only 6000 students live there.  CTU has 
some private, commercially-funded research programs as well 
as regular course study.  Competition for fellowships to 
conduct graduate and undergraduate research is fierce: CTU 
admitted only 4400 (six percent) of 74,000 applicants to do 
research in 2003. 
 
4.  (U)  Dr. Tuan inquired about the progress of the VEF, as 
its website had not posted any new information recently. 
DCM informed him that the VEF recently selected 22 
Vietnamese students already enrolled in advanced degree 
programs in the U.S., mostly in hard sciences and 
information technology (IT), for the first round of 
scholarships.  Dr. Tuan and Dr. Toan (who completed his PhD 
in food science at the University of Illinois at Champaign- 
Urbana) agreed that CTU should put forward agriculture 
students as candidates for VEF scholarships in the future. 
Both academics noted that it was unfortunate that more 
bright students were not studying agriculture, as Vietnam is 
an agricultural economy and needs good leaders, in order to 
become more productive and efficient in that sector.  They 
described the Faculty of Agriculture as the strongest school 
at CTU. 
 
5.  (U)  Dr. Tuan added that increasing numbers of students 
had changed their major field of study to English.  Many of 
them were now shifting to IT.  He noted that there are 
currently volunteers at CTU from Australia, Canada, Japan 
and the U.K. teaching courses ranging from IT to medicine to 
English.  He said the highest priority of employers in 
Vietnam today is to hire graduates who can speak English. 
Technical skills and high marks are a distant second and 
third. 
 
6.  (U)  Regarding special treatment for ethnic minority 
students, Dr. Tuan said that while each Mekong Delta 
province has built a dormitory at CTU for its students, the 
GVN built one to house minorities, mostly Khmer and Cham. 
The GVN dormitory holds 400 beds, and occupancy has 
generally run at 70-80 percent, with a small number of 
minority students living off-campus.  Ethnic minority 
students also take part in the numerous student groups on 
campus. 
 
7.  (SBU)  Dr. Tuan also discussed the status of a number of 
universities which have recently opened or will be opening 
in the Delta, and their varying degrees of freedom to 
determine their own curriculum and sources of funding.  They 
are: 
 
-- An Giang University. (see para. 8) Opened end of 1999. 
 
-- University of Medicine and Dentistry in Can Tho.  Opened 
in April 2003, funded by the Ministry of Health (MOH), 
curriculum approved by both MOH and MOET.  Founded upon the 
School of Medicine that was formerly part of CTU. 
 
-- University of Education and Pedagogy in Dong Thap. 
Opened April 2003, centrally funded.  Established to train 
teachers, curriculum must be approved by MOET. 
 
-- Fisheries University of Kien Giang.  Unsure when it will 
open, but will be central government funded.  May have been 
created for political reasons, since Mr. Nguyen Tan Dung, 
the First Deputy Prime Minister, is from Kien Giang.  The 
GVN has requested that the satellite branch of Nha Trang 
University of Fisheries located in Saigon move to Rach Gia 
to support the creation of this new university. 
 
-- Mekong University in Vinh Long.  Opened in 2000, private, 
curriculum established by professors but must be approved by 
MOET.  Some retired government officials own shares in this 
university. 
 
An Giang University 
------------------- 
 
8.  (U)  DCM and party met separately with the Harvard- 
educated Dr. Vo Tong Xuan, Rector of AGU.  AGU was formally 
opened by decree in December 1999, and receives funding from 
the GVN and An Giang province.  MOET approves the 
curriculum.  Dr. Xuan took over as Rector of the University 
in February 2000, and during these first few years he said 
his top priority has been trying to attract and retain new 
faculty.  His second priority has been to upgrade the skills 
of the existing faculty. 
 
9.  (U)  Regarding recruitment, Dr. Xuan said he has been 
seeking out and hiring the rare Vietnamese professors who 
understand the "Western" way of teaching, where students are 
expected to come to class having already read the material, 
prepared to participate in a class discussion.  He said 
around 50 percent of the teaching faculty are new, 
relatively young, and try to use the "Western" model.  The 
exchange program which An Giang University has developed 
with Bluffton College in Ohio has also helped faculty learn 
new pedagogical styles from visiting American professors, he 
remarked. 
 
10.  (SBU)  Regarding development of the current faculty, 
Dr. Xuan said he has had some difficulty getting the older 
faculty from the former An Giang Teachers' Training College 
-- many of whom have been teaching for decades and are 
"really set in their ways" -- to adapt and develop new 
methods of teaching.  Before the next school year starts, 
Dr. Xuan plans to host a seminar to train faculty to use the 
computer program "WebCities" to make their syllabi and 
electronic reading material available to students on-line. 
 
11.  (U)  AGU boasts the largest computer library in 
Vietnam, with 100 computers donated from the Ford 
Foundation, but Dr. Xuan said the number of visitors to the 
library fell from 800 to 40 per week, as students tried to 
get course materials on-line and found the materials had not 
been uploaded by all of the professors.  He expressed 
optimism that AGU students will soon be able to access the 
Bluffton College "Ohio Link" electronic library, but 
lamented that because of slow on-line data transmission 
rates in Vietnam, students may not gain as much benefit as 
he hoped.  High-speed Internet connection via satellite link 
has recently been approved for use in two software parks in 
Vietnam.  When ConGen EconOff raised this with Dr. Xuan, he 
said AGU might need a connection like this to remain 
effective. 
 
12.  (U) Dr. Xuan said he would like see a migration of 
redundant labor in the agricultural sector to the industrial 
or service sectors, and has set up a curriculum to support 
this.  In 2000-2001, AGU admitted students for programs 
focusing on math, literature, English, business finance, and 
business accounting.  Starting in 2002, students were also 
admitted to programs focusing on agricultural products 
processing and preservation, rural development, agricultural 
engineering, information technology, and environmental 
management.  Dr. Xuan also suggested that Vietnamese rice 
farmers need to consoidate and rights in order to bring 
rice production to its most efficient level, but there is a 
lack of direction at the highest levels of government that 
could bring about this change.  Only if leadership 
establishes firm policies and offers incentives for farmers 
to be more efficient in the agricultural sector will the 
economy of Vietnam fundamentally change, he said. 
 
13.  (U) Note:  Dr. Xuan's strong background in agricultural 
development and wet rice cultivation is attracting students 
to AGU.  He is widely credited with being the man who saved 
Vietnam from famine in the early 1980s by improving methods 
of rice cultivation, and bears the nickname "Dr. Rice".  He 
is a member of the board of the Rockefeller Foundation. 
 
14.  (U)  Comment:  Both Dr. Tuan and Dr. Xuan expressed 
concern that Vietnam's agricultural economy is inefficient, 
and that there is a lack of leadership in the GVN in rural 
and agricultural development.  This lack of leadership has 
contributed to students choosing other areas of study, and 
to farmers using unproductive or counterproductive farming 
methods.  They were both disappointed by the relatively slow 
start to the VEF program and under-representation of the 
agricultural field.  They will seek to identify good 
candidates, and hope the VEF Board of Directors will address 
the need for agricultural development in Vietnam when 
considering applications next year. 
 
15.  (SBU)  Comment continued:  Both Dr. Tuan and Dr. Xuan 
said the professional experience and functional abilities of 
visiting faculty from the U.S. and other countries were 
sought-after commodities in Vietnam.  Dr. Tuan asked 
outright if the USG would be willing to start up an official 
"volunteers" program to send professors to CTU to teach. 
Many universities have approached ConGen seeking additional 
resources to improve teaching methodology and curriculum, as 
well as English language training.  Mission believes this 
may be the right time to begin negotiations on an MOU to 
bring Peace Corps Volunteers to Vietnam to address this 
need.  End comment. 
YAMAUCHI