The planned university is anticipated to begin operations in 2016 and aims to employ around 80 staff teaching and 1,200 students by 2020.

The VND421bn (US$19.82m) development is back by the Waseda Health Sciences Education Corporation

The partnership signals the strengthening of bilateral relations between the two following the signing of a number of cooperation agreements, including a Strategic Cooperation Program on education between the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam and Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan in March this year.

The VND421bn (US$19.82m) development is backed by the Waseda Health Sciences Education Corporation, alongside investments from a number of Japanese organisations and individuals.

The university will focus on four-year degree programs and three-year associate’s degree courses in rehabilitation nursing, physical therapy, orthotics and prosthetics, and medical testing.

The go-ahead follows last month’s approval of Vietnam-Japan University, which will be the country’s first foreign-backed medical university under the Vietnam National University-Hanoi (VNU), which the Prime Minister called “the symbol of the strategic relationship between Vietnam and Japan”.

The Japanese government provided some US$200m of the estimated total $330m investment for the university, which aims to become one of the top 50 ranked higher education institutions in Asia by 2025.

It will begin teaching Masters programmes in 2016 and will be fully operational by 2019, when it will begin teaching undergraduate and doctoral courses. It will eventually accommodate around 6,000 students, including about 2,400 master’s students.

As GDP in the country begins to rise, international education is becoming more accessible and Vietnam’s government is keen to establish partnerships with foreign providers.

Australia’s RMIT Vietnam, launched in 2001 , is the most established branch campus in the country with some 6,000 students. Other projects with institutions in in France, Germany and Russia have begun or are in development as the government aims to improve science and technology education in the country.

In 2012, Vietnam hosted almost 4,000 international students, the majority coming from neighbouring Laos.