The US Department of State has granted US$2.5m to Harvard University to help develop the first non-profit, independent US-affiliated university in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
The Fulbright University Vietnam will be formed from three institutions: Fulbright College, the Fulbright School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and the Fulbright School of Public Policy and Management.
“It will seek accreditation from U.S. higher education accrediting bodies and will coordinate with the private sector to meet Vietnam’s demand for skilled professionals”
It will also expand upon the already existing Fulbright Economics Teaching Program.
This programme, which has been running since 1994, was established by the Ash Center at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Governance and the University of Economics in Ho Chi Minh City.
Elaine Clayton, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the US Department of State, told The PIE News that the programme “has been active in Vietnam for more than 20 years with US government support”.
She added that it “will become the Fulbright School of Public Policy and Management, and serve as a cornerstone of FUV when it opens in 2016”.
According to a release from Harvard, students will come to the university “from around Asia and beyond”.
Clayton said that this development is intended to enhance Vietnam’s higher education sector.
“FUV is being founded upon the principles of accountability, meritocracy, transparency, self-governance, mutual respect, and open inquiry, and can serve as a model for other higher education institutions in Vietnam,” she said.
“It will seek accreditation from US higher education accrediting bodies and will coordinate with the private sector to meet Vietnam’s demand for skilled professionals.”
Enrolments will begin September 2016 with goal of reaching 2,000 undergraduate and graduate students in the first five years.
