Breathtaking coastlines, dense rainforest, fantastic food and lively cities: if you want to get to know Asia from its best side, you should study in Vietnam.
Get to know Vietnam
With Ho Chi Minh City, better known under its former name Saigon, the largest city is located here in the country. The seven million metropolis is the economic center and probably the most dynamic city in the country. In its hustle and bustle you will find French colonial buildings, stalls with delicious food, modern shopping centers, old temples and a nightlife that is second to none.
On the coast of Vietnam, on the other hand, you can discover beautiful beaches and natural spectacles such as Halong Bay, from whose turquoise-blue water countless islets and bizarre rock formations tower up. Studying abroad in Vietnam is the perfect opportunity to explore these unique landscapes.
University landscape in Vietnam
According to usprivateschoolsfinder, education is very important in Vietnam. Studying promises social advancement in the economically emerging country and is therefore considered by many Vietnamese to be the ultimate. In total there are more than 350 universities in Vietnam. Most of them are in government hands. Since the beginning of the 1990s, however, some private universities have also been opened in the communist-ruled country.
About 160 of the colleges in Vietnam are universities (dai hoc), the rest are colleges (cao dang). These offer three-year courses in the undergraduate area, but are not allowed to award academic degrees.
Foreign Universities in Vietnam and Reform of Vietnamese Universities
All universities are subject to state supervision by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET). This has developed ambitious reform goals for the universities of Vietnam: By 2020, four universities in the country are to be among the top 200 in the world. In the course of the restructuring of the university landscape, four new universities were founded with international support. In addition, in recent years more and more foreign universities have been given the opportunity to set up branches in Vietnam. One of the first was the Australian RMIT University with its branches in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.
The government hopes that this international cooperation will provide impetus to improve the existing university system. Until 1991, this was strongly oriented towards Eastern European standards. After the collapse of the political system in the former CIS countries, the government oriented itself towards Western educational standards. However, the study conditions of the state’s own universities do not yet fully correspond to these, and the degrees of many Vietnamese universities are not recognized internationally. However, the government’s reform programs suggest that the level of the state’s own universities will noticeably increase in the foreseeable future and that studying in Vietnam will be even more attractive for foreigners.
The international colleges enable Vietnamese and international students to complete high quality degree programs in Vietnam and obtain an internationally recognized degree. That is why they are particularly popular.
Study system in Vietnam
The academic year in Vietnam is traditionally divided into two semesters, at some foreign universities there is also a division into three trimesters. The course itself is relatively school-based at the Vietnamese universities. The most common form of teaching is still frontal teaching. Methods such as memorizing are much more important than group discussions, for example. At the foreign and international universities, however, the teaching corresponds to Western standards.
Degrees of Vietnam
Since the 1990s, the Anglo-American Masters and PhD degrees have increasingly been introduced in Vietnam. In the first section of the program, Vietnamese degrees are still awarded that come close to the Bachelor’s degree. Some universities have also introduced the Bachelor’s degree. Colleges also offer three to three and a half year job-related courses. They train the students mainly for professions in the medical field or in the financial and administrative sector and conclude with an associate degree.
The undergraduate study at Vietnamese universities takes four years to complete. The first year of the course mainly teaches general knowledge in the areas of mathematics, natural and social sciences, economics and languages. Only then do they specialize in the subject chosen by the students. The degree is usually completed with the title cu nhan.
Individual courses of study take longer and conclude with different titles. One example of this is medicine, in which Vietnam bac si is awarded after six years.
Foreign universities award the bachelor’s degree of the respective home country of the university. For example, students at an Australian university in Vietnam can acquire the internationally recognized Australian bachelor’s degree within three years.
After completing their bachelor’s degree, students can acquire a master’s degree (thac si) within two further years of study, and one-year programs are also offered at some foreign universities. The highest degree awarded by Vietnamese universities is the doctorate (tien si). The internationally better-known title Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) is awarded at universities abroad and internationally. The doctoral program lasts two to three years following a master’s degree. It is also possible to follow a good bachelor’s degree with a doctorate, in which case the doctorate in Vietnam usually takes four years.
