Enhanced Bilateral Collaborations in Education Between Singapore and Vietnam

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Enhanced Bilateral Collaborations in Education Between Singapore and Vietnam

1. Singapore and Vietnam are forging stronger links in education by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on education cooperation between the two countries. The MOU provides a comprehensive framework ranging from school to university levels. It covers school twinning programmes, language learning, joint student activities, staff exchanges and training, and university linkages, including joint research programmes between the universities in science and technology.

2. Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Minister for Education, Singapore and Prof Dr Nguyen Thien Nhan, Minister of Education and Training, Vietnam signed the MOU during Prof Nhan’s visit to Singapore on 25 April 2007.

3. The MOU formalises the current collaborations between the two countries. There is scope to expand school twinning programmes and provide greater opportunities for students to be exposed to each other’s countries through joint student activities[1].

4. More scholarships for study in Singapore have been awarded to Vietnamese students this year.

5. Under the MOU, Singapore’s National Institute of Education (NIE) and Vietnam’s National Institute of Education and Management would also be jointly developing and running a customised programme to train Vietnamese school leaders.

6. The MOU would further enhance existing cooperation between Vietnamese institutions and Singapore’s institutions of higher learning. National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), NIE and Institute of Technical Education (ITE) have signed MOUs with Vietnamese institutions, covering areas ranging from technical consultancy, graduate student supervision, to joint research and staff and student exchanges.

[1] Some examples currently include the twinning programmes between Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) and Hanoi’s Ngo Si Lien Lower Secondary School, and between National University of Singapore High School of Mathematics and Science and Vietnam National University School for Gifted Pupils. Zhonghua Secondary School is in discussion with Le Quy Don Lower Secondary School in Vinh Long.