Hanoi (VNA) - Conglomerate Vingroup officially opened its VinUniUniversity (VinUni) as the first Vietnamese private and not-for-profituniversity at the Vinhomes Ocean Park urban area in Gia Lam district, Hanoi, onJanuary 15.

Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam said that investmentin science and education is a vision for every nation.

In recent years, all economic sectors are encouraged to invest in education andscience. Private universities make up 25 percent of the country’s totalfacilities. In particular, a number of successful businesses in the field of manufacturingand others have spent resources to invest in education, university training andscientific research, including Vingroup, he said.

He hoped Vietnam would have more and more businesses, organisations andindividuals investing in education and science, saying it is not only good for theirown business, but also a social responsibility, the future of the country.

After 14 months of construction, VinUni was completed on a total area of 23ha.Infrastructure was built following the leading Quacquarelli Symonds’ QSfive-star university standards. The university includes nine buildings,including the main building, dormitories, sports complex, library, labs andsimulation buildings, meeting the demands of teaching and study for 3,500students. 

On December 17, 2019, the Prime Minister officially approved the establishmentof VinUni with total investment of 6.5 trillion VND (279 million USD) fromconglomerate Vingroup, of which 3.5 trillion VND was earmarked forinfrastructure investment and 3 trillion VND for talent, scholarships andoperation over the first 10 years.

In the first phase, VinUni will focus on three institutes: BusinessAdministration, Health Sciences and Engineering and Computer Science. The threemajors aim to meet the current and future needs of Vietnam as well as globaltrends in eight specific fields: hotel management, business administration,real estate management, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering,computer engineering, medicine and nursing.

To realise the goal of becoming one of top 50 leading young universities in theworld, VinUni also cooperated closely with two world leading universities,including Cornell and Pennsylvania in developing management, training,recruitment and quality assessment programmes. 

In the 2020-21 academic year, VinUni plans to receive 300 students in theinstitutes. VinUni will also support 35 percent of tuition fees for allstudents, equivalent to between 12,000 USD to 15,000 USD during the first fiveacademic years./.