University cooperation for development We are facing global challenges such as poverty, climate change and migration. In spite of the global scale of those challenges, their negative consequences are locally perceptible, specifically by the most vulnerable communities. VLIR-UOS believes that institutions for higher education can and must be drivers of social change in finding answers to those challenges. By means of international cooperation and knowledge exchange between higher education institutions, we want to strengthen universities and the societies they are embedded in.

University cooperation for development

between Vietnam and Flanders (Belgium)

VLIR-UOS VLIR-UOS facilitates innovative cooperation between higher education institutions in Flanders (Belgium) and those in developing countries. The cooperation aims at finding sustainable solutions to global challenges and local needs.

As part of the Flemish Interuniversity Council, VLIR-UOS is responsible for managing the university cooperation for development funds of Belgium’s minister of Development Cooperation. www.vliruos.be

Belgian university cooperation with Vietnam The Belgian-Vietnamese development cooperation goes back to the late 1970s. The university cooperation for development is one of the cornerstones of this collaboration, especially since the late 1990s. University cooperation represents almost 15% of the total Belgian official development aid (ODA) to Vietnam, with a year budget of about 2 mio EUR . VLIR-UOS and CIUF-CUD facilitate the university cooperation with respectively Dutch and French speaking Belgian institutions of higher education.

The overall objective of the university cooperation is to strengthen universities in their performance in education, research and community engagement. Scientific and academic partnerships with Vietnam are mainly realized within the following areas:

o Agronomy and life sciences; o Environment and rural development; o Health; o Infrastructure and Transport.

The Belgian-Vietnamese university cooperation endorses the main axes of the latest Socio-Economic Development Plan in Vietnam 2011-2015 (SEDP): developing a sustainable economy at a high growth rate and being active in the global integration; increasing the quality of products with the help of science and high technology in; improving the quality of education, training and human resources. The Belgian-Vietnamese university cooperation plays an active role in the development and implementation of the new Belgian Indicative Cooperation Programme with Vietnam.

As part of the university cooperation with Vietnam, there has been cooperation with a wide range of actors, including the Belgian Embassy in Vietnam, the Directorate-General for Development Cooperation (DGD), the Belgian Technical Cooperation (BTC), the European Union (EU), the Belgian Research Foundations (FWO and FNRS) and the Belgian Science Policy (Belspo). The Vietnamese actors involved are the Ministries of Science and Technology, Education and Technology, Agriculture and Rural Development, Planning and Investment and the National Foundation for Science and Technology Development.

Flemish higher education Flanders is the northern, Dutch speaking part of Belgium, located between the Netherlands and France. There are five Flemish universities and 22 university colleges. The universities are Katholieke Universiteit Leuven; University of Antwerp; Ghent University; Hasselt University; Free University Brussels.

Dutch is the main language of those institutions, but several courses are taught in English. For more information on the Flemish higher education, visit www.studyinflanders.be.

Main tools of university cooperation for development Institutional strengthening through IUC Institutional university cooperation programmes (IUC) are long-term, multi-disciplinary programmesbetween Belgian universities and one specific university in the South, lasting for ten years and more. The programmes focus mainly on the institutional strengthening of the universities to better fulfil their role as development actors. Vietnam was one of the first countries where VLIR-UOS started its long-term institutional programmes.

Own Initiatives and Research Initiative Programmes Own Initiatives (OI) are competitive research and training projects between a Flemish and a Vietnamese university department, lasting no more than four years.

Research Initiative Programmes (RIP) are also competitive projects between two departments, limited to departments that were initially involved in the institutional university cooperation programmes (IUC).As such they validate the research capacity that was built up during the IUC. Previous Vietnamese scholarship students can now take the lead in further developing their university.

Innovative North South South projects The VLIR-UOS NSS programme provides support to innovative forms of cooperation, to put in practice pioneering ideas (seed money) and research results obtained in other projects and to facilitate networking with other universities all over the world. The South-South cooperation is a crucial feature to this competitive programme.

Scholarships VLIR-UOS awards scholarships to students from developing countries in order to follow a master or training programme in Belgium, or a PhD with regular stays in Belgium.

Overview of the cooperation between Vietnamese and Flemish institutions The cooperation between Flemish universities and university colleges, and Vietnamese universities, with the support of VLIR-UOS can be summarized as follows:

Institutional cooperation (IUC) Since 1998 two institutional university cooperation programmes are running, one with the Hanoi University of Science and Technology and another with the Can Tho University. Both 10 year programmes were finalised in 2008. The total budget since 1998 amounts 10 mio EUR. Evaluation reports of both programmes are available on the VLIR-UOS website.

Scientific cooperation at departmental level (OI and RIP) Since 1998 eleven Own Initiative projects were implemented. One project is still running with RIA3. The main subjects are rural development, soil fertility, zoonotic diseases and environmental management. The areas of work are Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The total budget amounts 3 mio EUR.

As part of the Research Initiative Programme for post-IUC partnerships six projects are currently carried out, while three more were selected pending approval of the 2012 budget, with a maximum duration of four years and a budget of around 100.000 EUR per project. They are located at the former IUC partners CTU and HUST and focus on life sciences and technology.

Short term innovative cooperation (SI) Since 2002 five South Initiative projects have been executed. The subjects were environmental sanitation and management, soil fertility management and geology and hydrology. They were mainly situated in Camau and Hanoi. The maximum budget per project was 40.000 EUR.

As part of the North South South Cooperation Programme, three small scale projects have been supported with partners from Vietnam (CTU), Ecuador (ESPOL and UCuenca), the Philippines (BSU) and Belgium (KULeuven, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, UGent), mainly in the fields of biology and agronomy.

Within the North South South activities, Vietnamese expertise, gained over the previous cooperation activities, is capitalized in an international context. As such the College of Aquaculture and Fisheries of

Can Tho University organised training activities and consultancies for colleagues in India, Iran and Sri Lanka. In addition internships of African students from the UGent Master courses were organised at CTU.

Scholarships Between 2004 and 2010 59 Vietnamese students got a training at a Flemish university; 85 a Master and 26 a PhD. They all received a VLIR-UOS scholarship .

An example of the impact of the scholarships is the creation of INVE-Vietnam, developed by former IUC alumni, consisting of a network of 55 local smallenterprises and sponsoring extension projects on sustainable shrimp farming.

Within the context of the Mekong 1000 initiative, 21 Master students and 1 PhD student were trained in Belgium between 2006 and 2011,. It is an example of matching funds, as the programme is supported by a wide range of donors. The Can Tho University and the University of Ghent are amongst the coordinating institutions for this initiative.

Opportunities for further cooperation The Belgian-Vietnamese university cooperation reflects the changing role of Vietnam as a middle income country, which engenders in-depth cooperation with specific academic centres in both countries.

In the new country approach for university cooperation for development, Vietnam is identified as a key-player. Vietnam has the potential to be a hub for cooperation in South-East Asia. Past successes and achievements of excellence in VLIR-UOS projects can facilitate networking in the region and across continents.

One possible opportunity of the future cooperation with Vietnam is the development of joint degree programmes, aimed at increasing the exchange of researchers and students. Furthermore there is a growing interest in connecting education and research with the private sector.

In May 2011 a consultant team commissioned by VLIR-UOS has carried out a country impact evaluation in Vietnam . The report can be consulted on the VLIR-UOS website .

More information The website www.vliruos.be/vietnam displays a video about the cooperation with Hanoi University of Science and Technology. Many other reports including the VLIR-UOS country strategy with Vietnam can be consulted on this website as well. For more information about the VLIR-UOS programmes, please visit www.vliruos.be. For more information about the scholarships of VLIR-UOS, please visit www.scholarships.vliruos.be. Mr. Christophe Goossens is the VLIR-UOS contact person for the cooperation with Vietnam (christophe.goossens@vliruos.be, tel. + 32 2 550 19 65).