On April 14, 2011, Ho Chi Minh University of Industry, Cao Thang Technical College, Ho Chi Minh City Vocational College of Technology, Intel, USAID and Arizona State University signed the MOU for the Vocational Technology Education Alliance Program. Total investment for this program is around USD 2million and Intel’s investment is around USD 1 million. Prof. Dr. Ta Xuan Te, rector of Ho Chi Minh University of Industry said: “This program will equip our faculties with new teaching methodology which will ultimately contribute to a better technician graduates who qualified the demands of Intel and other high tech companies. These efforts will help to increase Vietnam’s labor force quality and competitiveness in the world economy.”
The Higher Engineering Education Alliance Program is a public-private partnership among USAID, Intel, MOET and schools to advance their electrical and mechanical engineering education and instruction leading to a highly-skilled technical workforce to strengthen the emerging high-tech manufacturing in Vietnam. The alliance commenced in 2010 with 5 Vietnamese universities and has expanded to vocational colleges since 2011.
“This Alliance Program aims not only to provide a qualified technical pipeline for Intel Vietnam but also to turn Vietnam into one of the global leaders in high-tech” said Rick Howarth, Intel Vietnam General Manager.
Through a selective process, ASU’s Polytechnique School will host a leadership workshop for the rector board in May and the first cohort of 23 engineering faculty for the instructional training component through September and October 2011 from Ho Chi Minh University of Industry, Cao Thang Technical College, Ho Chi Minh City Vocational College of Technology Dr. Nguyen Thi Hang, Rector of Ho Chi Minh City Vocational College of Technology said: “we are happy to be a partner of this program and commit to do our best to achieve the program’s objective”.
The partnership has evolved from cooperative U.S. Vietnam efforts to improve education in areas – particularly engineering -- that are vital to Vietnam’s economic growth.