Vietnam’s Higher Engineering Education Alliance Programme (HEEAP), now in its sixth year, heads into the 2016 Vietnam Engineering Education Conference (VEEC) on April 14 and 15 with clear goals to advance the accreditation status of its engineering programs and expand strategic partnerships with industry. Founding partners Intel Corporation and Arizona State University (ASU) launched HEEAP in 2010 with funding from the U.S. Agency of International Development (USAID).
The Fourth Annual VEEC conference, held in Ho Chi Minh City, brings together the academic, industry and government communities for two days of interactive plenary sessions, panel discussions, technical sessions and seminars. This year’s focus is Workforce Competitiveness: Partnerships Driving Human Capital Skills and Standards.
“HEEAP has proven to be an outstanding example of the powerful difference that can be made with a strong public-private partnership”, said Sherry Boger, Vice President and General Manager of Intel Products Vietnam. “ASU has been leading the programme to achieve key objectives and today Intel is hiring quality students who have benefited from the improved instruction, curricula and labs.”
In order to attract additional partnerships, with support from USAID, Intel, National Instruments, Pearson and other sponsors, HEEAP has endeavored to move Vietnam’s top technical universities and vocational schools toward international accreditation, including the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc. (ABET). The Vocational and University Leadership and Innovation Institute (VULII) was launched in 2012 to provide capacity-building programs within the Vietnamese educational system, from ministry officials and university rectors to administrators, academic and professional staff, and engineering faculty leaders preparing the next generation for the engineering workforce.
To date, more than 400 Vietnamese lecturers have trained at ASU and are now preparing graduation-ready students with the applied and technical communication skills required by multinational corporations. Last year, a cohort of instructors from the Vietnam National University – Ho Chi Minh City system visited Arizona State University the first in series of special projects, the Internet of Things (IoT). Additionally, a US$500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of State will bring 44 academic fellows — all high-achieving undergraduate students from Southeast Asia — to Tempe, Arizona, to attend two ASU-hosted institutes as part of U.S. President Barack Obama’s signature program: the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI).
PV
Vietnamese
