NZ to help develop Vietnamese education

Jim Bolger and Professor Guilford were part of the delegation to Vietnam. Photo / Audrey Young

Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce said part of a new strategic economic partnership with Vietnam would include a arrangement for New Zealand to help develop the Vietnamese education system overall.

The partnership was signed yesterday in Hanoi after talks between Prime Minister John Key and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

The agreement followed a meeting between Joyce and Dung in August in which, according to Joyce, Dung was very keen for greater involvement in education by New Zealand.

Officials since then had come up with a very specific plan to increase engagement and Vietnamese student numbers, Mr Joyce said.

It included measures to train Vietnamese public servants in New Zealand "and quite an exciting leg to it where there will be a Government to Government arrangement to help develop the Vietnamese education system overall."

With a population of 90 million and a high degree of aspiration for education, the potential for growth was large.

Among the education specialists on the trade delegation to Vietnam is Waikato Chancellor and former Prime Minister Jim Bolger, Victoria University Vice-Chancellor Professor Grant Guilford, AUT's international relations and development director, Lester Khoo, Massey University deputy vice Chancellor Professor Ted Zorn, and Academic colleges Group chief operating officer Clarence van der Wel.

Academic Colleges Group began as Senior College in 1995, established by Dawn Jones, Sir John Graham and Danny Chan.

The private company now owns and operates 15 education institutions in New Zealand, including private schools, foundation programmes for AUT and Auckland University, an English school and tertiary vocational training programmes.

It also has a school in Vietnam and one in Jakarta and has a combined 12,000 students and 1000 staff in three countries.

In Vietnam AGC it is a majority owner of a school in Ho Chi Minh City, Australian International School, which has about 1050 students from kindergarten to year 13.

ACG has been operating in Vietnam since 2007.

Van der Wel spends about five months a year in Vietnam because he is also the general director of the school in Ho Chi Minh.

"I think it is important to raise the profile of New Zealand education generally whether it is offshore, based here or in New Zealand," said van der Wel.

"We are interested in maybe exploring the idea of collaborating with some of the Vietnamese who are vocational training institutions to look at potential twinning."

Professor Guilford of Victoria said VUW had a small campus in partnership with University of Economics in Ho Chi Minh City.

From there, it allowed Vietnamese student to study for the first year of a business degree before going to Victoria for the rest of the degree.

"That keeps the cost of study down for a nation like this which is still only recently hitting its economic straps and the cost of education is quite a barrier."

About 25 students a year go to Victoria from that programme, contributing to the 300 Vietnamese students altogether at Victoria.

While the members of the trade delegation competed for students, they were not rivals on the trip.

"Our overall presence as a country as New Zealand is too low against bigger competitors like the Australians and British in education so we have to work together and the New Zealand presence is what is most important.

It also gave players within the sector time together to develop relationships. Victoria for example was talking with the Academic Colleges Group about some joint initiatives in Vietnam and in Wellington "so those sorts of things develop on a trip like this - plenty of time to discuss them and work out where the opportunities are."