At the invitation of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Viet Dung, Vice Rector of Can Tho University, Vice President of VAJA, from 6 – 8/7/2020 A Delegation of VAJA Executive Committee led by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ngo Minh Thuy – Chairman, paid a visit to and work in Can Tho University, Can Tho city. Joining the delegation were Mr. Hoang Van Nhan – Vice Chairman and 9 members of VAJA Executive Committee.
This trip is an activity of the VAJA Executive Committee to implement a content of the Resolution of the First Conference of the 7th Executive Committee on January 12, 2020 on organizing activities of visiting, approaching, exchanging between Executive Committee and working facilities of its members, in order to enhance the understanding among the members and exchange cooperation in common areas, thereby enhancing the performance of VAJA’s activities. This is also the first meeting of the Executive Committee members after the period of implementation of the isolation requirements to the Covid-19 epidemic prevention nationwide.
The Delegation had an official working session with the representatives of the University Board of Management, Can Tho University Project Management Board (Japanese ODA loan project), the leaders of the Department of Development Cooperation and the Foreign Languages Faculty of Can Tho University. The Delegation was also Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Viet Dung introduces the University’s history and activities in detail, visiting the Exhibition Hall – which displays famous gobies (related to the research thesis of The Emperor Akihito published in 1976 when he was still the Crown Prince of Japan that Can Tho University was presented by Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Mitsuo Sakaba, entrusted by The Emperor Akihito.)
As a large university with a long history, located in a city directly under the Central Government and the nuclear city of the Southwest region, the most modern and developed city in the Mekong Delta, Can Tho University now has a idiosyncrasy in organization and activities, playing a leading role in the higher education career of the Southwest region. The number of students every year recently is nearly 50,000 students studying and working in 39 faculties and fields; The current staff and lecturers is 1828 people, of which 1090 people are directly involved in teaching and researching activities with the proportion of professors and associate professors accounting for 14.2%. In the last 3 years, the number of the annual graduates is nearly 9500. The university has a quite strong system of facilities with 6 campuses including 3 campuses in Can Tho city and 3 campuses in other provinces. Especially, with individually designated funding from Japanese ODA, the University is assigned to manage and deploy the Can Tho University Upgrading Project at the Campus in X zone, February 3rd Road, Can Tho City, with a very high determination of the Management Board headed by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pham Minh Duc, to aims to bring the project to completion in 2021 to enhance the University’s research and training capacity.
According to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Viet Dung and other officials working with the VAJA Delegation, one of the fields the University is interested in and seeking the support from the external higher education institutions is to strengthen the staff of lecturer and research Japanese of the Foreign Languages faculty of the University. This support would be able to be provided in many forms and the result is not only to improve Japanese language training capacity but also to help in strengthening and expanding the University’s existing relationships with a number of universities and institutions in Japan.
On behalf of the Delegation exchanging with the representatives of Can Tho University at the meeting, Chairman Ngo Minh Thuy expressed representatives’ delight for the first time that VAJA delegation had a working visit to Can Tho University and proposed a number of solutions that could be implemented to coordinate with the University in strengthening Japanese language training and research capacity as well as in some areas the University is interested in. In addition, the members of the Delegation and the representatives of the University had discussions and inquiries in the areas of the parties work and common interest.
By this occasion, the delegation of VAJA also visited some historic places of the Southwest region such as the Memorial Hall of Mr Associate Bachelor Nguyen Sinh Sac, the Oc Eo Cultural Relic and the Shrine of The Land Queen, Temple worshiping General Thien Ho Vo Duy Duong in Dong Thap province; Learning more about the life of some residential areas on the Tien and Hau rivers in Ben Tre and Tien Giang provinces.
The visit and work at Can Tho University combining with visiting some cultural and historical sites of the Southwest region of the VAJA Delegation for 3 days was successful beyond expectations. This trip has contributed to a good start to the innovation of VAJA’s activities in accordance with the Resolution of the 7th Congress to enhance the effectivity of VAJA’s activities in the term of 2019-2024.