About 40,000 Vietnamese go abroad to study each year

Addressing a symposium reviewing 10 years of implementing a resolution on fundamental and comprehensive innovation education and training in science, technology and international cooperation on Tuesday, Pham Quang Hung, Director of the ministry's International Cooperation Department, said there are currently nearly 200,000 Vietnamese students learning abroad at the high school, university and post-graduate levels.

The number of foreign students in Vietnam has also increased in the past decade, reaching around 22,000 at present, of whom nearly 4,000 come to Vietnam under signed agreements.

According to the official, in the past 10 years, the ministry has proactively negotiated and signed 161 international treaties and agreements; promoted relations with more than 100 countries and territories; and participated in a number of sub-regional, regional and inter-regional mechanisms, thus enhancing the level of international cooperation in education and training.

In the period, there have been over 3,500 memoranda of understanding and agreements on cooperation in training, scientific research, and student and lecturer exchanges signed between Vietnamese and foreign educational institutions.

Vietnam is always an active member of and proactively participates in education-related activities of international and regional organizations such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the Southeast Asia Ministers of Education Organisation (SEAMEO), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM).

According to data of the ministry, as of June 2023, 44 Vietnamese higher education institutions had 408 joint training programmes with 102 educational institutions of 26 countries and territories.

Statistics of the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment showed that as of June 2022, there had been 605 foreign investment projects worth US$4.5 billion in Vietnam’s education sector from 33 countries and territories.