PM requests support for Vietnamese students in US

The Vietnamese PM visited the USF, a private Jesuit university in San Francisco, and held talks there as part of his ongoing visit to the U.S.

"I hope that the University of San Francisco will provide Vietnamese students with more scholarship programs, focusing on new fields such as innovation, digital transformation, green transformation, circular economy, and sharing economy - fields that Vietnam is in need of human resources," he said.

He also hopes that Vietnamese students at USF will promote the spirit of studiousness, patriotism, and master new knowledge and technology.

USF President Father Paul J. Fitzgerald said students at the school come from all U.S. states and well over 100 countries and territories. 

There are around 80 Vietnamese students, making it the third-largest in the international student community after China and India.

"Vietnamese students are very smart and hardworking," Fitzgerald said.

Vietnam – U.S. cooperation in education has developed strongly in recent years, including contributions from USF. The two countries' universities currently have about 50 joint training programs. 

Vietnam hopes to expand cooperation and development with American educational and training institutions, PM Chinh reaffirmed.

The visit of the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation to the U.S. comes as the pair celebrates 10 years since establishing a Comprehensive Partnership, and just days after it was upgraded to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership when President Joe Biden visited Vietnam.

In the Joint Leaders' Statement issued after upgrading their ties, Vietnam and the U.S. emphasized education and training cooperation as one of the focuses of bilateral relations, especially in training high-quality human resources to help Vietnam achieve its development goals.

Vietnam also identifies education as a top national policy and one of the three breakthroughs is training high-quality human resources.

USF ranks 115th in the 2024 Best Colleges by U.S. News & World Report, the global authority in education rankings that evaluate 1,500 colleges and universities using up to 19 measures of academic quality. A place at USF costs around US$58,000 per year.

According to a report last November by the Institute of International Education,Vietnamese constitute the fifth-largest group of foreign students in the U.S. with just over 20,700 students.

Chinh arrived in the U.S. on Sunday local time, beginning a working trip to attend the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly, and to conduct bilateral activities in the country.