RMIT committed to advancing Australia-Vietnam education ties

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RMIT committed to advancing Australia-Vietnam education ties

As Australia and Vietnam celebrate the 50th anniversary of their bilateral links, cooperation in education and training will continue playing an important role.

Professor Claire Macken, Pro Vice-Chancellor and General Director of RMIT University Vietnam, elaborated on the motivation behind this progress.

The year 2023 marks five decades since Australia and Vietnam established their diplomatic relations. For nearly half of that 50-year partnership, RMIT University is proud to have been an exemplary Australian investor in Vietnam, a contributor to the knowledge economy, and a bridge for people-to-people links.

RMIT was invited by the Government of Vietnam to set up the first foreign-owned university in the country way back in 1998, when education was a rising national priority to spur growth and integration into the global economy.

RMIT Vietnam officially opened a campus in Ho Chi Minh City in 2000 and introduced the first classes in Hanoi in 2004, followed by a language training centre in Da Nang in 2018. Our operations in Vietnam have now grown to include four schools offering programs across pre-university, bachelor’s, master’s and PhD levels.

From day one, RMIT’s goal is an intention to make an impactful contribution to Vietnam, especially through the lives of the young people we help shape through education. With over 12,000 current students and 17,000 alumni graduating over the past twenty years, I believe RMIT’s impact in Vietnam is long-lasting.

Alumni reunited in Hanoi to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the RMIT Vietnam Alumni Community.

Alumni reunited in Hanoi to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the RMIT Vietnam Alumni Community.

Every single student who graduates from RMIT Vietnam with an Australian degree connects our two countries together. Our strong bonds and relationships forged by the many years of educating Vietnamese students in Australia, as well as in Vietnam, means that we are a proud part of the education landscape, industry ecosystems and broader communities here.

At the Australian Vietnam Policy Institute speech at RMIT University in Melbourne in December 2022, Chairman of the National Assembly Vuong Dinh Hue stated: "With over 30,000 Vietnamese students and research fellows currently studying in Australia, education cooperation has become a cultural bond connecting the friendship between the two countries."

I wholeheartedly agree with this view. I see that RMIT has a critical role to play in Vietnam’s development. Our obligation as a higher education institution is to the communities we serve. As we go forward, we want RMIT to continue to be an integral and respected contributor to Vietnam’s development through the education we provide and the connections we help build.

We are proud that to date, RMIT is Australia's largest service investment in Vietnam and remains the largest foreign education investor in Vietnam. We are also the biggest overseas campus of any Australian university.

RMIT Vietnam Impact 2022

But just as Vietnam and Australia have both changed over the past decades, so has RMIT. Right now, we are addressing the scale of our Vietnam operations into the future, including new investments into physical locations to enable our university to continue serving the growing needs of Vietnam.

As we look to the years ahead, we are committed to setting a direction for RMIT in Vietnam to embrace a greater regional focus, extending thought leadership, educational offerings and partnerships into Southeast Asia to drive regional impact around shared challenges and themes.

A priority for RMIT as a university is to act as the “front door” to understand and engage with Southeast Asia. This approach to engagement leverages RMIT’s history and positioning in Vietnam to contribute to Australia’s understanding of, and relationship with, Vietnam and the region.

RMIT University leaders with Mr Vuong Dinh Hue, Chairman of the National Assembly of Vietnam, during the latter’s visit to Australia in 2022.

RMIT University leaders with Mr Vuong Dinh Hue, Chairman of the National Assembly of Vietnam, during the latter’s visit to Australia in 2022.

Along with our education, it includes initiatives such as the RMIT Asia Trade and Innovation Hub, a partnered platform created in collaboration with the Asia Society Australia to curate regional knowledge and connections.

RMIT is also a founding partner of the Australia Vietnam Policy Institute (AVPI), Australia’s first policy institute focused on its relationship with Vietnam, which is building a community of Australian industry, government, educational institutions, think tanks and non-profits passionate about increasing links with Vietnam.

It also includes leveraging RMIT’s research expertise around Vietnam, both on the ground and across its international network, to contribute to knowledge curation and thought leadership that will further Vietnam’s relationships with Australia and the region.

Leaders of Australia and Vietnam have announced the intention to upgrade bilateral relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Within that endeavour, I look forward to the different ways that RMIT University can contribute to creating positive impact and addressing shared challenges and opportunities – not just in our two countries but for the Asia Pacific region as a whole.

Story: Professor Claire Macken, Pro Vice-Chancellor and General Director, RMIT University Vietnam

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22 February 2023

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