Vietnamese education lures over US$4 billion foreign investment capital

As of December 31, 2019, some 525 valid foreign cooperation projects with a total capital of nearly US$4.4 billion have been operational in Vietnam’s education sector, Tuoi Tre Online reported, citing the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET).

At the "Forum on Cooperation and Investment in Education" which took place recently in Ho Chi Minh City, the MoET said that the number of foreign investment projects in Vietnam's eduction sector have increased by 321 compared to five years ago, leading to an increase in registered capital of over US$3.5 billion.

The number of foreign investment projects in Vietnam's eduction sector have increased by 321 compared to five years ago. Photo: TTO

In Vietnam, there are currently five higher education institutions and nearly 100 preschools and general schools are foreign invested. Moreover, students at 70 universities get access to over 450 foreign-involved training programs.

With the policy of encouraging private education, Vietnam has nearly 3,000 non-public educational institutions nationwide which has made considerable contribution to diversifying educational resources and providing additional opportunities for learners.

Some non-public education institutions have affirmed the quality of their curriculum and teaching methods through the integration between Vietnam's curriculum and those of advanced countries, including the UK, the US, Australia, Finland, among others.

Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Van Phuc assessed that the policy of international integration in education has contributed to enhancing the teaching quality as well as Vietnam's ranking on education classifications worldwide.

Three Vietnamese institutions have been ranked in the list of 1,000 top higher education institutions in the world and eight institutions have been listed in the group of top 500 universities in Asia.

In terms of universal education, Vietnamese students always achieve high results in international and regional competitions and are highly ranked in the international assessment program of PISA.

However, according to the deputy minister, foreign investment in education has not been commensurate with the potential so far. The investment and cooperation activities in education have still been fragmented and unable to make a breakthrough in the whole system. The percentage of foreign investment in education is still small compared to that of other socio-economic sectors of the country.

Therefore, Deputy Minister Nguyen Van Phuc expressed his hope that Vietnam will have more private educational institutions established by domestic and foreign investors. The Vietnamese government always encourages and creates favorable conditions for investors in the education sector.

At the forum, ten investment cooperation agreements in education between Vietnamese and foreign partners were signed as well as the portal for foreign students inscription to study in Vietnam was officially launched.