Hanoi (VNA) - Experts agreed on March 1 in a conference in Hanoi that therewas a need for more public-private partnerships in education and training.

Thetwo-day conference, STEMCON, focused on trends in the field and how to realiseSTEM goals in education and the economy in Vietnam.

“Universityand industry are like darlings, always praising each other, but we need to ‘getmarried’ already, and be fully committed to helping each other, compensatingfor each other’s weaknesses,” said Nguyen Thanh Nam, former CEO of FPT andfounder of online university FUNIX, at a conference on science, technology,engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and in the workforce.

Rectorof the HCM Vocational College of Technology, Nguyen Thi Hang, agreed.

Shestressed that universities and companies must be “equal entities, with equalrights and equal responsibilities in education and training.”

Hangalso considered the government’s decision to expand university autonomy a stepin the right direction, which will give universities more flexibility indecision-making and budget to collaborate with private sector.

Panellistsat the event discussed the best ideas to develop a skilled STEM workforcethrough industry, academic, and government collaboration.

Assoc.Prof. Le Quan, Vice President of Vietnam National University (VNU), said hisschool is planning co-operation with technology companies in “researchactivities instead of just focusing on student training activities like at themoment.” He also shared an ambitious plan to establish a technology universitymanaged by VNU and telecoms firm Viettel.

Theconference was organised for the fifth year by the Higher Engineering EducationAlliance Programme (HEEAP), founded by the US’ Arizona State University (ASU),Intel Corporation, and Vietnamese partners, with funding from the US Agency ofInternational Development, bringing together the academic, industry andgovernment communities.

Allspeakers agreed that STEM careers are an innovative force behind the world’seconomy, especially with the trend of automation and data exchange inmanufacturing technology.

TranVan Tung, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, said “competitiveadvantages based on natural resources or labour cannot be sustained for long inthe current world; the country can only hope to develop by competitiveadvantages based on STEM, raising intellectual content in national products.Only in this way can Vietnam achieve sustainable economic development, bridgingthe development gaps with other countries.”

Tungadded that in recent years, the government has put a strong focus on scienceand technology via several national programmes and targets.

HEEAPand Intel also took the occasion to announce a new Master Fellowship one-yearprogramme in engineering for 19 Vietnamese students to study in the US tosupport HCM City People’s Committee in its smart-city initiative.

Also,ASU will hold a one-week workshop for HCM City authorities to recommend theright focuses for the smart-city initiative.-VNA