The Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has given the go-ahead to set up Tokyo Vietnam Medical University in the form of a non-profit foreign-invested higher education institution. This was announced soon after the approval for the establishment of the Vietnam-Japan University under the Vietnam National University in Hanoi.

The Tokyo Vietnam Medical University is invested by Japan’s Waseda Health Sciences Education Corporation, a number of individuals and organisations with a total of approximately US$19.82 million. The university will be located in Hung Yen province which is approximately 40 miles in the south east of Hanoi, and focusing on four-year degree programs and three-year associate’s degree courses in rehabilitation nursing, physical therapy, orthotics and prosthetics, and medical testing. The university plans to start operation from 2016.

The Vietnam Japan University receives a larger investment of US$330 million, including approximately US$200 from the Japanese government, US$30 million from the Vietnamese government, and US$100 million from Japanese enterprises and organisations. The university aims to provide high quality resources in the areas of science, technology and social science and humanities. The university plans to start master programmes from 2016, and be in full operation from undergraduate courses to PhD programmes from 2019.

Additional commentary:

The universities were set up in partnership with Japan in the context of Vietnam potentially receiving increasing FDI from Japan thanks to advantages in ‘political stability, similar culture and religion, and a potential market along with a young labour force,’ according to Sato Motonobu, Chairman of the Association of Japanese investors in Vietnam in a recent article.

At present, in partnership with other countries, Vietnam has German Vietnam University, France Vietnam University, Russia Vietnam University and Fulbright University Vietnam, of which the first two universities are operating. Japan is the next country that has a university set up in partnership with Vietnam during the past years. The main aims of all of those universities are to provide international standard programmes for high quality pool of human resources in Vietnam, and also to enhance Vietnam’s position in the international education area.