Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Thien Nhan has appreciated Japan’s assistance to Vietnam to develop education.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Thien Nhan opens the first conference of Vietnamese and Japanese university heads in Hanoi on September 17 (Photo: Nhan Dan)

He was speaking at the first conference of Vietnamese and Japanese university heads held by his ministry in Hanoi on September 17 under the theme “boosting university cooperation between Vietnam and Japan.”

The two-day conference is being attended by 53 university directors from Japan.

Japan has helped Vietnam build 256 elementary schools in 17 flood-prone provinces and four mountainous southern provinces and grants scholarships to Vietnamese students every year.

The conference provides an opportunity for the two countries’ universities to review cooperation in education and scientific research as well as to compare notes, he said.

In recent years, Japan has been one of biggest donors of official development assistance to the Vietnamese education system.

It has, for instance, funded a US$65 million project to enhance training in information and communication technology and a $23 mil project to upgrade infrastructure at Can Tho University.

More than 100 Vietnamese universities have tied up with Japanese universities, including Hue University, the Hanoi University of Technology, the Hanoi University of Education, and the HCMC University of Education.