VNU-USSH: Supporting overseas Vietnamese in Sweden to develop Vietnamese language skills and preserve Vietnamese culture

Accompanying Deputy Minister of Education and Training Pham Ngoc Thuong to work in Sweden on September 11-12, 2023, Rector Hoang Anh Tuan and staff worked with many educational institutions in Sweden and had a meeting with the Vietnamese Overseas Association in Stockholm as well as exchanged information with the Vietnamese Embassy in Sweden on Vietnamese language education and Vietnamese studies research at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Hanoi National University. Rector Hoang Anh Tuan reported to Deputy Minister Pham Ngoc Thuong and Ambassador Tran Van Tuan about the key Vietnamese projects implemented by the University under the direction of the Secretariat through the Ministry of Education and Training, the prioritize VNU's investment in developing a set of Vietnamese language teaching materials for overseas Vietnamese. This is the first large-scale set of learning materials in Vietnam that includes the entire ecosystem for overseas Vietnamese from teaching materials, teaching method guides, phonetic correction materials and high-end supplementary materials. Covering the fields of social sciences and humanities, technical science and technology, Vietnamese cultural and artistic forms, tourism, cuisine, commerce, Vietnamese communication handbooks and teaching Vietnamese through Vietnamese fairy tales. The Vietnamese language teaching ecosystem specifically for overseas Vietnamese also includes a set of testing and assessment materials for primary, intermediate, and advanced levels, and especially an assessment test system based on the 6-level competency framework of Vietnamese methodically compiled for the first time and of high quality.
Among the 35 completed manuscripts, language teaching experts from the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU, have devoted more than 2,000 pages to a total of 6 books that guide parents and teachers on how to teach children in Vietnamese families from overseas, a multicultural family with a Vietnamese father and/or mother. A set of teaching manuals is to be published by the University by the end of 2023.
In particular, in 2022 and 2023, VNU invested in the University of Social Sciences and Humanities to build an online Vietnamese teaching channel for overseas Vietnamese. After completion in September 2022, the Univeristy has coordinated with the State Committee for Vietnamese Overseas (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) to send experts to organize free online Vietnamese language teaching for overseas Vietnamese in more than 17 countries and territories for nearly a year. Speaking at a working session with the Vietnamese Overseas Association in Stockholm city and surrounding areas, Rector Hoang Anh Tuan affirmed: The university will work through the Vietnamese Embassy in Sweden to maximally support the goal of improving the ability to use Vietnamese of more than 22,000 overseas Vietnamese and contribute to preserving the national culture of the overseas Vietnamese community in Sweden through specific training and professional activities.
In the immediate future, the University will focus on 3 priorities: organizing advanced Vietnamese language training courses for Vietnamese teachers in Sweden today; Periodically providing - through the Embassy - a system of Vietnamese language teaching and learning materials as well as documents on Vietnamese culture; Dispatching school staff to educational establishments in Sweden to develop programs and teach Vietnamese and subjects about Vietnam under the direction of superior agencies. On the sidelines of working sessions with the overseas community, Dr. Le Thi Thanh Tam, Head of the Faculty of Vietnamese Studies and Language, discussed and agreed on the plan to organize training courses with Ms. Huong Mimmi Bergström, Head of the Vietnamese Overseas Association in Stockholm (Sweden) in the near future.
Also within the framework of the business trip, Rector Hoang Anh Tuan and staff accompanied Deputy Minister Pham Ngoc Thuong to visit and discuss with a number of higher education institutions and management agencies under the Sweden Ministry of Education and Research Research, opening up opportunities for research cooperation, training, staff and student exchange... .   _______________________________
On December 18, 1968, the Faculty of Vietnamese, University of Hanoi, was established on the basis of the Vietnamese Language Group, affirming the position and importance of training Vietnamese language and Vietnamese culture for foreigners in the country's higher education system. After more than half a century of teaching Vietnamese and culture to foreigners, to generations of overseas Vietnamese who long to return to their roots and preserve the Vietnamese language, the Faculty of Vietnamese Studies and Language (USSH, VNU, Hanoi) ) has trained more than ten thousand students from about 40 different nationalities, including hundreds of bachelor's degrees in Vietnamese Language and Culture, bachelor's degrees in Vietnamese Studies, and 15 people who have been and are currently Extraordinary Ambassadors in Vietnam.