Red River Basin University Cooperation - For the sustainable development of the two countries, the region and the world

Leaders of universities in the Red River basin took a souvenir photo at the forum.

Attending the forum were Dr. Trinh Ngoc Thach, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee for Culture, Education, Youth and Children; Dr. Nguyen Xuan Cuong, Vice President of the Institute of Chinese Studies, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences; Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Khanh, Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities. On the other side, inviting China were Ms. Liu Xiao San, Deputy Director of the Department of Education of Yunnan Province; Prof. Cam Tuyet Xuan, Rector of Hong Ha Academy (China) and delegates representing 17 member schools participating in the forum.

Reality requires cooperation

From a national perspective, both Vietnam and China are connected by many historical, cultural, political, economic and social ties. But both regions have their own characteristics, unlike other regions. The geographical proximity and cross-border exchanges of the Red River Basin residents are important premises for intergovernmental integration cooperation.

To have a comprehensive and sustainable development strategy, governments and communities need basic, systematic and interdisciplinary research, on which appropriate policies and solutions can be proposed. In that process, cooperation between scientists, combining modern theories with indigenous knowledge is extremely necessary. Therefore, communities and experts from universities located in the Red River basin are the most important factors to promote this development.

Prof. Dr. People's Teacher Nguyen Van Khanh, Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU, delivered the opening speech of the forum.

Faced with that reality, in January 2014, at the Honghe Academy (China), leaders of universities in the Red River basin (including the southern provinces of China and northern Vietnam) discussed and came to a historic decision to establish the "Forum of Rectors of Universities in the Red River Basin" with the goal of enhancing cooperation in training and research between universities in the Red River basin. This is the first and most meaningful foundation, opening up opportunities to find a common voice and to contribute directly and more to the rapid and sustainable development of both Vietnam and China, first of all the bridgehead areas of Northern Vietnam and Southwest China.

Key goals in development orientation

Nowadays, for each country to develop sustainably, regional and international integration is an inevitable trend. In such a trend, universities in the Red River basin need to strengthen cooperation and exchange to contribute to promoting socio-economic development between the two Red River sub-regions of the two countries.

The responsibility of higher education institutions is to provide human resources for society, to train high-quality human resources, universities in the Red River basin need to have stronger cooperation. High-quality human resources are aimed at people with good professional capacity and qualifications, suitable for the needs of socio-economic development in the territory. On the other hand, that workforce must have language tools to be able to work for Vietnam, China and other neighboring countries.

Overview of the forum of university presidents in the Red River basin

Besides the need for cooperation in training high-quality human resources, schools also need to cooperate in scientific research to respond to climate change trends and protect the environment to ensure sustainable development in the region.

Currently, due to the impact of climate change, the earth is warming, the water in the oceans is rising, causing constant flooding in coastal countries, in addition to the increasingly dry state of freshwater sources in rivers and streams. In that condition, the Red River originating from Dali (China) is also at risk of being exhausted and especially polluted due to the impact of climate change, especially due to human impacts through exploitation, rational use, and waste. In addition, forest fires, earthquakes, flash floods, storms, etc. are also occurring more frequently and irregularly. This forces the two countries to unite to jointly control the severe natural disasters that are threatening human safety and socio-economic development of each country every day and hour. Therefore, scientific cooperation between universities in the Red River basin is very urgent and urgent at the present time.

Some suggestions for the future

In his speech, Prof. Dr. People's Teacher Nguyen Van Khanh, Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU, also made some proposals for future cooperation orientations between universities in the Red River basin.

Firstly, universities in the Red River basin need to develop common training programs that are suitable for the development requirements of society and the current capabilities of universities. Those common programs must be suitable for the requirements of "Vietnamese Studies", "Chinese Studies" and "Southeast Asian Studies".

Prof. Dr. People's Teacher Nguyen Van Khanh (left) handed over the flag to host the 3rd presidents' forum to Dali University (China)

Second, basin universities can"building joint training facilities"in neighboring countries. Accordingly, universities in the basin correctly identify their strengths and build joint training facilities at suitable partner schools. When correctly identifying human resource needs and having appropriate cooperation programs, universities will find appropriate measures to help each other in training cooperation.

Third, it is in the cooperation between schools in the region. In the Red River basin, the natural geography and human geography are invaluable resources for tourism economic development that not every place has. Schools in the region need to have common programs to train in regional tourism to make important contributions to the socio-economic development of Yunnan Province and the northern provinces of Vietnam.

As a leading university in Vietnam, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU can provide universities in the region with training in Social Sciences and Humanities, first of all, language training (Vietnamese) for high-quality human resources of other universities.