Establishing a partnership with the Indian Council on Foreign Relations

On July 16, 2012, Associate Professor Dr. Pham Quang Minh - Vice Rector - received Dr. Vikash Ranjan - expert of the Indian Council for Foreign Relations. Also receiving the guests were Associate Professor Dr. Do Thu Ha - Head of the Department of Indology, Dr. Nguyen Diep Thanh - Deputy Head of the Foreign Affairs Department. At the meeting, the two sides exchanged information and common concerns about the development of Indology in Vietnam.Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pham Quang Minh said: Indology is a major of the Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Social Sciences and Humanities. Currently, this major still has some difficulties: lack of lecturers, documents, and lack of cooperative relations with Indian universities. Each year, about 30 students majoring in India graduate. Students are taught entirely in English, so they have good capacity, high adaptability to work, and the ability to work abroad. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pham Quang Minh expressed his hope that the partner will be an important bridge to help the University of Social Sciences and Humanities develop stronger cooperative relations with Indian universities and research institutes. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Do Thu Ha added that over the years, the Indian Embassy has actively helped and supported the Department by helping to organize events, giving documents and films to introduce Indian culture, history and people to students and lecturers. Dr. Vikash Ranjan also shared: The Indian Council on Foreign Relations focuses on research activities and supports universities in research and training in Indology, and is ready to encourage and grant scholarships for Vietnamese students to study in India. At the end of the meeting, the two sides agreed to have specific exchanges to establish cooperative relations between the two sides, starting with activities of exchanging scientific publications, participating in international scientific conferences in the two countries, and seeking scholarships for Vietnamese students to study in India...