The Victorian Minister for Higher Education and Minister for Training and Skills Gayle Tierney (3rd L) visited RMIT’s HCM City campus on Wednesday. — Photo courtesy of RMIT Vietnam

During her four-day visit to Vietnam from June 12 to 15, she is scheduled to meet government officials and visit RMIT University, social enterprise KOTO and other educational organisations to explore the possibility of having more education providers and assisting Vietnam with delivering skills and training to students, particularly vocational.

Speaking at RMIT’s HCM City campus on Wednesday, Tierney said: “The relationship that we’ve been able to build through RMIT is a very important example of how we can co-operate and build skills for the workforces that are needed in our countries.”

As the leading foreign university in Vietnam, RMIT has supported Vietnam’s economic priorities for over 19 years.

During the campus tour, Tierney met students from across the region, including many participating in the 2019 Global Leader Experience (GLE).

With a focus on HCM City, the GLE saw students exploring how technological innovations delivered societal and economic value in cities.

The Global Leader Experience has run for three years across RMIT’s campuses, providing students with opportunities to work in diverse teams and tackle global challenges in partnership with industry.

The minister also met with law enforcement officers from 20 countries who were at RMIT working on the issues of regional security and transnational child sexual exploitation.

RMIT has been a partner and hosted the Asia Region Law Enforcement Management Programme (ARLEMP) for over 10 years in Vietnam.

“It is important to have co-operation within the education sector at all level,” Tierney said.

“The more we can understand about each other, the more co-operation and partnership that we can have in our working life but also in our personal life and our family life.

“We need to build capacity in physical skills, human skills and the technological skills. The technological skills will take us forward to Industry 4.0.”

The tour was led by Professor Belinda Tynan, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Education and Vice President of RMIT, who thanked the minister for taking the time to see the campus first-hand.

“RMIT was born out of a sense of community and is open to all, and that remains a central part of our identity.

“Our work in Vietnam over almost two decades is a testament to that, and we are so pleased to be able to show the minister what we have achieved over that time.

“We are privileged to be able to operate here with the ongoing support of the state and federal governments and of course the Government of Vietnam.”

As one of Southeast Asia’s fastest growing economies, Vietnam is expected to be a global top 20 economy by 2050.

RMIT will celebrate 20 years of successful operation in Vietnam in 2020.

VNS