Viet Nam News WASHINGTON — The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved today US$155 million in financing to strengthen the research, teaching, and institutional capacity of three universities and improve the management of Việt Nam’s higher education system.

More than 150,000 students and 3,900 members of faculty will benefit from the investments for Việt Nam’s National University of Agriculture, the University of Science and Technology in Hà Nội, and the Industry University of Hồ Chí Minh City. Some 600,000 students and 27,000 lecturers from other higher education institutions will also gain access to a digital library at the National Economics University.

“Việt Nam’s gains in higher education are evident in the numbers: 17 times more students enrolled since 1991,” says Ousmane Dione, the World Bank Country Director for Việt Nam.

“But Việt Nam needs stronger growth in labour productivity and further significant shifts of the workforce to more productive sectors. Addressing this challenge requires different skills sets and competencies and further strengthening the access to, and quality of higher education. This is at the core of what this project aims to achieve,” he added.

The project will support the financing of new facilities and equipment for teaching and research, as well as the strengthening management systems.

Additional objectives of the project include support for the strengthening of the key components of higher education – such as the national accreditation system – as well as efforts to share the lessons learned by the beneficiary universities.

The International Development Association, the World Bank’s fund for low income countries, will provide US$155 million to the US$174 million project, with the Vietnamese Government providing the remaining funds.—VNS