College of Engineering Partners With Vietnamese University

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Vice Rector Trinh Minh Thu and Chancellor Gearhart.

The University of Arkansas will work with the Water Resources University in Hanoi to create a civil engineering program modeled on the University of Arkansas program.

On Aug. 10, Chancellor G. David Gearhart signed a memorandum of understanding with Trinh Minh Thu, vice rector of Water Resources University in Hanoi, Vietnam. According to this agreement, the University of Arkansas will assist the Water Resources University in establishing  a civil engineering program modeled on the University of Arkansas program. In addition, Water Resources University will provide financial support for faculty exchanges between the two institutions.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Teaching has a goal that all university classes will be taught in English by the year 2025. In addition, Water Resources University wants to emulate the activities and requirements of a United States education. This agreement will help the university meet these goals, by providing Vietnamese professors with exposure to an American university environment and an opportunity to increase their language and teaching skills.

The University of Arkansas will provide Water Resources University the syllabi and class materials for a complete civil engineering program, and instructors from the Vietnamese university will be visiting campus and observing classes. In the future, University of Arkansas professors could travel to Hanoi to teach courses at Water Resources University.

“The hope is that in five years, the first cohort will have gone through the program and have a degree similar to ours,” explained Findlay Edwards, associate professor of civil engineering. Edwards was instrumental in setting up the agreement between the two universities. In 2009, Edwards spent a year teaching at Water Resources University, with support from a fellowship from the Vietnam Education Foundation.

Edwards also hopes that some of these students will choose to continue their studies at the University of Arkansas. “The Ministry of Education and Teaching sends top students to western countries to get Ph.D.s,” he explained. “We want to be one of those universities.”