Although it has only been established for 5 years, VinUni University has made a remarkable difference on the map of Vietnamese highereducation . However, according to Dr. Le Mai Lan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of VinUni University, there is still a long journey ahead to become an excellent university. The right educational philosophy from the beginning is a great motivation for VinUni to believe that one day it will "take off".
Madam, since its inception, VinUni has expressed its desire to become an elite university, cooperating with the Ivy League schools in the US (a group of 8 universities ranked among the top elite). So why the US, and not the UK or Europe, which are also places with admirable universities?
There are many good university models in the world that are worth learning from. In the establishment phase, we chose to cooperate with American universities first because the US has a high diversity and globality in their education. Second, it is a place with a "practical" university model, closely linking academia - industry - commerce in training and research. Their training goals are very practical, their research often goes straight to solving real problems. They care about the ability to commercialize initiatives, bring academic ideas to life... Third, because they are famous for being strict about quality, but open to change and have a fast adaptation speed.
Both of VinUni's comprehensive partners are Ivy League schools, the most prestigious schools in the world. Does that mean that from the beginning VinUni intended to stand on the shoulders of "giants", madam?
Yes, from the beginning we determined that if we want to go the right way and go fast, we must work with the best people. We appreciate what makes the Ivy schools excellent. It is because of the peaks they occupy in academia, because of their world-changing research projects, because of the valuable, practical contributions to society from those trained at the Ivy schools, and also because their graduates always top the rankings in terms of income after graduation…
We believe that cooperating with them will help us learn a lot. We started investing in the education sector from the perspective that education is to serve people, education needs to bring real value to society through cutting-edge research projects, training talented people for the labor market, people with aspirations, intelligence and courage to change themselves and change society. And we have seen these things realized at the Ivy schools.
VinUni's partnership with two Ivy League schools makes many people curious, because it is not easy for a young university, even if it is owned by a billionaire... Can you share more about this aspect?
The process of finding a partnership was not easy, there were times when I was really stuck. My will was very strong and determined, but people did not know who I was. I kept searching, kept knocking on the door, and then one fine day the door opened... On April 3, 2018, Vingroup signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), thereby opening a new name on the map of Vietnamese higher education: VinUni University.
Can you share more details about this story?
We hired a very famous global education consulting firm. They also directed us to other markets, because according to them, cooperating with elite American universities was unthinkable. They advised us to meet with mid-level universities, with the motto of taking it slow step by step. But we had only one determination: to find the top American universities.
The delegation consisted of four people, representing Vingroup Corporation, the Ministry of Education and Training, a representative of a prestigious public university and a representative of an international consulting company. The only things we brought to the US at that time were a video clip introducing Vingroup Corporation, a letter of introduction from the US Embassy in Hanoi, a letter of introduction from the Ministry of Education and Training and an A4 sheet with a few bullet points about the desire to build an international-class university for Vietnam.
Is it easy to get an audience with the leaders of Ivy League universities, madam?
It is not difficult to meet, but it is very difficult to meet high-ranking leaders who can make decisions. It is especially difficult to bring them back to Vietnam to cooperate with us. It was winter, the weather was very cold, we kept moving tirelessly in the snow, from one state to another. Whenever we arrived, we plugged in the USB to present, introduce about Vietnam, about Vingroup and about the aspiration to build an excellent university. When we went out into the world, we realized how small we were, people did not know who we were. Some people said that I had participated in protests demanding an end to the war in Vietnam in the past, but I had never been there, I did not know what the situation was like for you guys now.
Later, I changed the "formula". At the beginning, I always affirmed that we came from Vietnam, a peaceful country, far from war for more than 40 years, a country of potential and opportunity... Then I played a 5-minute video about the country, the people of Vietnam, about Vingroup, showing them a Vietnam with commercial centers, modern and civilized streets, beautiful nature... They were all very interested and impressed. However, at the end of the meeting, the report on the situation in Vietnam was still ineffective. They only wanted us to send cadres to study at their school, they did not want to come to Vietnam to do university with us.
So how did the partnership with UPenn and Cornell begin, ma'am?
Luck began to smile on us when we met Cornell University. At that time, Cornell was trying to do something different, beyond borders. For more than 100 years of the school's history, students from all over the world had to come to Ithaca Campus to study at Cornell. Although the original ambition of billionaire founder Ezra Cornell was to use his fortune "for the greatest things" and to build a place where "anyone could learn anything", Cornell itself had little presence outside of Ithaca Campus, outside of their woods.
Therefore, the VinUni project immediately attracted them, because it promoted Cornell's view that it must become a place that creates opportunities for all students from all social classes, all circumstances, all countries... The two sides immediately started discussing. On Cornell's side, there was also Professor Rohit Verma, the current President of VinUni, who was then the Director of the Institute of International Cooperation (Cornell University). He spoke clearly, coherently and impressively about what needed to be done, when to do it, what the results would be... Later, we talked to Cornell University about sending Professor Rohit Verma to Vietnam, with the reason that if he made the plan, he had to execute it. We wanted to attract them to work together, to create a school with core values that were truly Ivy-like, not just looking like Ivy.
But before that, the meeting with UPenn was a big turning point. We were very surprised when the Vice President of the Board of Directors and Dean of the prestigious Perelman School of Medicine received the delegation. Before that, no Ivy school had sent a delegation to that level to receive us. When I started to turn on the computer, plug in the USB, intending to present, they said, "Okay, okay, okay..., we already know about Vietnam, we have learned about Vingroup Corporation." They knew about Vingroup, its vision, strategy and aspirations, so very quickly, the introduction was skipped, and the two sides immediately discussed what cooperation could be done in the field of medical education and research.
The large rock blocking the flow has been removed.
All in all, things have been going surprisingly well. We feel more and more fortunate every day...
Recently, in a press conference, Professor Max Pfeffer, Director of the VinUni cooperation project at Cornell University, said that he was extremely impressed with the current facilities of VinUni. Are you proud?
I am very proud, because it is the result of a profound intellectual investment campaign and lightning-fast implementation by Vingroup. The first consultant we hired was Oxford University Innovation of Oxford University, with the following "assignment": "VinUni has a land fund of more than 23 hectares. Oxford advises on how to plan the campus (university campus) to meet the right research and academic trends and last over time".
After receiving the draft from Oxford, we sent it to UPenn and Cornell for review and comments. Cornell's professor shared that if we want to train engineers in the fields of information technology, mechanics, and electronics, the lab system is the most important. They also said that the trend is interdisciplinary learning, so don't make small, isolated labs, but make super labs that are really large. Super labs must be places where students studying any major in the school can go. Cornell also suggested that there should be a system of workshops and maker spaces because the trend is experiential learning. The reality of training later shows that the time students spend studying theory in class only accounts for about 50%. The most effective learning is through research projects, internships, field trips, and making products in the labs.
According to UPenn, medical training is very expensive, the cost that the school pays for training is not less than 100,000 USD/student/year, tuition only covers a part. They emphasize that medicine is related to human life, so there needs to be a realistic simulation environment for students to make mistakes while still in university. Once in the hospital, if they make just one mistake, they will not have a second chance. If there is anything that needs to be invested in, it is in the medical simulation center. That is VinUni's biggest investment, almost a miniature hospital, where students can simulate medical examination, medical consultation, emergency treatment, inpatient and outpatient treatment... The simulation is so realistic that during the peak of the Covid-19 epidemic, Vinmec asked if it was possible to set up a field hospital at VinUni, and we immediately said yes, because it is as complete as a hospital here.
After having a standard functional proposal, we hired Aecom (USA) to consult on the design and Westgreen (Canada) to design the landscape. They cherished the idea of designing VinUni in the spirit of "School of the light of knowledge". The construction phase was also done very well, as everyone who visited VinUni still saw.
From a field to a fully equipped university with full listening and speaking capabilities in just 2 years?
Not even 2 years, exactly 14 months. During those 14 months, the lights were always on at the construction site 24/7. Every time the partners came, they were amazed. They came over every few months, and each time they came over, they saw that a building had already been completed, so they were very surprised. Once, I jokingly asked a business administration professor at Cornell University if he was planning to buy a house in Ocean Park urban area here. He asked: "Where is the house?". I pointed to the field in front of me and said there it is. Now, every time he comes to Vietnam, from the 9th floor looking at the street outside the school campus, he is never surprised.
VinUni has been recruiting and training for 3 years. Are you confident that the school has met American university standards?
I am very confident in VinUni's ability to meet international standards and the strict requirements of excellent universities, especially top universities in the US. The entire training program of VinUni is supported by Cornell and UPenn. They sit with me to design the input and output standards, program framework, methods, even down to the training curriculum and reference materials... Young lecturers of VinUni are sent to UPenn and Cornell for internships from 6 months to 1 year, teaching in class, researching, and working with their lecturers.
Thanks to the training program of the highest international standards, we have signed student exchange programs, especially the integrated bachelor's - master's training program with Cornell, UPenn and a number of other excellent selected universities. Previously, each year, a few students from Vietnam were accepted to Ivy, because the acceptance rate at Ivy (accepted applications/submitted applications) is very competitive, only about 5 - 7% at the undergraduate level and 8 - 10% at the graduate level. This year, the rate of VinUni's 3rd year students accepted to study master's degrees in engineering - computer science at UPenn is 50%, a very impressive rate. For the first time, there has been a sudden increase in the number of students from Vietnam studying in such "hot" majors at UPenn. The first students have enrolled and the schools have had very positive feedback about the quality, dynamism and determination of the students.
Is VinUni's future sustainable when ensuring quality university education requires a lot of money, but the money from tuition fees is not enough, madam?
It is a closed circle, high quality requires high investment, leading to high training costs. Tuition revenue of prestigious universities, whether public or private, accounts for only 20%, at most 30% of total revenue. Regarding research, prestigious universities must rely on donations, corporate sponsorships and state subsidies and contracts. In reality, creating a sustainable financial fund for universities is very difficult, but that is the path to take.
The most fundamental factor that determines VinUni’s future lies in VinUni’s ability to fulfill its mission, which is to contribute to training outstanding people for the country. Globally renowned universities such as MIT, Stanford, Cornell, Oxford, Cambridge… are all the cradles that nurture the growth of scientific geniuses, billionaires, businessmen, and world-famous leaders.
Success on this training journey is the most sustainable way to develop, the best way for VinUni to contribute value to society. VinUni needs time, but I believe that the destination on VinUni's path is promising, because we have started the journey with the right perspective on value.
Thank you Dr. Le Mai Lan!
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