On March 18th, Vice-President Nguyen Thi Doan awarded the title of “Hero of Labor’ to Distinguished Teacher Le Cong Co, DTU President and Provost.
Whenever people think of Duy Tan University, they immediately think of its Provost, Le Cong Co. After 22 years of his leadership, DTU has become one of the six best private universities in Vietnam.
Mr. Le Cong Co was Chairman of the Central Vietnamese Union of Students and Commissioner of the National Liberation Front of Central Vietnam. During the years of upheaval in Vietnam, he conceived the idea of founding a new, innovative, humanitarian, private university, to create better opportunities for the many students in difficulty.
He retired in 1993 and, with the approval of MOET, established the private English Language, Electronics and Informatics Center. In 1992, he and his colleagues presented a proposal to establish the first private university in the Central Region. The application was approved, and, on November 11th 1994, the Prime Minister signed a Decision to establish Duy Tan University.
Vice-President Nguyen Thi Doan awards Distinguished Teacher Le Cong Co the title of “Hero of Labor”
To obtain funds for the first building, Mr. Co mortgaged his home. People attending the awards event were deeply touched when they heard about his humble background. Facing strong competition from other private universities, he risked his reputation trying to gain the support of the city leaders and others to assist in leading the university out of its initial difficulties.
Throughout Quang Nam and Danang, he is widely known as a dedicated and respected teacher, who has always worked hard and enthusiastically to improve local education. Since the early days of DTU, he has always held the title of Provost, pushing the university forward to develop a foundation to serve the strict educational requirements our community in the future.
Distinguished Teacher Le Cong Co explained: “I share this award with all those who have worked with me over the past 22 years of construction and development. I believe that, if we accept our responsibilities with passion and respect, our network of private universities will steadily grow and prosper.”
DTU has five campuses in Danang, with 992 employees, 739 lecturers and 253 permanent staff. Over the past 22 years, over 70,000 researchers, postgraduates, bachelors and vocational students have enrolled. Currently, two PhD, 4 Masters, 20 Academic Bachelor courses have been offered, with 43 specialties, in addition to 11 Associate Bachelor courses.
(Media Center)