Collaboration

To increase its partnerships with other Vietnamese universities, DTU signed an agreement with An Giang University, AGU, to collaborate in workforce training and to expand meaningful scientific and technology research, to support the socioeconomic development of An Giang province and the entire Mekong Delta.

On July 25th, at AGU, Distinguished Teacher Le Cong Co - DTU President and Provost, Associate Professor Vo Van Thang - AGU Provost agreed to work together to advise the local provincial authorities on the development and application of information technology, specifically in e-government applications.

 

The two universities also committed to apply high-tech to agricultural development, including the automation of agriculture and aquaculture, crop management, using the VietGAP process, the monitoring of droughts, saline intrusions, landslide and wildfire forecasting, crop and pond management and the surveying of infield canal systems. In addition, the two universities are planning to set up a joint project to request the Ministry of Education and Training and the local authorities to collaborate in teaching high-level international programs to develop the local workforce.

“At Vietnamese universities and in Vietnam in general, there have recently been new  agricultural research projects focusing on increasing yields and product value, with a corresponding reduction in manpower,” said Distinguished Teacher Le Cong Co. “However farmers remain poor and still face hardships. Why is this? Because academic research is difficult to apply and far removed from reality. New processes that increase product value are too expensive for the farmers, so the poor remain poor and yields remain low. 60% of the population of An Giang province are farmers, making the issue even more vital. DTU is always tries to transform research results into practice in Vietnam. So we will create opportunities to apply research projects to improve the lives of Vietnamese farmers of South Vietnam.”

 

Associate Professor Thang gave his evaluation of the situation: “This is the first time a university from distant Central Vietnam has come to the Mekong Delta to survey our needs to transfer technology to support farmers. We will partner with AGU to develop educational programs and innovative products to create automatic irrigation and monitoring systems, to solve problems in flood and crop disease forecasting, saline intrusion and yield protection. The combined strengths of our two universities will create new value in the training of workers, and in research and technology transfer.”