Overview of the working session.
The meeting opened up key cooperative directions between the Ministry of Science and Technology of Viet Nam and UTS in strategic technologies, advanced research, and high-quality human resource training.
Minister Vu Hai Quan highly appreciated UTS's readiness and proactive collaborative spirit with Vietnamese partners in recent times. The Minister affirmed that Viet Nam is undergoing a major transformation, moving beyond purely educational cooperation to strongly focus on promoting scientific research, innovation, and practical technology application.
Minister Vu Hai Quan proposed three key pillars of cooperation between the Ministry of Science and Technology of Viet Nam and UTS:
First, maintaining TechConnect as an annual forum: Developing TechConnect into a regular annual platform between the two countries on science, technology, innovation, and human resources, hosted alternately in Viet Nam and Australia.
Second, expanding the role of UTS: Minister Vu Hai Quan proposed expanding UTS's role to serve as a technology bridge connecting Australia with Vietnamese partners, rather than focusing solely on individual cooperative programs.
Third, promoting advanced research collaboration and doctoral training: Strengthening direct cooperation between UTS and the Ministry of Science and Technology's affiliated units, as well as major universities such as the Posts and Telecommunications Institute of Technology (PTIT), Viet Nam National University Ho Chi Minh City, and Viet Nam National University Hanoi.
Minister Vu Hai Quan speaks at the working session.
To realize these directions, Minister Vu Hai Quan stated that the Ministry of Science and Technology of Viet Nam commits to allocating funding from the science and technology budget to sponsor joint research projects and provide scholarships for outstanding PhD candidates with financial support of up to $40,000 per year. The Minister proposed immediately launching two co-funded research projects in 2026 between UTS, PTIT, and Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (VNU-HCM).
Delegates pose for a commemorative photo.
Professor Andrew Parfitt expressed strong agreement with all three proposals, affirming that Viet Nam is one of UTS's most important strategic partners. The UTS President highlighted that the university ranks among the top 50 globally in several priority technology fields and stands ready to serve as a connecting platform, commercialize research, and partner with businesses from both nations.
On this occasion, Prof. Andrew Parfitt announced that he will undertake a working visit to Viet Nam in early October 2026. Both sides agreed to actively prepare detailed plans to move toward the official signing of cooperation agreements and the announcement of joint research projects during the upcoming visit of the UTS leadership./.
