The study-abroad programme is one of three pilot programmes Loyola plans to launch in Vietnam this year. It will offer the students a month studying anthropology before going to work for two weeks in local orphanages and elementary schools.

Loyola is the first American university to establish a representative office in Vietnam as part of a partnership with the Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training.

Loyola Associate Provost Patrick Boyle says the university wants to help foster cooperation between the two countries. "Developing positive relations between the US and Vietnam is a theme that runs through our activities", he adds.

The university will offer English as a second language course for Vietnamese students at Hanoi Medical University.

According to the Associate Provost, although students at Hanoi Medical University have studied English for many years, they are usually not fluent, and Loyola will provide advanced instruction. "The goal is to help them to participate in medical research by giving them access to English-language journals and conferences," he further says.

Loyola university hopes the programme will lead to collaboration between Hanoi Medical University and its own medical school.

Loyola's Associate Provost reveals that the university's leadership training programme, which will be designed for Vietnamese university officials, is in the making. The programme is scheduled to start late this year or in early 2010.

The Ho Chi Minh City office is Loyola's third international outpost. The university has two centers in Rome and Beijing and 70 other places in charge of study-abroad programmes.