In recent years, cooperation in education and training between the Hanoi Polytechnic University and the Grenoble Institute of Technology has been implemented effectively. Dr Tran Quoc Tuan, Grenoble IT lecturer and an expert in charge of cooperative programmes between Grenoble IT and the Vietnam Polytechnic University has granted an interview to a Radio Voice of Vietnam (VOV) reporter on the cooperation.

Dr Tuan: Vietnam and France have long maintained bilateral cooperation in education and training and cooperation between Grenoble IT and the Hanoi Polytechnic University is part of those fields. Especially, the cooperation programmes have been implemented effectively through the training of nearly 200 Vietnamese doctors provided by Grenoble IT. Currently, many Vietnamese students are studying at Grenoble IT to earn an MA degree. In addition, both sides have launched many other programmes such as training high-quality engineers and boosting scientific cooperation. At the Hanoi Polytechnic, we have a laboratory named Labo Mika, which is one of the 39 Grenoble IT laboratories in Vietnam and it has operated for 9 years. The laboratory staffed by Grenoble IT experts is considered an ideal place where students from Grenoble IT and the Hanoi Polytechnic can enjoy similar working conditions.

VOV: You have followed with keen interest these cooperation programmes. In your opinion, what we should do to help the programmes obtain greater results?

Dr Tuan: First, to make the co-operation programme more effective, students, experts and trainees must prepare for mastering the language. If their French is good they will do their work better. Second, there must be inheritance. For example, with projects that have been implemented in 4-5 years, we should further develop based on achieved results. Students taking a highly regarded engineering course with a command of foreign and a good knowledge of Vietnam do well. Those studying in France are very active in self-research.

VOV: Do you have any plans to boost co-operation between the Grenoble Institute of Technology and Vietnamese Polytechnic Universities?

Dr Tuan: We have short term and long term co-operation plans. In September, we will organize an “INO Vietnam” forum, which will gather experts in the scientific and technological field – an important field in Vietnam. Vietnam has a high demand for developing technology. We have encouraged experts who work at famous research centres in France to participate in the upcoming forum in Vietnam. Christian Poncelet, Chairman of the French Senate will also attend the forum, which will be co-organised by Grenoble Institute of Technology and the French Centre for Nuclear Energy Research. We have plans to begin more training courses for highly-qualified engineers in the future and implement the bilateral co-operation programme. In addition, we plan to send our experts to work at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Polytechnic and establish a common research group.

VOV: Do you think that it is very important to transfer new technologies to Vietnam?

Dr Tuan: It is true. Vietnam should apply research results to real life effectively. In the past, when doing research, researchers often followed unattainable theory that hardly applied in real life. Now we should be practical so that new technologies can be applied, particularly energy and energy saving which are practical issues, serving directly the national development demands.

VOV: Thank you very much.