The Australian Government has identified Viet Nam as a priority economic and strategic partner in Asia, building on decades of increased bilateral collaboration. Last month our two governments signed the Australia-Viet Nam Enhanced Economic Engagement Strategy (VEEES) in Glasgow with the aim of becoming top 10 trading partners and doubling two-way investment. The Strategy covers trade, investment and other economic cooperation including recommended actions for each country.  

Higher education already counts for over 17% of our total trade with Viet Nam and is predicted to be a major growth area in the future. Notwithstanding the challenges of COVID−19, the pandemic has led to greater interconnectivity with overseas universities, increased capacity for quality offshore higher education learning, new innovative institutional partnerships, greater digitisation and use of ed-tech, and stronger alumni engagement. As Australia prepares to welcome international students back onshore in early 2022, the context is set for a high-level discussion with Australia’s leaders in international higher education on one of the major emerging markets in Asia.   

Asia Society Australia warmly invited Deputy Vice-Chancellors, International and Global for an international higher education roundtable on Viet Nam. Co-hosted by The University of Queensland and chaired by Deputy Vice-Chancellor & Vice President (Global Engagement), Rongyu Li, the discussion touched on case studies and learnings of engaging in Viet Nam, promoting greater awareness and understanding among Australian universities seeking to enter the Vietnamese market, highlighting the common challenges and barriers of the higher education sector in Viet Nam, and high-level future plans Australian universities have for Viet Nam as our economies reopen.  

The Roundtable facilitated a sharing of best practices, challenges and opportunities for the Australian higher education sector in Viet Nam and informed a policy paper with key takeaways and practical ways for the Australian Government to support increased bilateral engagement in higher education, science and innovation.  

Recent reports, including A Path to Viet Nam by Asia Society Australia and the Australian APEC Study Centre at RMIT University, and the Asia Taskforce: A Second Chance by Asia Society Australia and Business Council of Australia provided further context and helped frame the discussion.   

By invitation only. For any enquiries, please contact [email protected]

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CEO Roundtables bring together senior business leaders with government, academia and civil society to advance bilateral trade and investment links between Australia and its key Asian partners. These high-level roundtables discuss practical ideas to pursue trade and investment opportunities, while developing business-to-business connections, and professional relations between leaders. Each roundtable results in country-specific policy memos and case studies to inform and support business outcomes.