College of Arts and Sciences’ leaders and faculty visiting elite UK universities in Summer 2022 for potential collaborations

In July 2022, the Dean of College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) Dr. Vu Anh Dzung was joined by CAS Faculty members Dr. Billy Wheeler and Dr. Michael Clark for a business trip to the UK. The purpose of the trip was to establish connections with elite UK universities and to discuss possible collaborations with VinUni and CAS.

The team visited the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, the University of Manchester, and the University College London. At each institution, a number of avenues for collaboration were discussed along the three main dimensions of teaching, research, and development. These initial discussions were very promising, and CAS has high hopes that they will lead to fruitful and mutually beneficial collaborations in the future.

At the University of Manchester, the team met with the head of internationalisation for the School of Social Sciences (SoSS), Dr. Jasem Taranweh, to discuss the process for establishing a Memorandum of Understanding between CAS and SoSS and the possible outcomes of doing so, as well as the potential for faculty and student exchanges between our schools. While in Manchester, the team also met with Mr. Matthew Lane, societies manager for the Manchester Student Union. Matthew was enthusiastic about CAS’s plans to host a debating team from the University of Manchester to compete in a debating competition at VinUni in 2022.

At their visit to the University of Cambridge, Dr Wheeler and Dean Dzung met with representatives from the Institute of Manufacturing (part of the Department of Engineering) and discussed plans for future student exchanges whereby 3rd-year students would carry out part of their “study abroad” program at VinUni and undertake a project in manufacturing hubs within Hanoi and surrounding areas. Whilst in Cambridge, they also had a meeting with Prof. Tim Lewens the Head of the Department of the History and Philosophy of Science. He was very interested to know more about CAS’s program in Philosophy, Science and Society and suggested a number of ways we would collaborate in the future on research and teaching. This included permission for graduate students from CAS to become visiting students at Cambridge for up to six months.

At the University of Oxford Dr Wheeler and Dean Dzung met with the Vietnamese Society to talk further about opportunities for Vietnamese students at the University of Oxford, as well as a meeting with Prof. Chris Timpson, the Head of the Philosophy Department. They discussed recruitment of faculty members to the CAS advisory board and to assist CAS in future course development related to Philosophy.

Ending the trip, Dr. Wheeler met with Prof. Emma Tobin the Head of the Science and Technology Studies department of University College London. In addition to potential research collaboration, they discussed student exchange and two models were suggested for future development. The first allows VinUni students to become affiliate students of the department in STS for up to one year to carry out a research project. The other includes a 1+3 joint MA and PhD program between the departments of STS at UCL and CAS at VinUniversity for students interested in carrying out interdisciplinary work in science and the humanities.

Dr. Dung also had a meeting with INSEAD alumni and IMD Business School in Switzerland – an independent academic institution with Swiss roots and global reach that has been ranked in the Top 3 of the annual FT’s Executive Education Global Ranking worldwide for executive education (combined ranking for open & custom programs) since 2012 and in the top five for more than 15 consecutive years. Dr. Dung met with Mrs. Gitte Marie, Director of MBA Strategy, Innovation and Engagement and had a fruitful discussion about the potential collaborations between VinUni/CAS and IMD including Recruitment/Network, Executive Education, Exchange of faculty and so on.

The visit has set an initial foundational step for VinUni to establish a good promising partnership with top leading universities in the UK and in Europe with several collaborative activities that have been planned immediately in the AY 2022-2023.