Pursuing international exchange student + internship ‘hybrid program’
MOU between ‘Department of Civil Engineering and Vietnam National University – Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology’
Currently negotiating with five Korean conglomerates in Vietnam – synergy effect for global and employment capacities
[June 1, 2018]
<YU Department of Civil Engineering and Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology Department of Civil Engineering signed an MOU to pursue a ‘hybrid program’>
YU (President Sur Gil-soo) will pursue the ‘hybrid program’, a new kind of international exchange program for students to enter other nations.
The ‘Hybrid Program’ combines the advantages of existing overseas exchange student programs with that of overseas internships. Students participating in the program will first study at a local university in the first semester as an exchange student and then work in an internship at a local company in the following semester. Students will be able to become familiarized with the language, culture and lifestyle first as an exchange student and then gain on-site work experience at companies. Therefore, this is expected to create a synergy effect in terms of the global competitiveness and employment capacities for students.
The first partner of the ‘hybrid program’ pursued by YU will be Vietnam. Vietnam is currently the fourth biggest trading partner of Korea and there has been a continuous increase of Korean companies entering Vietnam. Accordingly, it is expected that there will be a growing demand for local experts in regards to Vietnam and local conditions so there is growing interest on the success of this program.
YU noticed the increasing demand for the construction sector in Vietnam and thus began to discuss the hybrid program with HCMUT (Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, Vietnam National University) since last year. The two universities agreed to pursue the hybrid program first in the construction and civil engineering fields. Finally on May 28, the YU Department of Civil Engineering (Dean Lee Jong-dal) signed an MOU for the operation of the program with HCMUT.
With this agreement, students of the YU Department of Civil Engineering will participate in the hybrid program from the first semester of the 2019 school year. The two universities that made this MOU will look for local companies that will participate in the hybrid program.
YU External Cooperation Office Director Heo Chang-deok said, “YU signed an MOU with a prestigious national university of Vietnam and is currently holding discussions with five conglomerates that entered Ho Chi Minh City, so it is expected that this newly attempted hybrid program will sail smoothly.” He added, “We will not only strengthen the global competitiveness of students, but also plan out various globalization programs that can provide practical assistance for students to begin their professional careers such as finding jobs abroad.”
The reason why a prestigious national university of Vietnam became the first partner for the YU hybrid program was due to its ties with Le Anh Tuan, dean of the HCMUT dean. Mr. Le Anh Tuan earned his PhD at the YU Graduate School of Civil Engineering in 2005 and then received his tenure as a professor at HCMUT. Last year, the YU international exchange team proposed the hybrid program and Dean Le Anh Tuan, who was always interested in exchange with his alma mater YU, assertively took the lead for exchange.
HCMUT is a national university of Vietnam with 22,000 enrolled students and was founded in 1957. It is a prestigious university recognized for its educational achievements and boasts an employment rate of over 90%. In particular, among the 11 departments offered by the university, the Department of Civil Engineering is the largest with approximately 4,500 undergraduates and 250 graduate students.
