Vietnam PM Okays Forming Tokyo-Vietnam Medical University

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved a plan to set up Tokyo-Vietnam Medical University that will operate as a foreign-invested non-profit tertiary institute, the Government Office said. With an investment of VND421 billion ($20 million), the school which is invested by Japan’s Waseda Health Sciences Education Corporation and several Japanese organizations and individuals will cover an area of 30 hectares in the 500-hectare urban area Ecopark in the northern province of Hung Yen, 20 kilometers from Hanoi. The 30-hectare facility is expected to enroll 1,200 students after four years of operation. The number of lecturers would reach 80, including 10 foreign doctors and 18 Vietnamese ones. Earlier in June, the PM decided to set up Vietnam-Japan University in a bid to foster mutual cultural understanding between the two countries. The establishment is aimed at providing high training quality to students amid rising numbers of students going to Japan for study. It will also seek to bring Japanese culture closer to Vietnam as there is growing investment from Japan to the Southeast Asian country in recent years. (Tin Tuc – News Oct 14 p4, Chinhphu.vn Oct 13)