GENERAL INTRODUCTION
Vietnam National University of Agriculture (VNUA) is a key and leading national university in human resource training and scientific research in agriculture and rural development, becoming more and more diversified in fields of study with ever increasing prestige among the higher education system of Vietnam.
Vietnam National University of Agriculture dates back to the founding of the University of Agriculture and Forestry on October 12, 1956. Since its foundation, the University has been renamed several times with hardships and achievements, all the while striving to advance excellence in teaching and research. It has also shared its human and material resources for capacity building towards the establishment of other universities and research institutes in the country.
After many twists and turns, Vietnam National University of Agriculture is now known as the leading university among the community of agriculture, forestry and fishery universities in the country. The March 2014 is an important milestone when Hanoi University of Agriculture was officially transferred from the Ministry of Education and Training to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development with a new name: Vietnam National University of Agriculture. Given such new status, Vietnam National University of Agriculture must develop to become a regionally recognized university as his Honorable Minister Cao Duc Phat said on his first trip to the university since VNUA under the MARD.
Vietnam National University of Agriculture is located in Trau Quy township, Gia Lam district, Hanoi, capital of Vietnam. Situated on a campus of nearly 200 ha, the university has a system of modern lecture halls, experimental and practical facilities, spacious dormitories, a modern library system, a large gymnastic and sports complex, and many other crucial teaching, learning and research facilities.
VNUA is a large scale multi-disciplinary University with the current numbers of staff and students of 1,344 and around 20,000 respectively.
It comprises 13 Faculties, including Agronomy, Animal Science, Fisheries, Veterinary Medicine, Natural Resources and Environment, Engineering, Economics and Rural Development, Accounting and Business Management, Faculty of Social Sciences, Food Science and Technology, Information Technology, Biotechnology, Tourism and Foreign Languages.
The University has 10 Research Institutes: Institute of Agro-Biology, Institute of Economics and Development, Institute of Engineering Technology Development, Institute of Crops Research and Development, Institute for Edible and Medicinal Mushrooms Research and Development, Institute for Medicinal Plants Research and Development, Institute of Agricultural Market and Institution Research, Institute of Ornamental Creature, Institute of Microalgae and Pharmacosmetics, Institute of Green Growth Research.
The University has 22 Centers for Research and Services, 1 publishing house, and 2 company (Ltd.) that functions primarily to transfer technical advances to meet societal demands.
VNUA has 55 Undergraduate Training Programs, 22 Master Training Programs, and 18 Doctoral Training Programs. In addition to the traditional fields of study related to agriculture, VNUA has developed new training programs in other fields in its trend towards a multi-disciplinary university. Of particular note, the University has developed several advanced training programs and joint training programs with foreign partners.
Every year, VNUA enrolls roughly 6,000 freshmen, 1,200 Master and nearly 60 Doctoral candidates.
VNUA considers students the center of education and thus always creates the best conditions for students following the motto “Learn to know, learn to do, learn to live together, learn to be”. This teaches students to be well prepared for a life-long learning, to work creatively with a high sense of responsibility and cooperation for the sake of mutual benefit of self, the community, and the whole society.
Since its foundation, VNUA has produced nearly 111,000 undergraduates, 13.000 Masters and 650 PhDs which are the very important human resource for the development of Vietnam particularly in the agricultural sector. Many of them have been holding key posts in state agencies at central and local levels, or are famous experts in academic institutions and businesses across the country and overseas.
Since its early days, the University has laid down the combination of training with scientific research and practical services, its key development strategies, under the motto “Scientific research is vital to the University”. Therefore, the University has gained remarkable achievements in scientific research, social services and the transmission of cultural values, especially in regards to agricultural production and rural development:
In the field of crop breeding, following famous rice varieties developed in the past decades, scientists at VNUA have been the vanguard in applying breeding technologies to develop hybrid crop varieties with high heterosis, mastering gene and cellular technologies. VNUA is the first agency that was successful in breeding two-line hybrid rice varieties in Vietnam. In recent years, VNUA's scientists have bred high yielding and highly resistant rice varieties, which have been recognized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as national varieties and are widely used throughout the country.
VNUA is the first agency in Vietnam to breed hybrid tomato varieties bearing the exclusive trademark HT, with high quality, solid pericarp, allowing chemical-free preservation, and meeting the demands of export processing companies and domestic consumers. Different varieties of soybeans, carnation flowers, and non-seed papaya developed by the University have been widely used for production across the country.
In the field of fertilizer, VNUA's scientists have successfully isolated effective micro-organisms to produce micro-biological fertilizers from household and agricultural wastes, producing a leaf-sprayed fertilizer named POMIOR, as well as pellet NK, NPK and multi-microelement fertilizers that have been recognized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and extensively used in rice and maize production across the country.
In the field of animal science and veterinary medicine, the most important achievement in the early 1970s was the research work on crossbreeding Dai Bach x Mong Cai pigs and controlling the parasite Trypanosoma evans. These research endeavors have merited a prestigious Ho Chi Minh Award. Research on nutritional value of various feeds has also received the State Award. Recently, animal scientists have had successful research results and transferred into practice technologies for processing crop by-products into animal feeds and animal waste management. VNUA has also succeeded in developing a vaccine against cholera in ducks, and a kit for the diagnosis of “blue ear” disease in pigs, which are of high applicability in production, thus contributing to the disease prevention and minimizing losses for farmers.
In the field of agricultural engineering, VNUA's scientists have been successful in developing many models of agricultural machines, such as the cage wheel system named Agriculture No. 1, a pineapple foliage chopping and burying machine, a hole digging machine for forestry tree planting, a cassava harvester, poultry egg incubators, agro-product dryers, and a grain classifying and composting machine, all of which have been used by different companies for machinery production in various localities.
Many other technical advances by VNUA have also been recognized and widely applied in practical production, including technologies for rapid multiplication of disease-free potatoes, propagation of orchids, propagation of the cayen pineapple variety by means of tissue culture, enzyme production technology, farming techniques, technology for organic wastes treatment, application of GIS and remote sensing in land use planning, basin management, agro-product preservation and processing, IT applications in lecturing and management, commodity chain analysis, policy analysis, and restructuring animal and crop production systems. The University has also cooperated with different localities to devise maps on land use at district and communal levels, and develop a series of models for appropriate and effective production systems in typical ecological regions.
In addition to recognized scientific and technological products, VNUA is also a relied-upon consulting agency for the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) as well as other localities across the country. The University has strongly assisted the MARD in solving emerging problems in agricultural production and disease control.
In addition to more and more scientific and technological advances, the number of publications by VNUA in scientific journals, and workshop proceedings in-country and abroad has increased continuously.
International cooperation is a VNUA’s strength. It has been constantly expanding in all fields: staff and student exchange, information exchange, and cooperation in research and joint training, thus improving expertise for staff, while strengthening training and research capacity for the University.
With the aim of becoming a research university with better regional and global integration, VNUA has constantly strengthened cooperation with prestigious international universities. Every year, VNUA organizes many international workshops and seminars, receiving hundreds of delegations from foreign universities, research institutes, and academic organizations to discuss possibilities for cooperation and to participate in lectures and conferences.
Since the 1960s, VNUA has trained foreign students. Thus far, VNUA has trained for Laos total of 498 students including 253 undergraduates, 230 Masters, and 15 PhDs; for Cambodia total of 104 including 80 graduates, 16 Masters and 8 PhDs. Many of these alumni have been holding key posts in agricultural agencies and have made great contributions to the socio-economic development in their home countries.
At present, nearly 100 Lao and Cambodian students are studying at the University, together with students from the American, Korea, Mozambique, Angola and many short-term internship students from different countries.
So far, VNUA has developed cooperation with nearly 100 foreign universities, research institutes and international organizations. The university has implemented a good number of major international cooperation programs.
Inheriting a 68 year-old tradition of development, Vietnam National University of Agriculture works to develop itself into a multi-disciplinary research university, becoming a leading university in the country and an advanced university in the region, able to solve national and contemporary issues in agriculture and rural development. To this end, firstly, the University commits itself to an administrative reform to create a fine, honest and modern educational environment and an open environment for scientific research and creativity to contribute both theoretically and practically to the industrialization and modernization of agricultural and rural areas. Secondly, VNUA always strives to be recognized as a key national university. Finally, VNUA tries its best to contribute to the radical and comprehensive reform of Vietnam’s education and the building of modern sustainable agriculture.