On the afternoon of December 12, in Den Haag city, within the framework of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's official visit to the Netherlands, Vietnam National University of Agriculture (VNUA) exchanged a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation with the world's leading universities, vocational training organizations, and agricultural business associations at the Vietnam-Netherlands Business Forum under the witness of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Dutch Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Liesje Schreinemacher.
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| VNUA’s leaders hand over the Memorandum of Understanding with Dutch partners in the presence of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. |
Accordingly, VNUA signed a MoU with the Laboratory of Plant Breeding, Wageningen University in the Netherlands on a long-term cooperation program to improve human resources and build a professional plant varieties research and supply system for Vietnam, in order to develop the application of biotechnology and select and create high-value plant varieties to cope with climate change.
Wageningen UR is the number 1 university of the Netherlands and is ranked number 1 in the world for the quality of training and research in the fields of agriculture and life sciences.
The university has 6,500 staff/lecturers and 12,000 students from more than 180 countries around the world. The main areas of research and training of the university are agriculture, safe food and life sciences; the university is also a close partner of government and business.
The university has the Laboratory of Plant Breeding which conducts all Dutch plant breeding studies; The Laboratory of Plant Breeding of Wageningen University in the Netherlands conducts research and transfers high-value, climate-adapted plant varieties to the Netherlands and many regions of the world.
VNUA also signed a MoU with the Netherlands-Vietnam Agro-Business Cooperation Association to cooperate in training, innovation and technology commercialization.
The Netherlands-Vietnam Agro-Business Cooperation Association is a cooperative organization between Dutch and Vietnamese businesses, research institutes and government organizations in the field of agriculture and technology. The association is a combination of knowledge, technology and experience of the entire crop value chain in Vietnam and the Netherlands.
Collaboration is at the core - members work together to build long-term relationships through sharing expertise and resources to contribute to Vietnam's growing market and by promoting, exchanging and commercializing Dutch farming technologies.
Through this cooperation, VNUA and Dutch agricultural technology enterprises would cooperate to create opportunities for students to practice and undertake internships in advanced agribusiness production environments of the Netherlands, to enhance opportunities for the students to gain scholarship and experience an innovative environment, while promoting the commercialization of agricultural technology between the two countries.
VNUA also signed a cooperation agreement with the Dutch agricultural vocational education group, Lentiz, on practical training in smart agriculture for cooperatives, businesses and farmers.
Lentiz is a Dutch education group based at the International Horticultural Center, specializing in the implementation of education and training programs in agriculture/horticulture and related fields through close cooperation with businesses and production facilities.
The Lentiz education group containing 14 schools has built up worldwide experience and expertise as well as an extensive network. Over the past decades, Lentiz has accumulated international experience and knowledge in the fields of horticulture, floriculture, food processing and supply and cold chain management; and shared their knowledge abroad.
Lentiz and VNUA would develop training programs in the direction of smart agriculture for Vietnamese cooperatives, businesses and farmers.
VNUA has close, long-term and effective relationships with Dutch partners such as Wageningen University of the Netherlands, universities of Applied Sciences such as HAS, Van Hall Lareinstein, Agriterra, an agri-agency for cooperative development in new and emerging economies, Agribusiness Association and Lentiz Vocational Training Group, etc.
The Netherlands has been training about 20 masters and doctorates and hundreds of short-term training sessions in biotechnology, fruit and vegetable industry, smart agriculture and climate change response for VNUA.
Over the past 20 years, VNUA and its partners have carried out about 15 collaborative projects in research and international standard training program development.
From 2019 up to now, VNUA has cooperated with 5 Dutch universities, organizations and businesses, namely Wageningen University, HAS University of Applied Science, Lentiz Vocational Training Group, and the Fresh Studio company and Agriterra to implement the OKP project sponsored by the Dutch Government in order to strengthen the capacity of the vegetable and flower industry for northern and central Vietnam, in which VNUA is pioneering in applying training and development cooperation models of Dutch universities to improve the curriculum and active teaching methods, develop the innovation model of the fruit and vegetable industry in Vietnam (Horticulture Innovation) Center) at VNUA.