PhD. Ajay Samant, Dean of the School of Business, Ph.D. Terry Noel, Associate Dean for Academic Programs and Curriculum, Ph.D. Roopa Rawjee, Executive Director of International Engagement, visited four universities in Vietnam and Thailand at the end of October to formulate new cooperation agreements.
While in Vietnam, the team visited Vietnam University of Economics and Law (UEL) and Van Lang University to establish new partnerships focusing on study abroad, teacher exchanges, 3+2 and 4+1 undergraduate to MBA programs, and joint MBA programs.
“This has been an exciting first experience for me! It’s been a pleasure to work with the School of Business on new initiatives and it was a real privilege to meet our colleagues at SWU. I’m excited to begin developing ISU’s common approach to international engagement Vision.”
— Dr. Rupa Raj
Illinois State University and Van Lang University signed a memorandum of understanding on October 25, establishing a new relationship between the two institutions. Van Lang University was established in 1995 and has approximately 40,000 students. It is one of the first private universities in Vietnam with 58 undergraduate degree programs, 12 master’s degree programs and 1 doctoral degree. program.
Vietnam University of Economics and Law (UEL) will begin its first joint degree program with an American university after signing a memorandum of understanding with Illinois State University. Founded in 2010, UEL currently has about 50,000 students. Vietnam University currently has 10 academic departments offering undergraduate degree programmes in Vietnamese, French and English, as well as 9 master’s degree programmes and 5 doctoral programmes. Following a productive meeting, the two agencies are working to finalize a memorandum of understanding, which will soon be signed.
During their stay in Thailand, the group met with officials from Sri Lanka Karin Wiloh University (SWU) to discuss the current Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and its upcoming renewal in November 2022. Illinois and SWU officials expressed interest in expanding the MoU to include other Illinois State departments and universities. Officials from Sinakarin Wilo University hope to visit the Normal University in spring 2023 to continue the long-standing and rich partnership between the two universities.
For this successful trip, Dean Samant, Dr. Noel and Dr. Rawjee visited Chulalongkorn University. Representatives of the two universities explored creating a joint degree programme and plan to continue the dialogue to reach a memorandum of understanding in the near future.
“I was struck by what ISU had in common with the universities we visited. Everyone was thinking about how strong international connections can benefit students and how institutions in different countries can learn from each other.”
— Dr. Terry Noel