Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and the delegation of ministries and departments visiting Can Tho University

On August 10, 2018, Can Tho University (CTU) was honored and delighted to welcome Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and the delegation of ministries and departments to visit and work with CTU. Warmly receiving the Prime Minister and the delegation at CTU’s side was the members of CTU Rectorate Board, leaders of the university's units.

CTU welcoming Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and the delegation of ministries and departments

The meeting taking place at the Turtle Hall

At the meeting, CTU leader presented the report to the Prime Minister and the delegation on the situation of organization and development, the achievements that the university has achieved over 50 years of formation and development, the advantages and difficulties that the university is facing, besides the strategy and development orientation of the university in the future. In the report, the Rector also presented proposals to the Government, ministries and departments to help develop and strengthen CTU in the future, with the aim of further improving the quality of education and training of high-quality human resources to meet the country's development requirements in the direction of industrialization and modernization in the context of the socialist-oriented market economy and international integration.

Founded on March 31^st, 1966, CTU is a key multi-disciplinary university of the country in the Mekong Delta. The university has 16 colleges and schools, 03 research institutes, 18 centers, 14 departments, 01 high school, and 01 science and technology company. With a large number of units, the University has nearly 2,000 staff members, including 11 professors, 133 associate professors, 385 PhDs; There are 1,051 out of 1,105 lecturers achieved postgraduate qualifications, accounting for 95.11%. The university offers 98 undergraduate training programs with 44,071 students; 45 master programs and 16 doctoral programs with 2,558 students. The university has provided more than 160,000 engineers/bachelors, about 9,000 masters and 100 PhDs for the whole country, with an increase in the rate of employed students year by year, specifically, the recent rate (2016) is 90.2%.

Prof. Dr. Ha Thanh Toan, Rector of CTU presenting the report on the organization, development, achievements, advantages and disadvantages, orientations for development of CTU the coming time

About 250 science and technology projects have been carried out each year with the budget of about 50 billion VND, resulting in a large number of scientific publications, specifically in 2017, the number of articles published in scientific journals is 1,279, of which 319 are published in international journals, 101 belong to ISI journals. The university established cooperation relations with more than 130 international institutes, universities and organizations. Every year, the university welcomes over 350 delegations with over 2,180 international visitors. About 16 international cooperation projects have been implemented annually with the total budget of over 27 billion VND. Especially, the university is implementing Can Tho Improvement project using ODA loans of the Government of Japan with a total budget of 105.9 million USD to improve the capacity of training, research and technology transfer in strengthened areas of the university (agriculture, aquculture, environment); this is expected to be the foundation for sustainable development of CTU in the future.

In the early stages, the university has carried out many quality assurance activities, according to the standards of the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) and AUN-QA (05 traing programs has been recognized). The university has also been certified for quality accreditation in the period of 2018-2023 by the MOET. Approaching world rankings, CTU belongs to 301-350 group of top universities in Asia according to QS Asia University Rankings, and is ranked 3^rd by Webometrics Ranking of World Universities in August 2018.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc addressing to CTU's staff

Speaking to more than 1,000 CTU staff and students, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc appreciated the achievements of CTU over more than half a century, especially during the country's over-30-year renovation. The Prime Minister praised CTU as one of the leading, prestigious and quality destinations not only in the Mekong Delta but also in the whole country. CTU is one of the few major universities of Vietnam named on the international rankings, and one of the leaders in the movement of Vietnam in the international publication, in the training of excellent human resources, contributing to the development of society, especially for the Mekong Delta.

With that foundation of facilities investment and qualified staff, the Prime Minister believes that CTU will increasingly promote its position and role as the starting point for creative ideas, taking the mission to serve society through continuous innovation in education and training, in creative research; creating an open environment for academic exchange, ensuring staff's promotion of potential for constantly exploiting new knowledge. "Can Tho University will be one of the top 20 research universities in South East Asia by 2030," emphasized the Prime Minister. "It is a model university of Vietnam. We can completely believe that with the current strength, in the near future, Can Tho University will be one of the top 1,000 universities in the world in 2025".

Passing 52 years of development with with a high determination and a strong desire for innovation, the Prime Minister expressed his belief that CTU will succeed in the path of innovation, remain its position as a leading university in the higher education system of Vietnam, and be worthy of the trust of the State and society.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc presenting souvenirs to CTU

After the meeting, the Prime Minister planting a tree in front of the Turtle Hall of CTU to mark the visit to the university

On this occasion, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and the delegation from the Government, Ministries and Departments has visited the Tradition Room of CTU:

The Prime Minister having a look at the Japanese emperor's thesis on a kind of fish in the south of Viet Nam, which has been presented to CTU by the emperor

(Information and Network Management Center)