Cross-continental collaboration

What happens when the Vietnamese Education Department decides to modernize the national baccalaureate curriculum? When it comes to physics, they call U.Va.

Hue University, which serves as Vietnam’s pilot school for the physics portion of this project, has chosen Mr. Jefferson’s University as its model. U.Va. physics professor P.Q. Hung, a native of Vietnam, leads this innovative collaboration.

In the fall of 2006, 26 Vietnamese students at Hue University began the new five-year physics program, one of 10 pedagogical areas being revised by their government. Physics classes, which will begin this fall, include coursework, laboratory experiences and textbooks identical to U.Va.’s, and every lecture will be presented completely in English.

“English is the international language for science and engineering,” explains Hung. The Vietnamese “wanted to move their education to an international level as quickly as possible.”

If this pilot program is successful, Hung expects, it will be introduced on a larger scale throughout Vietnam. Hung plans to make several visits to Hue to monitor progress. The collaboration also involves faculty and student exchanges. And because the curriculum is identical, undergraduate students from U.Va. will be able to spend a semester at Hue and receive full credit for their coursework.

Hung and his colleagues at U.Va. are also excited at the opportunity this presents for attracting some of the highest-quality graduates of the Hue program to U.Va.’s doctoral program.

“This collaboration is prestigious,” Hung declares. “Out of all the places in [the U.S.], they chose our program to emulate.”