Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Phan Van Mai (R) and AUF President Prof. Slim Khalbous. (Photo: VNA) HCM City(VNA) – Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Phan Van Mai hasvowed to do his best to promote cooperation between local universities and the Association of Francophone Universities(AUF).
At a reception for AUFPresident Prof. Slim Khalbous onMarch 8, Mai expressed his pride that HCM City’s universities have contribute to the common development of the Francophone community and AUF inparticular.
He said HCM City is the second biggest hub of universities in Vietnam, just behind Hanoi. They have connected closely with the local authorities so that it is easy for them to join AUF’sprogrammes.
The official agreed with the idea of building a career orientation and human resourcetraining centre for the city, and establishing a joint task force with AUF’s expertsto set goals of building a smart city, thus making significant contributions tothe city’s development.
Khalbous, for hispart, hoped that more local universities will become AUF’s members. He wishedto hold more cooperation activities with the city this year on the occasion ofthe 30th founding anniversary of the AUF office inVietnam.
He said AUF currently has three Francophone employment support centres inVietnam, including those in Hanoi, HCM City and Da Nang. They are among the nine centres established in seven countries in Asia-Pacific, with the aim ofproviding career guidance for high school students to choose appropriateuniversity majors and helping Vietnamese university students easily integrateinto the job market.
Foundedin 1962, AUF brings together Francophone higher education and researchassociations with headquarters in Montreal, Canada. It is now the world’s largestassociation of universities and research institutes with 1,007 members from 119countries./.
