1. OVERVIEW

In 1956, the Division of Vietnamese Studies at Hanoi University was founded in order to offer courses in the Vietnamese language and Vietnamese culture for international students according to Agreements between Vietnam and other countries.

On December 18th 1968, Vietnamese Department, Hanoi University was established on the foundation of the Division, setting the footprints and the importance of the training of Vietnamese language and culture for foreigners in the national tertiary educational system.

In 1995, Vietnamese Department was changed into Department of Vietnamese Language and Culture for Foreigners meeting the needs of new development.

On March 2nd 1999, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) signed the Decision No. 826/ QĐBGD&ĐT-ĐH, assigning the Department to provide undergraduate program in the field of Vietnamese language and culture for foreigners. Once again, the Department’s training system was broadened.

Today, Vietnam is in the strong international integration and became a member of the ASEAN, joined the WTO, and successfully held the APEC summit. Cultural exchange, foreign investment, international trading in Vietnam is continuously increasing; a lot of companies, economical, industrial, trading consortium groups have been investing into Vietnam. Therefore, the number of foreigners interested in learning and doing research on Vietnam is dramatically increasing. The establishment and development of Vietnamese Studies became a necessary and emergent mission.  On February 28th 2008, Vietnam National University-Hanoi signed the decision on publishing Vietnamese Studies program in two majors: Vietnamese Studies for the Vietnamese people and Vietnamese Studies for Foreigners. On April 24th 2008, Vietnam National University Hanoi decided to change the name of the faculty into the Faculty of Vietnamese Studies and Vietnamese Language.

At present, the Faculty has 22 training staffs. All of them have at least BA degrees, two out of them are 2 Assoc. Prof. and PhD holders, 11 MAs. They are the strong professional teams of the university as well as the Faculty, showing the continuously strong development of the staffs. In addition to the official teachers, the Faculty also has 40 collaborators who are young, enthusiastic and knowledgeable teachers to join in the delivery of short term courses.

Apart from the mission of training Vietnamese language and culture for international students, the main mission of the Faculty is to deliver Vietnamese Studies degree programs to both international and Vietnamese students. The school year of 2009 – 2010, the Faculty will recruit the first cohort of Vietnamese students in the major of Vietnamese Studies. The Faculty will secure approval from relevant leaders for delivering graduate programs on Vietnamese Studies. The Faculty is striving for becoming the leading institution in Vietnamese Studies and Vietnamese Language Training at home and overseas.

During the last 40 years, with ceaseless efforts, the Faculty has gained the following achievements:

In Training

Since 1968, the Faculty has trained 7000 foreigners from 40 different countries, among which over 100 got BA degrees, 8 later became ambassadors extraordinary and plenipotentiary in Hanoi, such as Chinese Ambassadors Li Jiazhong and Qi Jianguo, the Federal Republic of Russia Kimofeev, Romanian Ambassador Valeriu, the People's Democratic Republic of Korea’s Ambassador Park Ueng Sop, Cuban Ambassador Fernandez and many high-ranking foreign diplomats, professors and associate professors, researchers, translators and interpreters.

Especially, the Faculty has succeeded its international mission to help Laos PDR and the Royal Kingdom of Cambodia. 

Training for Laos PDR: the Faculty has trained Vietnamese for hundreds of Laotian students, 6 of them have graduated as bachelor of Vietnamese language and culture. Besides, the Faculty trained Vietnamese for 30 officials at the National Academy of Public Administration, and 50  high-ranking officials for HCM National Academy of Politics, some of them are members of the Central Committee of Laos People’s Revolutionary Party and holding important positions in the government.

Training for Cambodia: After Cambodia was liberated, from 1981 – 1991, the Faculty’s trainers and professors were invited for over 200 times to give lectures on Vietnamese language in Cambodian universities: Phnom Penh University (now The Royal Cambodian University), University of Medicine, and Economics University.

Many training staffs have been invited to teach Vietnamese in the U.S, Sweden, Germany, Japan, Korea, etc.

Awards

• Prime Minister's award in 1978
• The first-class ITXALA Order by the Laos Government in 1983
• In 1997, Certificate of Merit by the Labor Union, VNU
• In 1998, the third-class Order of Labor by the national President
• In 2007, Certificate of Merit by VNU.
• In 2008, Prime Minister's award.
• Besides, the departments and many staffs have achieved honorable titles of all levels.

2. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

• Dean: Assoc. Professor Vu Van Thi. PhD
• Vice Dean:
  + Tran Nhat Chinh. PhD
  + Nguyen Thi Nguyet. PhD

The Faculty has 4 departments:

• Vietnamese Language and Language Teaching Methodology
• Cultural Studies
• Art and Literature
• Comparative/Contrastive Linguistics

3. TRAINING PROGRAMS

• Offering undergraduate courses in Vietnamese Studies for Vietnamese and international students pursuing knowledge in the field of Vietnamese country, people, history and culture. 
• Providing courses in Vietnamese language and culture for foreigners in accordance with agreements between Vietnam and other countries.
• Providing courses in Vietnamese language and culture for other foreigners, including students, interns, researchers, professors from universities, research institutes, specialists, and executives and officers from foreign embassies in Vietnam and other organizations’ staff.
• Delivering short term classes – participants are awarded with certificates of Vietnamese Language Proficiency level A, B, C upon their successful completions. The Faculty is one of the very few units that has been assigned by MOET with the mission of training Vietnamese language for foreigners before they start their higher education program in Vietnam.
• Additionally, the Faculty also provides extra classes in language training methods for young teachers and other interested people.

4. RESEARCH PROGRAMS

During the last 40 years, the Faculty has built up a system of textbooks and courses for the training courses. The Faculty has edited 25 textbooks, including language course-books and reference books, 30 lectures in the field of linguistics, literature, culture and Vietnamese history.

Besides, the Faculty is also a strong unit in the field of scientific research. The Faculty successfully held 4 international conferences on Vietnamese and language training methods and numerous other scientific workshops.  Since 2000, the Faculty co-operated with Vietnamese Studies Department of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City National University to co-organize 8 fruitful conferences, such as Vietnamese for Foreigners, Research and teaching Vietnamese Studies, Vietnamese and language training methods… Proceedings of these conferences have been published as reference materials for research and training.

Today, the Faculty’s staffs have published more than 400 articles, 48 research projects at college and university levels, including some focal and special ones.

5. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

The Faculty has been co-operating with many universities and international organizations, such as:

• Beijing Foreign Languages and Trade University (China)
• Yunan University for Nationalities (China)
• Guangxi University (China)
• Tokyo Foreign Languages University (Japan)
• Daitou Bunka University (Japan)
• JICA (Japan)
• Japan – Vietnam Friendship Association (Japan)
• Hankuk Foreign Languages University (Republic of Korea RoK)
• Chungwoon University (RoK)
• Council on International Education Exchange (CIEE)
• Hobart University (USA)
• CET Academic Programs (USA)
•  School of Oriental and Africa Studies (UK)
• Victoria University (Australia)

The Faculty has built up the undergraduate 3+1 [sandwich] program and is moving forward with the 2+2 program with Chungwoon University, RoK.

6. CONTACT

B7 Bis Building
Trần Đại Nghĩa Street
Bách Khoa District- Hà Nội
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Tel: (844) 38694323; Fax: (844) 8694484