Dmitry Chernyshenko welcomed the participants of the third Forum of Rectors of Universities of Russia and Vietnam in Hanoi

Published on: 2026-05-23

Source: Government of the Russian Federation –

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The Third Forum of Rectors of Russian and Vietnamese Universities opened on May 22 at the Hanoi University of Transport and Communications. The forum became a key event of the Year of Russian-Vietnamese Cooperation in the field of science and education, announced by the decision of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam To Lam in May 2025. The initiative of the leaders of the two countries is timed to the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and Vietnam.

Participants of the forum organized by the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia, the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam, and Lomonosov Moscow State University included representatives from over 100 Vietnamese and Russian universities.

The forum participants were greeted by Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Chernyshenko. He noted that Russian-Vietnamese scientific and educational cooperation has lasted for more than 100 years and is inextricably linked with the formation of an independent Vietnam, the development of the national education system, and the first scientific school.

“Today, this is a key direction of partnership, strengthening mutual trust and ties. In the Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic and Scientific-Technical Cooperation, the educational and youth agenda is traditionally a priority. Noticeable results have been achieved: more than 500 agreements between universities and scientific organizations are in effect, around 3,000 Vietnamese citizens are studying at Russian universities, and the annual government quota — one of the largest — amounts to one thousand free places.”The Cross Year of Science and Education, announced by the President of Russia Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam To Lam, will give an additional impetus. “The Forum of Rectors is its central event,” emphasized the Deputy Prime Minister.

Dmitry Chernyshenko thanked the Vietnamese side for the high level of event preparation and outlined its key topics: development of engineering education, training of personnel for the atomic industry, information security, joint educational programs, and intercultural dialogue.

According to him, the main event of the forum will be the signing of the Regulation on the Pushkin Center based at the Hanoi Pushkin Institute: “Interest in the Russian language in Vietnam is traditionally high. I expect that the center will become a flagship for preparing Vietnamese applicants for leading Russian universities and will make a significant contribution to strengthening humanitarian ties.”

As noted by the Minister of Science and Higher Education Valery Falkov, universities currently play a special role: they are precisely the ones that create an atmosphere of trust, help establish humanitarian ties early on, and create a solid foundation for long-term partnership. Within the framework of the forum, about 50 documents on cooperation between Russian and Vietnamese universities will be signed.

“For many years, Russian universities have trained thousands of Vietnamese specialists. They have made a significant contribution to the development of Vietnam’s economy, science, medicine, and industry. Nowadays, strong bilateral ties encompass a number of directions – from engineering training and digital technologies to bioengineering, artificial intelligence, and integrated maritime research.”

At the representative forum opening today, a large package of inter-university agreements will be signed. Each such document will become the basis for professional dialogue and the development of new joint initiatives, educational programs, and research projects,” emphasized Valery Falkov.

The forum program includes panel discussions on the implementation of joint educational programs and academic mobility, interaction in the field of engineering education, information technologies, information security, as well as in the area of linguistics and intercultural communication. An exhibition will open on the forum grounds for Vietnamese schoolchildren and students, where Russian universities will present their educational programs.

Training Vietnamese citizens at Russian universities remains one of the key directions of bilateral cooperation.

Since 1951, tens of thousands of Vietnamese citizens have received higher, secondary, and specialized education in our country. Education in the USSR has become an important stage in the training of the new formation of national political figures of Vietnam. The most famous Soviet graduate was Ho Chi Minh — the first President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

Among the most popular among Vietnamese students’ specialties and fields of study are Russian language, engineering, management, international relations, medicine, pedagogical education, psychology.

The Government of Vietnam also allocates annual scholarships for the education of Vietnamese students at Russian universities. About 1,000 scholarships were established by the Vietnamese side for the 2026/2027 academic year.

The largest number of students from Vietnam in 2025 will study at the G.V. Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, the P. Lumumba Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, the Higher School of Economics (HSE), ITMO University, MAI, Bauman Moscow State Technical University, the State University of Management, RGGMU, and Saint Petersburg State Polytechnic University of Peter the Great.

Since 2022, the Russian language has been included in Vietnam in the list of the first foreign languages in general education schools, alongside English, Chinese, Korean, German, French, and Japanese.

In May 2025, in the presence of the leaders of two countries, an intergovernmental agreement was signed, which became the basis for the transformation of the Pushkin Institute in Hanoi, operating since 1983, into an interstate educational organization — the joint Pushkin Center, which will promote the advancement of the Russian language in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Vietnamese side considers the center not only as an educational platform but also as a coordinating mechanism for the development of Russian language teaching in Vietnam. Regularly, the center will run advanced training courses for Vietnamese Russian language teachers. The demand from Vietnamese universities for the training and retraining of Russian language teachers has significantly increased. The center’s work will improve the quality of education and significantly expand access for students.

The statement on the center’s activities, the signing of which will take place within the framework of the Third Forum of Rectors of Russian and Vietnamese Universities, will allow securing the basic principles of its functioning for the long term, moving towards the practical implementation of the agreements reached, towards the full start of its work.

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