On March 8, Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung received a working delegation from the University of Sydney led by Professor Willy Zwaenepoel, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering.

Minister Nguyen Manh Hung said that during his visit to Australia, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized cooperation in training, especially in the fields of digital technology and the semiconductor industry. The Government has assigned the Ministry of Information and Communications to draft a National Strategy on Semiconductors, in which an important content is the training of semiconductor human resources.

Minister Nguyen Manh Hung said that fields such as information technology and digital technology are very suitable for Vietnamese people, because Vietnamese people have talent in STEM (science - technology - engineering and mathematics). The semiconductor strategy also raises the issue of Vietnam becoming a hub providing global information technology human resources.

The head of the Ministry of Information and Communications asked the University of Sydney to share its model of university-enterprise cooperation for universities in Vietnam to learn from.

According to Professor Zwaenepoel, the University of Sydney's experience is to build a long-term cooperation process with businesses, through which businesses will support students to update practical knowledge.

The University of Sydney has been working with a number of training institutions in Vietnam, participating in the development of the Sydney – Vietnam initiative. To promote cooperation in training, it is possible to invite Vietnamese students to study in Australia and vice versa, promote exchange and internship programs, thereby enhancing mutual understanding, leading to the next steps of cooperation.

Minister Nguyen Manh Hung proposed that the University of Sydney support the Posts and Telecommunications Institute of Technology to open a representative office in Australia in 2024.

Also at the meeting, Professor Zwaenepoel expressed his wish to award the title of “Honorary Associate Affiliate” to Minister Nguyen Manh Hung – a former student of the school – for his contributions to promoting training cooperation between the University of Sydney and Vietnam. The University of Sydney is where Minister Nguyen Manh Hung studied for a Master of Telecommunications from 1993 to 1995. Minister Nguyen Manh Hung said he would strongly promote training cooperation between Australia and Vietnam in general, and Sydney and Vietnam in particular.