A performance by Vietnamese and Lao students at the anniversary (Photo:Thanh Long/USSH)

On this occasion, three guests including Ms. Thong My Doan – Deputy manager of Cultural and Educational Counselling department – Lao People’s Democratic Republic’s Embassy, Associated Professor Le Mau Han – Former Dean of Faculty of History, and Associated Professor Nguyen Van Ham – Former Dean of Faculty of Library and Information Science had a meeting with many students and lecturers of USSH.

Faculty of History received very first generations of Lao students following co-operation policies between Laos and Vietnam 30 years ago. The comprehensive co-operation between the two countries has been uninterrupted since Hanoi General University period. After being detached from Faculty of History in 1997, Faculty of Library and Information Science has trained 26 Lao undergraduate and graduate students, of whom 15 persons completed their programs.

Guests at the meeting. Left to right: Assoc.Prof. Nguyen Van Ham, Assoc.Prof. Le Mau Han, Ms. Thong My Doan. (Photo:Thanh Long/USSH)

Assoc.Prof. Le Mau Han said that in the first period, receiving Lao students was a political mission of Faculty of History. It is the fact that many Lao students with extraordinary efforts overcame the language barrier and hard conditions to get excellent results. Assoc. Prof. Le Mau Han added: “We are really proud of the outcome of training program that has trained numerous high – ranked officers for Laos’ government, which has considerably contributed to Lao PDR’ s development.”

Assoc.Prof. Nguyen Van Ham said that Vietnamese teachers and Lao students had a close relationship. Lao students were studious, modest and motivated in Vietnamese learning environment.

Assoc.Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Kim, USSH Vice – Rector, a student of Faculty of History, 26th batch, told that he studied with many Lao students during the very hard time of Vietnam. Our support for Lao friends was actually not enough in general. In spite of facing the challenge, the relationship between Lao students and Vietnamese teachers still went very well. At that time, each Vietnamese student took responsibility to support a Lao student in terms of study and everyday life as well. He recalled: “Studying and experiencing with Lao students are such a good time in my lifetime as well as our classmates’. At the present, Lao students that I know are very successful in their careers using knowledge and skills gained in Vietnam. It’s them who promote the sustainable relationship between the two countries”.

Ms. Thong My Doan (right) gave Lao PDR’s gift to Faculty of Library and Information Science and Faculty of History (Photo: Thanh Long/USSH)

Ms. Thong My Doan said there were 5000 Lao students that had studied at 156 universities in Vietnam. In April 22nd, 2011, the Vietnam and Lao governments signed a cooperative agreement that assigned Vietnamese Education and Training Ministry and Lao Education and Sports Ministry to building a project of enhancing education cooperation between the two countries. Then, in the future, Vietnamese universities including USSH will continue to play an important role in training high quality human resources for Lao PDR.

Also, the anniversary night was an opportunity for Lao students studying in Faculty of Library and Information Science to share their memories with Vietnamese friends and teachers.