Vietnamese universities as partners

Representatives of the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences visited the People's Republic of Vietnam from October 1 to 7 and visited various universities in Hanoi and Dalat as well as a national park in the "Central Highlands". The trip was the result of many years of preparation in the form of a Master's thesis defended by the project managers at the Faculty of Management and Cultural Studies/International Tourism Management in 2015 and additional extensive research. Loose contacts resulting from this could be taken up for consolidation.

The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) uses funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) to support corresponding initiation trips with the aim of preparing long-term, contractually binding collaborations that lead to structural improvements at the partner university. 

The trip aimed to make preparations so that both partner countries can exchange specialist expertise in the future and develop this further in teaching and research. This concerns, among other things, the exchange of corresponding curricula, which are further developed from the local context. 

The participants discussed possibilities for student and teacher exchanges.

The partners mentioned are now gradually striving for a "subject-related partnership". To this end, discussions at the university are to be intensified and preparations made with regard to structural requirements in order to offer corresponding degree courses. 

For the HSZG, the ongoing acquisition of expertise in development cooperation is of central importance in order to further internationalize teaching. 

The partners of the University of Social Sciences & Humanities Hanoi, Dalat University and the Bidoup Nui Ba National Park as one of the practice partners discussed the preparation of the "Memorandum of Cooperation" with the representatives of the HSZG. In particular, the networking of the Departments of Tourism Management and Environmental Sciences formed a good basis for initiating an exchange and the task now is to involve other departments at the university. 

The Vietnamese partners showed a great deal of interest and also urged that the next step be to deepen the content.

During the same period, Prof. Dr. Frank Worlitz from the Institute of Process Engineering, Process Automation and Metrology (IPM) was in Vietnam to deepen contacts with Hong Duc University in Thanh Hoa. The participants met in Hanoi and exchanged information.

Representatives of the HSZG were:

• Prof. Dr. Ute Pflicke, Tourism Management (TM) and International Tourism Management 
• Prof. Dr. Dieter Greif represented the Faculty of Natural and Environmental Sciences
• Ms. Solvig Langschwager, lecturer and module leader Tourism Management 
• Ms. Eva Pretzsch, Research Assistant Tourism Management and Project Manager