Vietnam Initiative: A Global Knowledge Network

The Vietnam Initiative (VNi) is a global network for research and training in development policy in Vietnam. Founded in 2010 by IU’s O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs Professor Tran Ngoc Anh, the VNi is a large group of independent scholars, who organize regular seminars and conferences in Vietnam. Andreas Hauskrecht, Clinical Professor of Business Economics at Kelley’s BEPP Department, is the co-director of the initiative, along with SPEA Professor Kerry Krutilla.

On the research side, VNi regularly conducts policy analyses requested by the Vietnamese policymakers. These analyses are carried out by research associates from more than 40 major universities and international institutions across the U.S. and around the world. The VNi is a Think-Tank of 60 scholars worldwide who are passionate and knowledgeable about Vietnam, including professors from Indiana University, the University of New South Wales, Duke University, RMIT, Cambridge University, Harvard University, and IPAG Business School Paris.“We’re providing educational services for the Vietnamese public sector and also providing research and advice for the government,” says Hauskrecht.

The World Bank has given a loan of $460M to the three biggest universities in Vietnam—the National University of Hanoi, the National University of Ho Chi Minh City, and the University of Danang. While Hauskrecht and his associates are working directly with those three universities, they are not the only universities because the big three actually host other universities, making them like an umbrella organization. This means that, in total, IU is working with 24 universities in Vietnam. The idea is to grow those universities in modern autonomous universities so that what they teach is politically independent and increasingly financially independent.

“The Vietnamese government does not use loan money for technical assistance,” says Hauskrecht. “They use loans only for hardware, which includes buildings and labs.”

When the World Bank gives a big loan, it’s common that they find a national donor who gives a grant for technical assistance. In this case, funded by USAID, the Partnership for Higher Education Reform (PHER) is a five-year initiative to modernize Vietnam’s leading universities and strengthen Vietnam’s higher education system in alignment with USAID’s Higher Education Program Framework. USAID gave a grant for $14.2M for five years.

“This is one of the biggest grants that IU has received in that field,” says Hauskrecht. “Although it’s a program with a complicated structure, we have four pillars to make it simple.”

The first pillar is governance, which includes quality assurance, management systems, and IT systems for the university. This main pillar has 12 sub-objectives. The second pillar is teaching & programs.

“We want to help them develop world-class curricula for different schools and programs,” says Hauskrecht, noting that they potentially also want to work in the direction of having joint programs with the Kelly School of Business and the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs.

The third pillar is research as they want to help the Vietnamese researchers with contacts in the U.S—with mentors to publish in international refereed journals.

“We’ve built seven Vietnam International Academic Networks (VIANs) where US-based academics work with Vietnamese counterparts,” says Hauskrecht, who is the only one out of two non-Vietnamese academic coordinators of the VIANs. Nevertheless, he continues to meet with a teacher to improve his Vietnamese speaking skills.

“When it comes to language, you have to practice with the guy at the bar or the taxi driver, and COVID made that difficult, but I’m improving,” he says.

The fourth pillar is linkages, which is essentially the connection between the universities and the private sector.

According to a report called “Vibrant Vietnam: Forging the Foundation of a High-Income Economy”

launched by the World Bank in May 2020, Vietnam’s goal is to become a high-income economy by 2045.

Hauskrecht has been working in Vietnam since 1991 in various advisory roles.

“I’ve worked for five different Prime Ministers and six Central Bank governors,” says Hauskrecht. “In fact, I’m so old that the current Central Bank governor is my former student!”

In July 2022, Indiana University had a conference in Vietnam that put PHER on the map in terms of leaders meeting leaders. Roughly 30 experts from IU, plus 120 Vietnamese experts and a couple dozen ambassadors and VN politicians, participated. One of the keynote speakers was former IU provost Lauren Robel. Other key IU players in attendance included Munirpallam Venkataramanan, the former executive VP for finance and development, and Terry Mason, former Dean of the School of Education. In addition, Hannah Buxbaum, Vice President for International Affairs and Ash Soni, Interim Dean, Kelley School of Business, were attending the conference.

This fall and spring 2023, Hauskrecht and his team will host 5 groups of Vietnamese leaders and key administrators from the three Vietnamese universities at IU in Bloomington. Then in 2023, they start the implementation in Vietnam. In his 31 years of working with VNi, Hauskrecht has been to Vietnam about 150 times.

“It almost feels like home,” he says.

In Hauskrecht’s opinion, PHER comprises all the strengths of IU.

“This is an enormous international outreach opportunity for Indiana University,” says Hauskrecht. “PHER is a wonderful way for IU to have an impact on the educational system of another country.”