DAAD Lektors

A Special Lektor (Lektor zur Besonderen Verwendung, z.b.V.) needs to be able to communicate and take a flexible approach without losing sight of the bigger picture. There is a lot happening in Vietnam. Universities are becoming more internationally focused and an increasing number of students want to go to Germany. In an environment of such rapid and dynamic change, there is a need for someone who is able to maintain an overview, who is capable of analysing everything from statistics to Facebook posts, and who knows what the universities need and how the framework of higher education policy in the region should develop.

The Special Lektor is based at the DAAD Regional Office in Hanoi, where all the DAAD activities in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar are coordinated. The Regional Office is responsible for a wide range of tasks, including organising higher education fairs, receiving international guests and discussing educational trends within the region. Here, the Special Lektor devotes half of his working time to teaching German as a Foreign Language. The other half is spent on administrative and organisational tasks at the Regional Office.

One of the Special Lektor’s most important jobs is the regional coordination of German Studies in Vietnam and Laos. The three largest universities in Vietnam that offer German Studies courses are continually working to improve the quality of the education they deliver and organise many international events. They are also important strategic partners. Organising and reporting at annual strategy meetings is also part of the Special Lektor’s range of duties, which ensures the DAAD and its local partners, the German Embassy and the Vietnamese Ministry of Education remain informed about trends in the country and about the work of the DAAD locally.

The Special Lektor represents the subject of German in the region. He coordinates the DAAD university summer course scholarship programme and German courses for PhD scholarship holders. It is a responsible job that calls for skills in financial planning as well as in quality assurance and monitoring.

Another aspect of the role is education marketing. The Special Lektor assists with the organisation of education fairs and the design of promotional materials, organises specialist seminars, and receives and advises German delegations visiting the Regional Office.

The Lektors and language assistants in the region are kept up to date with announcements and information supplied by the Special Lektor, and he is also their personal contact for all work-related queries.

The Regional Office oversees activities in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar. It is a fascinating and very culturally diverse region. Sensitivity, diplomacy and intercultural understanding are therefore essential when working here, as is an in-depth understanding of university communication channels.  However, it is precisely these tasks at the intersection of policy and practice that makes this work so exciting and so challenging.

The DAAD Information Centre is housed in the Goethe-Institut in the city centre. As head of the IC, the IC Lektor’s tasks include organisation, staff management, finances, representing the DAAD to the outside world, providing guidance on studying and scholarships, running information events in South Vietnam and Cambodia that focus on academic studies and research in Germany, and assisting with DAAD scholarship and funding programmes locally (e.g. involvement in the pre-selection of DAAD scholarship recipients from Vietnam). Other areas of responsibility are analysing the Vietnamese education market, organising fairs and information events and creating regionally specific promotional materials (print, Internet, social media). The IC Lektor also maintains and strengthens links with DAAD alumni at South Vietnamese universities.

VNU Hanoi is ranked as one the country’s top universities and one of the best higher education institutions in Southeast Asia. Accordingly, the Faculty of German Language and Culture at VNU-ULIS Hanoi is the only German department in Vietnam that offers not only two undergraduate programs (German Language Studies and German Language Teaching), but also a Master’s program (German Linguistics). Since 2017 it is able to offer even a binational M. A. (German as a Foreign and Second Language in the Vietnamese-German context) with the University of Leipzig. In the field of German language studies this is the first double Master’s degree program in Southeast Asia.

The department maintains intensive and fruitful co-operations with several higher education institutions in Germany (University of Leipzig, University of Greifswald, Konstanz University of Applied Sciences and TU Dortmund University) as well as with all relevant German institutions in Vietnam (German Embassy, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Robert Bosch Foundation, Goethe Institute and Central Agency for German Schools Abroad (ZfA)). In addition, it collaborates with many other German departments not only in Vietnam, but in the whole region Southeast Asia.

As a member of a dedicated, well qualified and professional teaching staff, the DAAD Lektor in this department runs various kinds of courses both for undergraduate and graduate students. These are seminars on e.g. “Research Methods”, “Intercultural Communication”, “German Literature”, “Literature and Media”, “Pragmatics” and “German Studies”. As the curricula of the department are constantly modernized, the tasks of the DAAD Lektor include curriculum development and the creation of suitable teaching material. Other areas of responsibility are supervising master and bachelor theses in the fields of literature, pragmatics and intercultural communication, reviewing master exposés and theses, involvement in examination committees and in the selection of scholarship recipients as well as teacher training. In addition, the DAAD Lektor supports the department in both initiating and maintaining international co-operations, in hosting events like e.g. the biannual International German Teachers’ Conference of the Vietnamese German Teachers’ Association and in editing publications like e.g. textbooks and conference proceedings.

The job as DAAD Lektor at VNU-ULIS Hanoi is a both challenging and rewarding one. Due to the dynamic development of the department’s international co-operations it also provides a widespread range of further training opportunities.

Hanoi University is considered to be the most traditional and also largest university where the German language is taught in Vietnam. A DAAD Lektor needs to be prepared for a wide range of university courses as well as being ready for various work experiences. A DAAD Lektor has to be able to teach several language courses as well as regularly giving seminars. The lecturer must also be involved in the examination process, the supervision of coursework and several examination projects. The main courses are annually attended by about 100 students. All 18 teachers work with the utmost motivation to offer their students the best possible language training.

The "German Studies Department" already has a long-term partnership with the University of Giessen. This has been funded by the DAAD since January 2015. The department benefits from this partnership through teacher training, guest lecturers and student exchanges. Apart from that, there is a very active ÖSD examination centre, where several hundred students regularly receive a certificate in German.

In addition, the DAAD Lektor regularly performs marketing and consulting tasks and advises the students during the weekly office hours. Many students plan a master's degree in Germany and therefore take the opportunity to learn more about their country of study and the conditions for studying in Germany. Additionally a DAAD Lektor organises events where information is given about study and scholarship opportunities in Germany.

Furthermore the DAAD Lektor at Hanoi University is responsible for advising and assisting teachers in conducting scientific research projects. As a representative of Germany, the teachers are supported by lectures in the organisation, conception and realisation of cultural and professional events as well as the giving of further training.

The tasks of a foreign language assistant at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USSH) in Ho-Chi-Minh City are very diverse.

On the one hand, the responsibilities of the language assistants are teaching advanced-level German language courses that are organised and taught together with Vietnamese colleagues for learners of German as a foreign language. On the other hand the language assistant is also teaching literature-courses that are part of the students’ compulsory subject choice. But the tasks of foreign language assistants are not limited to only those responsibilities. They also in charge of the weekly German-meetup: This is a get-together among students that would like to practice their German in an informal environment. Not only students of the USSH attend this meeting, but also other people who are interested in the German language come and join it regularly, like students of the Goethe-Institute, Germans working or travelling in Ho-Chi-Minh-City or Vietnamese people who speak German.

Moreover, the foreign language assistant at the USSH can support the IC-lecturer with his tasks and help organising all kinds of events and other events by the German department at the USSH.