Over recent years, the Vietnamese-German University has become the world’s fourth largest bi-national university with German participation. Upon completion of the construction phase, which is expected to come to an end in 2018, up to 12,000 students will be able to study at the VGU. The VGU was founded and is funded by the federal government and the State of Hessen. The VGU imports German degree programmes into Vietnam. Bachelor’s, Master’s and doctoral programmes are delivered in cooperation with German partner universities. On completion of their programme, students receive a German degree. The students’ academic training is complemented by scholarship-funded study visits to German partner universities and by access to international research cooperations and conferences.

The subjects that can be studied include:

• electrical engineering & information technology (in collaboration with Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences);
• computer science (in collaboration with Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, TH Köln and Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences);
• global production engineering and management (in collaboration with TU Berlin).

Teaching is carried out by German guest lecturers and high-ranking Vietnamese lecturers with international experience. English is the language of instruction. German is taught alongside students’ main programmes of study. The aim is to establish a leading application-oriented and multidisciplinary university with a strong focus on research, underpinned by a wide range of cooperative partnerships with a variety of German universities.

The VGU is also characterised by its close links with German industry, which provide an ideal basis for research collaboration and the exchange of knowledge between the university and industry. The Vietnamese-German Transport Research Centre is a joint venture of the VGU, TU Darmstadt and the University of Transport and Communications, and was established as the VGU’s first research centre in 2010. The aims of the cooperative partnerships are to strengthen research and teaching, train highly educated experts and expand technology transfer.