THE SPEECH BY RECTOR OF QUANG TRI TEACHER TRAINING COLEGE AT THE INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR FOR HIGHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS AT UBON RATCHATHANI RAJABHAT UNIVERSITY, THAI LAND, ON NOVEMBER 24-26, 2005

Ladies and gentlemen

First, on behalf of our college, I would like to express my gratitude to the Office of the Commission on Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, Thailand, RIHED of SEAMEO and the Management Board of Ubon Ratchathani Rajabhat University for inviting us to attend this international seminar. I would also like to warmly welcome all the delegates and participants to this important event for higher education institutions from GMS countries.

I would like to give a brief introduction to our college and propose a number of ideas of academic cooperation.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Quang Tri Teachers’ Training College was established in 1997 by upgrading the former Teachers’ Training High School. It is a public educational institution located on the Highway No. 9, in Dong Ha Town, Quang Tri Province, Vietnam, where part of the Trans-Asia Road goes through.

Its mission focuses on training and developing human resources and conducting scientific research in order to meet the demand for educational administrators, teachers, cadres, civil servants and technicians and to serve the cause of socio-economic development of the locality and the region.

With total personnel of 125, we offer 2-year vocational diplomas, 3-year bachelor’s degrees and short-term training and development certificates in various disciplines with different modes of training for a student population of approximately 1.500.
With regards international cooperation on education and training, we succeeded in a number of projects with foreign partners such as the Vocational Training Project (VIETVOC) with institutions from Finland and the English Language Teacher Training Project (ELTTP) with the British Council, Great Britain. Especially, since 2004 we have worked with Savannakhet Teachers’ Training College on a cooperation program for teacher exchange to teach Laotian and Vietnamese, ICT teacher development and student training. Presently, there is an advanced level Laotian language class for cadres and civil servants of the province and a 3-year bachelor class for students from Laos in our college.

In order for our college to accomplish the mission and to develop in the context of regionalisation and globalization, we attach great importance to the promotion of international cooperation among higher education institutions, first and foremost, among those within the GMS.

Therefore, we would like to propose and participate in multilateral and/or bilateral cooperation programs so as to:

1. gain experience in and support for the designing and managing of computer networks used for administration and teaching, how to provide a quality ICT program, ICT teacher training and development, producing software and database, and offering e-learning programs and establishing e-libraries;
2. investigate the designing, building and using the systems of subject practice classrooms;
3. exchange materials and lecturers or experts and students of disciplines and majors which partner institutions need, for instance, of courses related to tourism within GMS;
4. jointly provide undergraduate courses in flexible forms in accordance with mutually approved quality training standards;
5. host or join in conferences or seminars on advanced teaching methods, capacity building for educational administrators and managers, etc,...;
6. cooperate to conduct research in areas of mutual concern such as GMS cultures, common approved quality standards for and regionalisation of GMS higher education systems;

I do hope that this seminar will bring about initiatives and opportunities for you and for us to cooperate with each other. It is our pleasure and honor to welcome you to our college.

Thank you for your kind attention.