Vietnamese Leaders, on U.S. Visit, Discuss Ambitious Overhaul of Higher Education.

At a forum here on Wednesday, Vietnam's president and minister of education outlined an ambitious plan to overhaul their country's troubled educational system, while a panel of American academics and scientists highlighted the importance of higher education to Vietnam's rapidly growing economy and suggested potential models for reform….The forum, held at the New School, came on the second day of the officials' visit to the United States, the first by a Vietnamese head of state since the Vietnam War. The president, Nguyen Minh Triet, is scheduled to meet with President Bush later this week….Mr. Triet said he would appeal to President Bush for American support of that effort. "We want to learn from your experience and want your assistance and support for our endeavors in higher education," he said through a translator.…The minister said he anticipated that 2,500 of those new Ph.D.'s would be educated in the United States and would form a core group of faculty members who would lead the county's efforts to create a tiered system of national higher education. At its pinnacle would be a new science and technology research university in Hanoi that Mr. Nhan said he hoped would open in 2008. [View Full Article]