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Vietnam officials study public administration at Tampere University

Published on 4.11.2019
Tampere University
Vietnam officials
The city of Tampere welcomed 40 civil servants from Vietnam for two tailor-made courses in public administration at Tampere University. The participants were looking to find out what makes Finland tick.

"Self-critical and critical thinking are matters of mind-set and culture that cannot be changed overnight in Vietnam," says Tran Thi Thu Huong, Assistant Minister cum Vice President of Vietnam Institute of STI, Ministry of Science and Technology.

"For tomorrow's changes, we need to start today. And understanding more about Finland is part of our journey forward."

Huong was one of the high-level delegates in the first Vietnamese study group, which looked closely at responsibility and innovation in the public sector. The group of 20 included senior representatives from the Ministries of Finance, Home Affairs, Health, Justice, Social and Economic Affairs, and Science and Technology.

2019 Office165 Responsibility

Photo credits: Harri Laihonen

The second group focused on human-resources management in the public sector. Several ministries were represented – including Transport, Environment, Information and Communications – as well as the Vietnam Women's Union, and the country's official news agency.

"Finland has been able to move quickly to the top of the world in almost every aspect of socio-economic and sustainable development," says Huong. "The country achieved this by caring for its people, building a culture of trust, and thinking critically about the betterment of the entire nation."

Broad expertise, tailor-made program

The two 10-day courses were designed by Harri Laihonen, a research director at Tampere University with previous experience working on education programmes for Vietnam. He has a broad professional and academic background that covers both business and social sciences.

"In designing these courses, we aimed to provide a diverse view on the success factors that we believe lie behind the success of Finnish society and public administration," says Laihonen. "More than 20 teachers from Tampere University contributed."

2019 OFFICE165 HRM

Photo credits: Harri Laihonen

"The programme provided the Vietnamese delegations with a comprehensive overview of the topics currently on the table for public administrators in Finland."

The groups also took several field trips, including visiting the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) in the neighbourhood of Hervanta, and the sustainable-living district of Hiedanranta. Tampere University's Faculty of Built Environment conducted a session discussing urban planning and transportation for the cities of the future. There was also a trip to Helsinki to visit the Finnish government’s property-management company, Senate Properties.

Finnish education in Vietnam

These courses build on established academic relationships between Vietnam and Finland University's member universities.

Tampere University is currently collaborating with the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City on a Master's programme in Public Administration that will see students graduating with a degree from Finland.

Public sector course at FinUni

Photo credits: Harri Laihonen

The article is originally published in Finland University's blog.

Finland University is a consortium jointly owned by four leading Finnish research universities: Tampere UniversityUniversity of Eastern Finland, University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University. The purpose of Finland University is to combine the best knowledge and expertise in these universities in order to create learning solutions for students and professionals from around the world. Our customers include educational institutions, governments, companies, NGOs, foundations, and public and private organisations of various kinds.