The World Bank (WB) has provided $180 million in loans to help Vietnam build the Vietnam-Germany University (VGU) in Ho Chi Minh City. Covering a site of 45 hectares, 40 km from HCM City, the German-standard university will be built at a cost of $200 million, of which $20 million comes from the Vietnamese government. It is expected to be completed for the 2016-2017 school year. At a press briefing in Germany on July 8, Roland Koch, State Premier of Hessen state, spoke highly of the WB’s support, considering it as a sign of the quality of the project for which his state is a strategic partner.
The new university will be a landmark to the VGU which is on its way to becoming a leading technological research university in the region, he said, pledging that Hessen state will send experts to support the construction. Professor Wolf Rieck, VGU’s President, stressed that the WB’s decision will effectively contribute to the research work of the university, which was set up in September 2008. Currently the VGU has 100 students and that number will increase to 230 in the 2010-2011 year. Once the campus is completed, VGU is expected to welcome 12,000 students, he added.
