Ho Chi Minh City University of Science and Technology has become the first institution located outside Australia to provide an undergraduate engineering program offered by the University of Technology Sydney.
The tuition fee is equivalent to one-third of the cost in Australia.
On Wednesday, the two universities inked an accord to establish an international undergraduate program in engineering, operating within the framework of the Transnational Education model.
Assoc. Prof. Pham Tran Vu, who serves as the vice rector of HCMUT, mentioned that students will be able to finish their full undergraduate degree within three years in Ho Chi Minh City. This will include instruction from lecturers provided by the collaborating Australian institution.
He mentioned that the degree is granted by UTS and is acknowledged internationally.
Vietnamese students will gain entry into a top-tier program without needing to leave their country. Both the admissions procedure and quality benchmarks will be handled by UTS.
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Pham Tran Vu (on the left), who serves as the Vice President of the HCMC University of Technology, along with Iain Watt, the Senior Vice President (International) at the University of Technology Sydney, have just signed an agreement for a collaborative program between their respective institutions. The photo was provided by HCMUT. |
During the initial year, the program aims to admit 200 students specializing in artificial intelligence and information technology.
The tuition fee is approximately VND128 million (US$4,945) per semester.
Vu pointed out that both areas are highly sought after and strongly connected to the trends of digital transformation and the digital economy in Vietnam as well as worldwide. Additionally, these domains align with the key strengths of the two institutions.
Leo Mian, vice rector of UTS, said students would study UTS’s curriculum and have access to its library, online resources and support services just like those studying in the Sydney campus.
They will additionally receive support from the faculty and academic advisors at HCMUT.
Prof. Nguyen Ngoc Diep, director of Agile Communications and computing group, the faculty of engineering and information technology, UTS, said many universities in Southeast Asia are interested in tying up with UTS for this program.
However, it selected HCMUT due to the excellence of the education and research over the course of 18 years of partnership between the institutions.
Many international universities do not provide these courses in Vietnam because they require substantial investments in laboratories, software, and staff training.
“Ensuring that the training quality matches what we have in Sydney is our primary focus. The lectures will be delivered directly by UTS instructors in Ho Chi Minh City. This arrangement benefits students because the tuition fees here will be less than a third of those charged at the main campus,” Diep explained.
Over time, both institutions intend to broaden their scope to include areas like electronic engineering, microchip design, and control engineering – specifically focusing on automation.
UTS, among the top educational institutions in Australia, has been placed at number 88 in the 2025 QS World University Rankings. This ranking was conducted by Quacquarelli Symonds, a British higher education data company, evaluating over 1,500 global universities.
The university’s data science and AI programs are among the top 40 globally, whereas its computer science and information systems disciplines place at number 73.
Established in 1957, HCMUT stands as the biggest hub for education, scientific research, and technological transfer in the south of Vietnam.
It has over 32,000 students at its two campuses in District 10 and Thu Duc City.
According to 2023 Ministry of Education and Training data, there are around 300 international partnership programs across the country.
Of them over 62% of foreign partners are not ranked or are outside the top 1,000 universities globally.
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