Media Release

For Immediate Release

February 26, 2008

SMU Gives a Hand to Vietnam: CIDA awards $2.8 million to University

The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) announced major funding to Saint Mary’s University for a unique development project that will aid Vietnam’s National Economics University (NEU) in Hanoi modernize its curriculum and develop business skills training programs.

The Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence and Minister for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, delivered the big news at a news conference held in Truro, NS.

Saint Mary’s University will receive up to $2.8 million from CIDA for the Business Entrepreneurship in Vietnam project.

“Vietnam has made great strides in reducing poverty through rapid economic growth,” says Dr. David Wicks, Dean of the Sobey School of Business at Saint Mary’s.

“However, continued poverty reduction depends on Vietnam’s ability sustain these high levels of growth and to continue on its transition from a centrally planned to a market economy. Despite impressive rates of economic growth, businesses in Vietnam still struggle with important constraints. One of these constraints is a lack of entrepreneurial management skills in Vietnamese enterprises of all sizes.”

To address this constraint, Vietnamese managers need to build their skills in all aspects of business management. Currently, Vietnam lacks infrastructure for business and entrepreneurship education despite very clear messages from government and industry that this type of education is badly needed.

According to Dr Pham Hong Chuong, Deputy Dean for Scientific Research and International Cooperation at NEU and Vietnamese Project Director, “Potential clients for business training have become more demanding in recent years, and NEU is having difficulty offering programming that meets these demands.”

The Developing Entrepreneurship in Vietnam project will, through restructured programs at NEU, modernized curricula, improved instructional capabilities, and new non-credit training programs, develop the educational infrastructure needed to improve performance of a wide range of Vietnamese organizations.

In Vietnam, although there are a number of profitable large state-owned enterprises and foreign companies, and many micro-enterprises and household businesses, a significant gap exists between the two ends of the spectrum. Very few small and medium enterprises (SME) have been able to establish themselves in Vietnam, and very few micro-enterprises have been successful in growing their business to take advantage of the many new market opportunities.

According to Dr. Wicks, “It is now time to turn attention to encouraging at least some of these new enterprises to expand beyond household micro-businesses and to helping owners and managers of all sizes of SMEs to develop the entrepreneurial skills necessary for managing an organization in the current global economy.”

A newly formed Centre for Entrepreneurship at NEU will spearhead the initiative, working with other departments to develop training programs and coordinate activities among other project partners and stakeholders. Specific training areas will cover a range of business skills: human resource management, financial management, marketing (locally and internationally), strategic planning, and others.

Diversity training and business ethics will address the need to include awareness of social justice issues within business training. Project team members Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and two government departments (Agency for Small and Medium Enterprises and Department of Enterprise Reform) will ensure that the new training programs meet the needs of both the business community and government departments.

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For More Information:

Paul Fitzgerald
Public Affairs Officer
Saint Mary's University, Public Affairs
(902) 420.5514
E-mail: paul.fitzgerald@smu.ca
www.smu.ca