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PROJECT FEATURES IN THE 3RD PHASE

Brief introduction
 

Initiated in 1996, the cooperation project between the Institute of Environment and Resources, Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City (VNU-HCMC) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne (EPFL) has been financially supported by the Swiss Development and Cooperation Agency (SDC).

 The support to the IER:

a) Improvement of curricula;

b) Enhancement of laboratory capacity through purchase of equipment and staff training for PhD and MSc;

c) Implementation of new research methodologies;

d) Organizational development (since 2001).

Phase 3 of the project

Follow up the former phases, the third phase will run for three years from the 1st of May 2005 to the end of 30th April 2008  

SDC financial contribution will be of CHF 1’100’000

Goals
 

Overall Development Goal: The overall development goal of the SDC support to institutions in Environmental Science and Technology (EST), such as IER, is to assist Vietnam in making its economic and social development environmentally sustainable.

Overall Project Goal: “According to international standards – both in academic and practical terms – IER is among the leading Environmental Science and Technology institutions of Southeast Asia by 2008”.

Phase 3 Goal:

a) The consolidation of the achievements in the scientific field and in organizational development within IER;

b) A managed handing-over of responsibilities towards the Vietnamese partner;

c) A controlled phasing-out of SDC’s support.

 Organization chart

 

Figure : The organization of the project for phase III

 

Component 1: IER Capacities  

Strong internal capacities enable IER to successfully implement its mandates in the scientific and academic domains, management, and provision of services to the public and private sectors.

 Component II: EPFL Guidance

The provision of guidance and demand oriented support in the fields of research, training, OD and project management has strengthened the internal capacities of IER.

 Component III: Scholarship Programme

Scholarship program for training 4 IER staff at level PhD

1.      Project Steering Committee (PSC):

 -  Chairman: Prof. Dr. Nguyen Tan Phat, Vice Minister of Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), President of Vietnam National University-Hochiminh city (VNU-HCMC)

-  Co-chairman: Mr. Markus Eggenberger, SDC Hanoi

- Members:

  • Minister of Resources and Environment (MONRE): Dr. Pham Khoi Nguyen, Vice Minister of MONRE

  • Minister of Planning and Investment (MPI)

  • Minister of Science and Technology (MOST)

  • IER Project Director

  • EPFL Project Director

2.      The Project Committee:

-  IER Project Director: Prof. Huynh Thi Minh Hang

-  EPFL Project Director: Prof. Mathias Finger

3.      The Project Management Team

-   IER Project Manager: Dr. Hoang Thi Thanh Thuy

-  EPFL Project Coordinator: Mr. Rico Meyer

 

Some activities

a - The 1st Steering Committee Meeting, HCMC, 1-6-2005

Approval of the yearly operational plan (YPO) including budget for the first year 2005/06

                              

   b- The Academic visiting of PSC Chairman at Lausanne and the Project Directors EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland (29/8-1/9/2005)

- Finalization the remaining problems of Phase 2: Mr. Vinh PhD

- According to IER proposals, the Project Directors and PSC Chairman has discussed and finalized the activity of the first year action plan concerning Pilot projects, Laboratories, Academic program, scholarship program and OD

- Define expected outputs to be reported in next Project Steering Committee

- First contact to develop the collaboration between VNU-HCMC with EPFL and also with University of Applied Science Valais (HVEs)

- Meeting with EPFL partners concerning IER new campus design project and ABC project

 

c- Training course on Project Finance Management and Organizational Development, IER (3-4/10/2005)

            with the participants from IER and 11 participants from the Departments of VNU-HCMC and other University members: International University, University of Humanities and Social sciences, University of Technology.

 

d- Networking development

            - Meeting with Prof. Dr. Ing. U. Maniak, Prof. Dr. Ing. G. Meon, Department of Hydrology, Water Management and Water Protection, Leichtweiss institute of hydraulic engineering, Technical University Brauschweig

Outputs:

+ The agreement between IER and Leichtweiss institute of hydraulic engineering concerning exchange staff and students, collaboration in research and training will be signed            + The collaboration research project on Saigon-Dongnai river basin was discussed and finalized

 - Seminar on "Collaboration on the exchange the monitoring data of the Saigon-Dong nai river basin", IER, 23-9-2005. The participants are the representatives from Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DonRE) from 11 provinces belong to Saigon-Dongnai river basin and the Center of National Monitoring and Environmental data- member of VEPA.

Output:

A website "Environmental Monitoring of the Saigon-Dongnai river basin" hosted by Center of National Monitoring and Environmental data, of which IER is one of the key member of the network, will be lauched in recent day.

    

- The meeting of Project director IER- Assoc. Prof. Huynh Thi Minh Hang with Japanese-Vietnamese Geoinformatics Consortium on organization of GIS-IDEAS 2006: Hanoi, 13November, 2005:

            + The conference will be held in Hochiminh city in November 2006

            + Title: Geoinformatics in regional planning for sustainable development

            + The sections:

- Geoinformatics in coastal area planning for sustainable development

- Geoinformatics in river basin planning for sustainable development

- Geoinformatics in urban-industrial  planning for sustainable development;

Focus on infrastructure management

- Geoinformatics technology innovation

- Open section

- Activities under frame of pilot projects:

+ Participation in workshop on "The indicators for river basin environmental management": Center of National Monitoring and Environmental data, Hanoi, 15/11/2005: MSc. Nguyen Thanh Hung, Head of Department of Watershed environment and Resources

+ Participation in International Workshop on "Integrated management of water resources and related technical tools, Hanoi, 17/11/2005: MSc. Nguyen Thanh Hung, Head of Department of Watershed environment and Resources 

- Latest news

+ Closing of Phase 2: MSc Nguyen Ngoc Vinh, PhD candidate has started his study at EPFL since October 2005.  

- Next events

+ Academic visiting of Prof. Huynh Thi Minh Hang, Project director IER at University of Osaka, Japan: 4-12 December, 2005 to discuss the possibility of academic cooperation and staff exchange.