Fact-Checking a Recent PIE News Article About Viet Nam

11/07/202218/07/2022 Mark A. Ashwill Articles, Commentary education agents, gen z, overseas study statistics, study in australia, study in the UK, study in the USA, vietnam

Face-to-face key to recruiting Vietnam Gen Z This 8 July 2022 article by Helen Packer, which is essentially an advertorial for INTO, includes some facts and figures that are inaccurate. While I agree with the thesis, i.e., the importance of face-to-face recruiting, I feel compelled to offer these corrections in point/counterpoint fashion. Point #1: Approximately … Continue reading Fact-Checking a Recent PIE News Article About Viet Nam

“The Lines” in Hưng Yên Province

01/07/2022 Mark A. Ashwill Commentary hanoi, hung yen province, overdevelopment, urban planning, vietnam

Artist's Rendering of The Lines Mr. Thompson: (He's back!) Goddammit Carl, would you stop fighting this? People buy homes, let the government pay for the parks, thats why we have taxes. The Oaks at Mesa Vista is a money train. You want to be on it? (From You, Me, and Dupree) Under construction (Photo by … Continue reading “The Lines” in Hưng Yên Province

American Management University Establishes Regional Office in Vietnam

27/06/202216/09/2025 Mark A. Ashwill Articles, Commentary american management university, rogue providers, unaccredited universities, vietnam

AMU's "main campus" courtesy of its website I recently read an article with the above title published in Vietnam Times, a website administered by VUFO (The Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations), a Vietnamese NGO. As I suspected, AMU is an unaccredited US university based in California. In fact, as is often the case, its "campus" … Continue reading American Management University Establishes Regional Office in Vietnam

The Normalization of Environmental Pollution

03/06/2022 Mark A. Ashwill Commentary china, ecocide, environmental degradation, environmental protection, pollution, vietnam

Credit: MAA On a recent trip to Móng Cái in northern Viet Nam on the Chinese border, I had the chance to spend some time at a nearby beach. Above and below are photos of some of the items that were either left there by tourists or that washed up, e.g., country of origin, China, … Continue reading The Normalization of Environmental Pollution

Successful Student Recruitment in Vietnam: Stories from the Field

19/05/202202/06/2022 Mark A. Ashwill Announcement COVID-19, international recruitment, nafsa 2022, overseas study, student recruitment, vietnam

Wednesday, June 1, 2022 from 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM MDT Some institutions currently active in Vietnam are achieving their recruitment goals with impressive results. This session takes a look at a U.S. high school with a boarding option, a community college, and a four-year university that have been successful recruiting high performing Vietnamese students and … Continue reading Successful Student Recruitment in Vietnam: Stories from the Field

“U.S. will have to work hard to win over Vietnam’s conservatives”

18/05/2022 Mark A. Ashwill Articles, Commentary conservatives, peaceful evolution, reformers, us foreign policy, vietnam

Anti-American sentiments remain entrenched among certain groups. Winning over "Vietnam's conservatives" would not be in the best interests of Viet Nam. In fact, the country's foreign policy is characterized by independence and openness. Here's an excerpt from the description on the website of the Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam in the US: … Continue reading “U.S. will have to work hard to win over Vietnam’s conservatives”

“Nothing is Impossible” Finds It Impossible to Tell the Truth About Vietnam

29/04/2022 Mark A. Ashwill Articles, Books, Commentary bob kerrey, fulbright university vietnam, john kerry, madeleine albright, nothing is impossible, ted osius, viet nam, vietnam

Here's my latest for CounterPunch. Thanks to Rutgers University Press for the review copy. Better late than never. Here are some excerpts, including the two paragraphs followed by a section entitled The Measure of the Man. Enjoy (or not)! Just before the Lunar New Year, I finally received my review copy of Nothing is Impossible: America’s … Continue reading “Nothing is Impossible” Finds It Impossible to Tell the Truth About Vietnam

It’s Time to Ban Tobacco Products

14/04/202224/04/2022 Mark A. Ashwill Commentary cancer, smoking, tobacco, viet nam, vietnam

Our vocation can nourish our understanding and compassion or erode them. We should be awake to the consequences, far and near, of the way we earn our living. - Thích Nhất Hạnh (1926-2022) Credit: Vietnam smoking via Michael Hero / Shutterstock.com It's time to ban tobacco products. There, I said it, what some are thinking but … Continue reading It’s Time to Ban Tobacco Products

Vietnam: Fewer Natural Forests, Increasingly More Golf Courses

11/04/2022 Mark A. Ashwill Articles, Commentary ecocide, environmental degradation, golf courses, pollution, sustainable development, viet nam, vietnam

This essay is from a website called TheVietnamese with the tagline Independent Journalism Matter. What it describes is yet another example of development in Viet Nam that is far from sustainable and of ecocide, defined as the destruction of the natural environment by deliberate or negligent human action. Who will benefit? That's easy. The company … Continue reading Vietnam: Fewer Natural Forests, Increasingly More Golf Courses

Faux Wine: Up Close and Personal

06/04/202205/04/2022 Mark A. Ashwill Commentary buyer beware, carcinogenic coffee, consumer movement, counterfeit products, fake products, recycled condoms, vietnam, wine

Here's a bottle of "wine" that I received as a Tết (Lunar New Year) gift. I ran out of my regular supply so I opened it - with low expectations. One whiff and I knew it was essentially grape juice in a wine bottle with what looked like a fake (read cheap) cork that didn't … Continue reading Faux Wine: Up Close and Personal

An International Educator in Vietnam

Information, Insights & (Frequently) Intrigue

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