vietnam

7k Strong Initiative?

Mark A. Ashwill Commentary , ,

Citing the strategic importance of the U.S.-China relationship, in November 2009, President Barack Obama announced the “100,000 Strong” initiative, a national effort designed to increase dramatically the number and diversify the composition of American students studying in China. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton officially launched the initiative in May 2010 in Beijing. The Chinese government … Continue reading 7k Strong Initiative?

Viet-Studies

Mark A. Ashwill Updates , ,

Knowledge is like drugs -- if you have it, you share it with friends. Anonymous (from Viet-Studies) Attention Inside Higher Ed Readers:   Here is the link that IHE should have used to take you to the US-Vietnam Education Memo, posted on the Viet-Studies site.  One the most informative and interesting Vietnam-related websites in the world is Viet-Studies.Info, created … Continue reading Viet-Studies

Vietnam & US Higher Education Internationalization Strategies: The University of Missouri Vietnam Institute

Mark A. Ashwill Updates , , , ,

Over the past five years, there’s been a dramatic increase in the level of interest in Vietnam among US institutions of higher education, not limited to student recruitment.  (Vietnam ranks 9th among “places of origin” and is one of the hottest student recruitment markets in the world for the US.)  For some student recruitment is … Continue reading Vietnam & US Higher Education Internationalization Strategies: The University of Missouri Vietnam Institute

Wikileaks & Vietnam

Mark A. Ashwill Announcement, Commentary, Documents , ,

Many people with a personal and professional interest in Vietnam are patiently waiting to see if any nuggets of gold can be mined from the ore that is the 2325 US Embassy-Hanoi documents that will be trickling out on the Wikileaks Cable Gate website.  Areas of interest include all of the “usual suspects” such as war legacy issues (e.g., unexploded ordnance … Continue reading Wikileaks & Vietnam

Continuing Signs of Strength

Mark A. Ashwill Updates ,

From a recent Vietnomics update... Despite its challenges, Vietnam continues to impress analysts with its potential. Recent examples:  A new McKinsey report (Growing up fast:  Vietnam discovers the consumer society) highlights Vietnam’s growth, saying its middle class will reach 25 million households in 2013. McKinsey says Vietnam can grow because retail sales are among Asia’s lowest. … Continue reading Continuing Signs of Strength

TEDxSaigon 2010 — 3D: Dream, Diversity and Development

Mark A. Ashwill Conferences, Events , ,

Dear Idea, My name is Saigon. I’ve grown up from war, and over the past decade, my economic growth has been quite compelling, compared with other cities in Vietnam, as well as neighboring countries - which is accompanied by increasing income inequalities, friction between consumption choices, difference in cultural identities, and loosened social ties. However, … Continue reading TEDxSaigon 2010 — 3D: Dream, Diversity and Development

Vietnam Ranks Among Top 20 Countries on the Internet

Mark A. Ashwill Articles , ,

According to Pingdom, a Swedish company whose "focus lies on covering the uptime monitoring needs of 90% of the companies in the world," there are a total of 1.8 billion Internet users in the world (i.e., about 27% of the human race).    Vietnam ranks 20th just behind Canada.   24.3 million Vietnamese are connected to the Internet, which … Continue reading Vietnam Ranks Among Top 20 Countries on the Internet

“Vietnam Stats Show Remarkable Progress”

Mark A. Ashwill Articles, Updates

Well, yes and no... Positives:  advances in health and education + cash income; increase in average living space from 9.2 m2 to 16.9 m2; literacy is now 94%, "almost universal among younger groups and there is little difference between urban and rural;" increase in life expectancy to 72.8 years ("largest gains among women," not surprisingly); 1.2% … Continue reading “Vietnam Stats Show Remarkable Progress”

“Vietnam, the Country”

Mark A. Ashwill Events ,

During a recent trip to the U.S., which took me to five (5) states in the East, South and Midwest, and in which I logged over 11,000 miles (18,000+ kilometers), I had the opportunity to speak to students, faculty and staff at Mississippi State University (MSU) about Vietnam, the country.  By way of introduction, I spent some time talking … Continue reading “Vietnam, the Country”