On November 27, 2017, Cornell University, on behalf of the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, entered into an academic consulting contract with the Vingroup conglomerate of Hanoi, Vietnam. The goal was to to support Vingroup in its aspiration to establish the first pisrivate, not-for-profit Vietnamese university, according to international standards.
During this seven-year initiative, The Cornell-VinUniversity Project Team, based in the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, managed this collaboration. Building and supporting faculty and leadership teams to validate and assure curriculum quality and to guide VinUniversity toward international accreditation, the team coordinated faculty consulting on the Cornell campus, virtually, and at the newly constructed VinUniversity campus in Hanoi.
VinUniversity now includes Colleges of Business, Engineering, and Health Sciences. Cornell led the consultative collaboration for the Business and Engineering Colleges. The University of Pennsylvania advised on the Health Sciences College.
Cornell was involved with every aspect of VinUniversity’s development, spanning infrastructure, governance, faculty hiring, and curriculum development, setting foundations to position VinUniversity as a world-class teaching and research university, in accordance with QS 5-star rating standards. The first cohort of under 300 students graduated in July 2024.
Public engagement is central to Cornell’s land-grant mission, and this unique opportunity extended that mission internationally.
"The goal of VinUniversity is to be a university of the highest international standards in research, teaching, and training for students both at the undergraduate and graduate levels, serving as a magnet for the most talented faculty and students from all over the world."
Rohit Verma, Founding Provost, VinUniversity, Protem Committee Member, VinUniversity Project, Former Dean of External Relations, Cornell SC Johnson College of Business
2017
Cornell enters into a multi-year academic consulting contract with VinAcademy of Vingroup.
2018
Official signing ceremony between VinAcademy and Cornell. VinUniversity begins construction of campus in Hanoi, VN,
2019
Multiple Cornell faculty and leadership trips to Hanoi, VN. The Prime Minister of Vietnam officially approves VinUniversity's establishment.
2020
Series of virtual engagements by Cornell faculty and staff. VinUniversity celebrates inaugural academic year and welcomes its first cohort of students.
2021
Continued virtual capacity building with Cornell faculty and experts. VinUniversity completes first academic year and accepts its second student cohort.
2022
Several collaborations between faculty and students of both universities. VinUni sends multiple Visiting Fellows to Cornell during spring and fall semesters.
2023
Collaborations prioritize research capacity building. VinUni welcomes its fourth cohort of students, and sends multiple students to Cornell
2024
VinUni celebrates its first graduation of 132 students, and becomes the youngest university ever to receive a QS 5-Star rating.
Major Accomplishments
Established four Accelerated Degree Programs within three colleges at Cornell: The Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, the Bowers College of Computing and Information Science, and the College of Engineering
Following the Cornell Study Away Program on the VinUni campus, four VinUni students attended one exchange semester, and 20 VinUni students attended three one-week immersion programs on the Cornell campus.
Conducted one-week VinUni faculty immersion programs within Cornell’s Arts & Sciences, Engineering, and Business colleges. Four VinUni faculty members came to Cornell as two-semester Visiting Fellows.
Developed and provided professional development training for VinUniversity leadership, faculty & staff in Hanoi and in Ithaca.
Assisted in the development of VinUniversity strategies in admissions, marketing, student affairs, library management, IT, research, Entrepreneurship, Community Service Learning, Diversity & Inclusion, Institutional Research & Planning, External and Corporate Engagement.
Spearheaded the recruiting process leading to the selection of the Founding Provost, Deans in Business Management and Engineering, and the initial faculty for three colleges.
Assisted in the development, and validated VinUniversity’s curriculum in Business, Hospitality Management, Real Estate, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, General Science, Communication, Psychology, and Economics.
Developed and participated in the design charrette focusing on the high-level strategy of a world-class university. Assisted in the review and approval of campus design plans and infrastructure planning.
Provided input and feedback to VinUni leadership on university-level strategies, such as 5-year planning, research strategy, faculty hiring strategy.
Mark Campbell is a professor at the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University’s College of Engineering. He has been advising VinUniversity in everything from initial faculty hiring recommendations to research strategy to curriculum development, in both mechanical and electrical engineering.
“VinUniversity is such a unique experience – we worked with the folks at Vingroup and at VinUniversity on designing a university that will be one of the top universities in Vietnam and really in South East Asia and the world, not just in the curriculum but also in other aspects like student experience, faculty development, etcetera,” Campbell said.
The academics Campbell consulted on are modeled on Cornell’s curriculum but modified to provide concentrations and minors that are more locally relevant to Vietnamese industries. “We interviewed top local companies to see what fields they are hiring from in Vietnam…so it grounds the technical education VinUni students are getting into real-world problems.”
Campbell reflected on his overall experience while working on this academic consulting project for the past three years. “I have very much enjoyed working with VinUniversity and Vingroup and love to see how it is evolving over time. It is something that I think we are all very proud of.”
Joseph Halpern, Professor of Computer Science at Cornell University, has been deeply involved in designing VinUniversity’s Computer Science curriculum, alongside his curriculum development director counterpart.
Speaking about his curriculum development work, Halpern said, “We designed the undergraduate and master’s programs and thought hard on what would be appropriate minors and what would be appropriate concentrations for CS majors. We looked at the curricula of leading universities anddesigned it to be very similar. So that means somebody coming with a strong degree from VinUniversity will have the preparation to go to graduate school anywhere else because they will have taken a comparable curriculum to any other leading university in the States or Asia.”
Through his academic consulting trips to Vietnam, he has continued to share his passion for the field of Computer Science, participating in multiple academic workshops and roundtables. Virtually, Halpern has continued to inspire current VinUniversity students through a series of online distinguished lectures. “In my opinion, VinUni has the strongest computer science program of any university in Vietnam.” Speaking to current and future VinUni students, Halpern said, “Computer Science will open many doors for you.”
Ed McLaughlin, Interim Dean, and Professor of Marketing Emeritus of the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics & Management at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, has been a part of the Cornell-VinUniversity academic collaboration from its inception. He has seen the project evolve from the initial charrette to curriculum development, to advising in Business Management programs.
“Colleagues from VinUniversity and Cornell were presented with an unprecedented opportunity: presented with a blank piece of paper in Hanoi, we were asked to create a vision, curriculum, and set of policies for a new, distinctive and elite university that would become world-class.” – McLaughlin recalls.
Working alongside the project team at Cornell and with his counterparts in Vietnam, McLaughlin has enjoyed learning from a new set of perspectives and cultures. McLaughlin remarks that “My time advising on curriculum development was much different since we were focusing our lenses on an “academic startup” environment. We looked at the courses we have (at Cornell), we also looked at similar courses at other leading universities across the United States and the world, and we picked those courses that we thought were most appropriate to build a strong foundation in each of those major areas.”
Actively involved in this academic development project, McLaughlin is impressed with the overall pace VinUniversity is setting on its path to excellence, and he looks forward to his next visit to Hanoi, to finally see the complete campus first-hand.
Professor Douglas Stayman, an Associate Professor at the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management in the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, has been collaborating with VinUniversity on business management and specifically business leadership.
Professor Stayman has traveled to Vietnam three times for this academic consulting project and was thrilled to visit the region. “I have enjoyed learning about Vietnamese culture, and value the positive role that the Cornell team plays while building VinUniversity,” Stayman said.
Stayman’s connection with the Cornell-VinUniversity Project even expanded to the Cornell EMBA students. As the leader of the EMBA Global Business Study class, Stayman worked with colleagues at VinUniversity to transform a canceled in-person visit into a comprehensive virtual exploration of Vietnam, including virtual meetings with Vietnamese industry members.
“VinUniversity is truly unique,” said Stayman. “It is trying to bring a very international education model, but do it within Vietnam, within what is appropriate for Vietnam industry, and Vietnamese society. And that we think is very powerful… something that is evolving.”
Gary Thompson is the Burton M. (Skip) Sack ’61 Professor in Food and Beverage Management, Professor of Services Operations Management at the School of Hotel Administration, and Area Coordinator for Operations, Technology & Information Management with the SC Johnson College of Business. Thompson joined the academic consulting project early on, first serving as the VinUniversity faculty director for Hospitality Management, before transitioning into his current advisor role.
During his curriculum development work, Thompson described the Cornell curriculum as the template for his work with VinUniversity but stressed the importance of adaptations. Speaking to how he envisions the Hospitality curriculum at VinUniversity, Thompson said, “Any curriculum that is static and pulled out as a model to all different countries in the world, is missing something. It is missing that customization and taking advantage of the skillset of the people that have been hired at the university to deliver the content and engage with the students in a meaningful way.” As VinUniversity evolves, he looks forward to seeing how this customization transforms its Hospitality curriculum.
Thompson has enjoyed his experience advising on the academic collaboration, and he appreciates the team environment. “The organization of the Cornell-VinUni Project team at Cornell has been very helpful to keep deliverables on track and help VinUniversity reach its goals.” Thompson looks forward to seeing VinUni progress into an elite university.
