The Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN) and the VNU University of Engineering and Technology (VNU-UET), Hanoi, signed a wide-ranging Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will accelerate joint research, student exchanges, and innovation partnerships across science and engineering disciplines. Signed on September 18, 2025, the MoU formalisation is part of the initiatives and discussions that will be conducted during a three-day visit by a high-level Vietnamese delegation to IITGN’s campus in Gandhinagar.
Under this partnership, IITGN and VNU-UET seek to build a long-term partnership by fostering exchanges of knowledge, faculty, and students; promoting joint research activities; and creating opportunities for collaborative teaching, workshops, and industry-academia initiatives. Speaking on the occasion, Prof Rajat Moona, Director, IITGN, remarked on how the partnership with VNU-UET would be an essential step towards IITGN’s vision of nurturing global collaborations in education and research. “The agreement will provide opportunities for our faculty and students to engage in meaningful international exchanges and collaboratively work on pressing scientific and technological challenges,” he added. He also mentioned how Gujarat’s growth as a hub for semiconductor technologies aligns with IITGN’s push into semiconductor design and manufacturing. “This momentum provides fertile ground for collaborative ventures with VNU-UET in semiconductors and other emerging technology fields.”
The agreement will explore collaborations in areas such as joint research, student immersion and internship programs, cooperative development of courses, online learning opportunities, and joint organisation of conferences and symposia. From the Vietnamese delegation, Dr Nguyen Thu Huong, Vice Rector, VNU-UET, gave a brief address emphasising the significance of the agreement. “Our partnership with IITGN is an important step in strengthening academic ties between Vietnam and India. By leveraging shared expertise in advanced research and our institutes’ commitment to developing future-ready engineers, we at VNU-UET and IITGN can create a strong platform for innovation that serves both our nations and the global community.”
Prof Madhav Pathak, Faculty-in-Charge (International Relations), IITGN, highlighted how the alliance was a noteworthy step in showcasing the Institute’s commitment to meaningful, impact-oriented global collaborations. “This partnership with VNU-UET reflects IITGN’s deeply embedded culture of internationalisation,” he added. “Such important global linkages will expand cross-border research and development opportunities, providing an impetus to innovations in the rapidly evolving domains of science, engineering, and technology.”
The comprehensive visit, scheduled between September 18 and 20, 2025, includes technical meetings with IITGN faculty, tours of Param Ananta – IITGN’s Supercomputing Facility, Central Instrumentation Facility, and IITGN labs that work in biomedical engineering and healthcare, artificial intelligence (AI), mechanical engineering, and more. Thanking IITGN and the Ministry of Science and Technology of Vietnam for enabling this partnership, Prof Nguyen Dinh Duc, Former Chairman of UET and Dean of Faculty of Civil Engineering noted, “Since our establishment in 2004, we have witnessed remarkable growth, and we are committed to sustaining this momentum by strengthening international cooperation in robotics, energy, semiconductors, civil engineering, and digital technologies such as AI, IT, and computational sciences. By co-developing academic programs, workshops, and research initiatives, we can build capacity and nurture global talent together.”
Building on this partnership, IITGN and VNU-UET envision developing global competence among their students and faculty and creating joint pathways for innovation that address regional and international challenges.