IFI students attending the International Student Gala: New Year's Meeting 2023

The Gala is an annual activity organized by VNU for international staff and students studying and working at VNU. It is also an opportunity for the Board of Directors of VNU to meet and listen to the thoughts and desires of international students, postgraduates, and Ph.D. students (referred to as international students).

Attending the program were representatives of VNU leaders and more than 100 international students from VNU units. On the IFI side, there was Mr. Phan Xuân Thắng, Director of Center for University Programs Management and Continuing Education, and all international students studying Master of Computer Science, specialty in Intelligent Systems and Multimedia (SIM).

Speaking at the event, VNU's Vice Director, Phạm Bảo Sơn, stated that VNU's Board of Directors always tries to create a student-centered learning environment, paying special attention, and providing a proper and friendly training environment for international students during their study in Vietnam. He also sent thanks to all international students for choosing VNU as a destination to make happy memories for their studies.

VNU has been a reliable study destination for nearly 1200 international students of short and long-term courses. Together with VNU, IFI is proud to have 30 years of experience in building high-quality international associated training programs, attracting the attention of many domestic and foreign students. With more than 50% of students from manifold parts of the world, IFI is a learning environment with a unique identity, friendly, cozy, diverse in ethnicity and culture.

 

This year, IFI students had the occasion to participate in the Gala program with the theme "Vietnamese New Year". Within the framework of the event, international staff and students had a chance to visit the campus of VNU in Hoà Lạc, such as the Administration Building, Guest House, Lecture Hall HT1-HT2 and the Library and Digital Knowledge Center. Furthermore, this was also the first year to organize events for international students at Hoà Lạc campus.

The audience was hyped up by some dancing and singing performances in a lively atmosphere with many cultural songs from international students. The group of SIM Master students at IFI together sang "Nkolo Yesu" and received the warm support of all the audience at the event. Besides, a student named Ibanzi Kilongo Christian made a short speech on stage sending New Year greetings to all guests participating. He also taught the audience to say “Happy New Year” in 5 languages of his homeland - the Republic of Congo: French, Kikongo, Swahili, Tshiluba, and Lingala.

The event left a good impression on international students. Christian highly appreciated the internationality of IFI particularly and VNU generally. He also expressed his desire to participate more in activities to explore Vietnamese culture: “I had a great night. There were a lot of students from all over the world taking part of the event today, I feel awesome because this is a chance for us to understand more about Vietnam through cultural activities and enjoy traditional Vietnamese food. Specially, this time we were able to join in the Gala event at the new campus of VNU. I find that this is a modern university campus with international standard facilities. I believe in the strong development of education in Vietnam in the future”.

 

Below are some pictures at the Gala: