On 22 August 2025, The University of Danang - University of Foreign Language Studies (UD-UFL) and the British Council co-hosted a forum on developing the teaching workforce to advance Viet Nam’s policy goal of designating English as a “second language” in schools.  

Participants included officials from the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET): Dr. Dang Van Huan, Deputy Director-General of the Higher Education Department; and Dr. Ta Ngoc Tri, Deputy Director-General of the General Education Department. Also present were Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Thanh Bac, Vice-President of UD; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Long, Rector of UD-UFL; representatives of the British Council; and delegates from the Regional English Language Office (RELO), Cengage, universities, provincial and municipal education departments, and general-education schools across the Central and Central Highlands regions.

Rector Nguyen Van Long said the forum seeks to align teacher professional development with Politburo Conclusion No. 91-KL/TW on comprehensive education reform, which calls for raising English proficiency throughout the school system.  

He also highlighted UD-UFL’s four decades of experience in language-teacher education, applied linguistics, and cultural and international studies, positioning the university as a regional hub for in-service upskilling under the 2011–2024 National Foreign Language Project. The university, he added, is ready to act as a core partner in expanding training for K-12 English teachers as demand for higher proficiency standards grows.  

Vice-President Le Thanh Bac emphasised that UD, as a key regional multidisciplinary university tasked with high-quality human-resource training, research, technology transfer and international cooperation, prioritises enhancing foreign-language competence among students and faculty and expanding English-medium programmes to foster a multilingual, multicultural academic environment.

He affirmed that UD-UFL, one of Viet Nam’s three leading language-specialised universities, has the capacity and experience to take a leading role, beginning with strengthening the English-teaching workforce.  

During the plenary session, delegates heard and discussed presentations on:  The role of language training in advancing the “English as a second language” objective (Dr. Huynh Ngoc Mai Kha, Vice-Rector of UD-UFL); International perspectives and research on professional development for teachers of English as a second language (Davide Guarini Gilmartin, British Council); Proposed solutions to accelerate the roadmap toward making English a second language in the national education system (Dr. Nguyen Van Huy, University of Foreign Languages, Hue University); and National Geographic Learning’s perspective on English teaching in Viet Nam (Andrew Tiffany, National Geographic Learning Viet Nam).  

Break-out discussions considered: Core elements of a prospective national strategy for teaching English as a second language;  Challenges and impacts specific to the Central and Central Highlands regions, and lessons from international experience; Ways universities can support provincial education departments and schools in implementing the second-language objective.  

MOET officials described the forum as a timely platform for coordinating agencies and institutions on policy orientation and a phased plan to raise teacher capability - foundational to sustaining wider education reforms.

UD Media