Thanks to its efforts to bring the best experience for international students, more and more Vietnamese students are now choosing New Zealand as their international education destination, according to Education New Zealand (ENZ). ENZ said last week that over the course of 2017, New Zealand welcomed over 2,500 Vietnamese students, with the number of secondary school students adding up by 36 per cent on-year, while university student numbers growing by 14 per cent on-year. The first half of 2018 has continued to see positive growth with an increase in first-time student visas. Ben Burrowes, ENZ’s regional manager for South East Asia, said it is encouraging to see the rising number of Vietnamese students in New Zealand, as it reflects New Zealand’s commitment towards education and the well-being of international students. “As New Zealand’s third largest source market within Southeast Asia for international students, Vietnam is a crucial market for our education … [Read more...] about More Vietnamese students opting for education in New Zealand
Beginning new life
Homestay tourism helps improve mountainous district life
Homestay tourism services offer chances for people in many mountainous districts of the central province of Thanh Hoa to escape poverty and improve their livelihood. Though a poor village 10 years ago, thanks to developing community based tourism, many households in Don village, Ba Thuoc district have improved their livelihood. Over the last five months of this year, the village hosted nearly 10,000 tourists, mainly foreigners. Ha Van Thuoc, a local resident in Don village said since the beginning of the year, the village welcomed 300-400 visitors, with 60 percent being foreigners, mainly from France, Switzerland and the US. “We have been providing tourism services since April 2017,” said Ha Van Hoanh, another local resident in Don village. “We have improved our livelihood thanks to tourism. We hope the roads will be widened to make it easier for tourists to travel here”. Ba Thuoc district is now home to 58 homestay accommodations. More than 100 … [Read more...] about Homestay tourism helps improve mountainous district life
New master plan to transform HCM City Region
Every year, thousands of people move to HCM City looking for work thus placing a strain on transport, educational and healthcare systems. A new master plan envisions improvements in infrastructure and services in the region that would help relieve overcrowding in the city and provide a higher quality of life to both provincial and city residents by 2030. Bo Xuan Hiep reports. An overpass with three branches, which has been partially built, will help ease congestion on streets around Tan Son Nhat international airport. Photo courtesy of the city’s Department of Transport Five years ago, Hoang Thi Thuy Van left her hometown in Vinh Long Province in the Mekong Delta to move to HCM City to find a job with a decent income. “It’s a nightmare to go to work every morning and come back in the afternoon because of the traffic. But I have to stay here to earn a living,” she said. Van, who lives in Go Vap District, works at a clothing factory at an export … [Read more...] about New master plan to transform HCM City Region
New research room for VN music
Viet Nam News HCM CITY— The HCM City General Sciences Library will open a new research room for traditional Vietnamese music as part of its activities to celebrate 40 years of working under its current name. The research room will include hundreds of documents, books, dictionaries, videos, cassette tapes and CDs about Vietnamese folk songs and music as well as ancient musical instruments like the đàn bầu (monochord) and đàn tranh (16-chord zither). The collections were all donated by the late professor Trần Văn Khê, a world-renowned ethnomusicologist specialising in traditional Vietnamese music. Professor Khê defended his doctoral dissertation on traditional Vietnamese music in Paris in 1958, becoming the first Vietnamese to earn a doctoral degree in music. He later worked for France’s prestigious Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (National Centre of Scientific Research), and taught at Sorbonne … [Read more...] about New research room for VN music
French rail workers begin months of strikes in test for Macron
Viet Nam News PARIS — French rail workers kicked off three months of rolling strikes on Tuesday, part of a wave of industrial action that will test President Emmanuel Macron’s resolve to reshape France with sweeping reforms. The strike will cause chaos for France’s 4.5 million train passengers, with stoppages planned two days out of five until June 28 unless Macron drops his bid to force a major overhaul at state rail operator SNCF. Staff at Air France, garbage collectors and some energy workers are also staging separate walkouts Tuesday in a growing atmosphere of social strife 11 months after Macron came to power. Pensioners, students and public sector workers have already taken to the streets in recent weeks protesting against the 40-year-old centrist’s widespread reform plans. "In the most tense social climate since the start of the Macron presidency, there is a real risk of the discontent crystallising," the regional Charente Libre newspaper warned on … [Read more...] about French rail workers begin months of strikes in test for Macron