VietNamNet Bridge – Ambassadors are well known in Vietnam not only among politicians but also among thousands of Vietnamese students as builders of the education bridge between their home countries and Vietnam.
The former US Ambassador to Vietnam Michael W. Michalak
One of them is Michael W. Michalak, the former US Ambassador to Vietnam, now a member of the founding board of Tan Tao University, which belongs to the Tan Tao Group.
Michalak said when he was approved to become the US Ambassador that he would help raise the number of Vietnamese students in the US twofold during his office term.
And he fulfilled his promise. When he finished his term in 2011, Vietnam jumped from 13th to 8th among the countries which have the highest numbers of students in the US.
Michalak decided to work as an advisor to Tan Tao University. He said the school has a starting point similar to Oakland University where he studied in the past.
However, he is famous in Vietnam not only as an education advisor, but also as a speaker on education and start-ups.
Vietnamese students find it interesting to know that Michalak finished school as a physicist, but worked as a diplomat, and now as an educator.
The other foreigner who has helped build bridges is Michael Mann, who worked as the Australian Ambassador to Vietnam until 2002, and then as the CEO of RMIT University until 2008.
Mann began his career as an educator 15 years ago, when there was no foreign invested school in Vietnam. The establishment of RMIT, a 100 percent foreign owned university in HCM City at that time, was a big surprise.
However, the former ambassador still made every effort to set the foundation for school development. RMIT Vietnam today is an international school with over 6,000 students, serving as an important affiliate in Asia and playing an important role in implementing Australia’s strategy on education.
Not only retired ambassadors, but retired heads of states can also find something interesting in Vietnam.
In 2006-2008, former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder came to Vietnam as a strategic advisor to the Swiss media group Ringer AG, which has been present in Vietnam for 15 years.
The former head of the German State attended online round-table talks with VietNamNet readers during his two visits to Vietnam.
In 2014, Vietnam attracted $20 billion worth of foreign direct investment (FDI). It believes that former foreign ambassadors to Vietnam have made great contributions to the achievements. They have built a bridge for Vietnam to connect with the world.
Pham Huyen