The training workshop under the STRIVE (Strengthening Internationalization of Vietnamese Emerging Universities) project, with cooperation funding support from the European Commission (EU), took place at the University of Évora, Évora city, Portugal, over two days, March 17-18, 2025. The project is designed to provide a comprehensive platform of information and implementation methods to foster deeper cooperation between Higher Education Institutions in the EU and Vietnam.
The STRIVE project brings together many prestigious educational partners from Europe and Vietnam. From the European side, the partners include the AlmaLaurea University Association (Italy) as the main coordinator, along with the University of Évora (Portugal) and Tuscia University (Italy). From the Vietnamese side, the program involved representatives from the project members: Hanoi University, the project coordinator in Vietnam, the National Academy of Public Administration, Quang Ninh Industrial University, and Phu Xuan University. STRIVE’s goal is to support emerging universities in Vietnam in internationalizing by providing information, tools, and methods for implementing effective educational cooperation projects. During two days of active work, the workshop focused on two key objectives. The first was in-depth training on EU project financial management, covering topics such as budgeting processes, EU financial evaluation criteria, and effective budget management experiences. The second was the development of a draft proposal on sustainable tourism—one of the important outputs of the STRIVE project.
Concluding the two working sessions with six presentations, STRIVE project members gained a thorough understanding of the EU’s financial evaluation processes and criteria. Ms. Luisa Mengoni, the main coordinator from AlmaLaurea, summarized the activities carried out and announced the plan for the next workshop to be held in June 2025 at Tuscia University, Rome, Italy. The STRIVE workshop in Évora not only provided an opportunity to learn international best practices but also laid the foundation for sustainable educational cooperation projects, contributing to enhancing the quality of Vietnamese higher education and strengthening connections with European partners.