University president Phan Thanh Binh briefed Mr Triet on the establishment and development of the institution which now has 5 affiliate member universities, a research institute, a faculty of economics and several other research and services centres.

The university has more than 2,600 lecturers, of whom 70 percent are post-graduates. It is training nearly 50,000 students and offers 74 programmes for bachelor, 89 for master and 91 for doctorate degrees in natural sciences, science-technology, social sciences and humanities and economics.

State President Triet praised the university for its efforts to become a multi-sector training institution and adopt a university city model. He analysed the challenges facing the university to reach parity with other educational institutions in the region and the world and said that it should refine its research capabilities and improve the quality of its teaching.