In a landmark event graced by Jeff Dean, Senior Vice President and Chief Scientist, Google DeepMind and Google Research, Fulbright University Vietnam proudly announces a significant $1.5 million grant from Google. This generous contribution, highlighted during Jeff Dean’s engagement with Fulbright students and AI enthusiasts across Vietnam, will spearhead the development of cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) educational programs, including research and scholarships, at Vietnam’s first liberal arts university.
As AI continues to transform industries globally, Fulbright University Vietnam embraces the future with a multi-pronged AI strategy aimed at cultivating leaders and innovators equipped for the AI-driven world. The university plans to enhance its AI curriculum across various academic programs, integrating AI literacy into non-STEM majors to ensure all students are prepared for the technological advancements shaping their future.
The funds from Google will be utilized to enhance AI education at Fulbright. With its strategic partner, the New Turing Institute, Vietnam’s leading independent center of AI training, research, and entrepreneurship, Fulbright will pursue the following initiatives:
- AI Teaching: Fulbright will integrate AI into all its academic programs, developing major and minor undergraduate specializations in AI as well as general education courses that equip all students with the skills to utilize AI applications.
- Faculty Development: Fulbright will hire additional AI experts to expand its teaching and research capabilities.
- Research and Collaboration: Fulbright will support AI-related research by its faculty and students, as well as collaborative initiatives with academic and industry partners in Vietnam and abroad.
- Google Scholarship: Fulbright believes in education for all, regardless of background. This Google scholarship helps make that belief a reality, covering full or partial tuition.
- Community Outreach: Engage and educate the community about AI’s implications and opportunities.
Dr. Scott Fritzen, President of Fulbright, emphasized the importance of this partnership: “AI is reshaping our world in unprecedented ways, and at Fulbright, we aim to harness this potential responsibly. We are grateful to Google for their generous support, which significantly boosts our efforts to integrate AI into our academic offerings, including research and student scholarship. This partnership is a testament to our commitment to educate future leaders who are prepared to use AI to tackle complex global challenges”.
Dr. Le Viet Quoc, Distinguished Scientist at Google DeepMind and a member of the Fulbright University Vietnam Board of Trustees, said “Vietnam is well-positioned to harness AI for economic and social development. Google is committed to supporting the country’s workforce and businesses to be AI-ready and staying ahead of the curve. I also believe that Fulbright’s ability to combine the science and technology of AI with the liberal arts emphasis on critical thinking and creative problem solving will result in transformative educational programs that will benefit Fulbright students and create new models that other universities can learn from”.
Together with the Vietnam Government and various local partners, Google commits to nurturing local talents, supporting local businesses to thrive and helping people improve their daily lives with Google AI solutions and helpful AI products. Beside the latest funding of USD1.5 millions to Fulbright University Vietnam for their AI Research, Google has recently launched two programmes with Vietnam National Innovation Center to build up AI-ready workforce (Google AI Essentials) and enable the development and experiment of GenAI for local startups (Google for Startups
Accelerator SEA, Vietnam).
The USD $1.5M grant from Google.org will help advance AI research by supporting faculty members for ambitious research agendas, maximize student research opportunities through scholarships, and will serve as a way to catalyze and work with the broader AI university ecosystem in Vietnam.
This partnership exemplifies Fulbright’s vision to bridge the gap between higher education and societal needs, leveraging technology to cultivate a diverse generation of leaders ready to tackle global challenges.
