Ho Chi Minh City University of Science and Technology has become the first institution located outside of Australia to provide an undergraduate engineering program offered by the University of Technology Sydney.

The tuition fee amounts to one-third of what it costs in Australia.

On Wednesday, the two universities inked an accord to establish an international undergraduate engineering education program through the Transnational Education framework.

Associate Professor Pham Tran Vu, who serves as the vice rector of HCMUT, mentioned that students will be able to finish their full undergraduate degree within three years in Ho Chi Minh City. This will include instruction from lecturers dispatched by the collaborating Australian institution.

He mentioned that the degree is granted by UTS and is acknowledged internationally.

Vietnamese students will gain access to a top-tier educational program without needing to leave their country. Admission procedures and quality benchmarks will be overseen by UTS.

Pham Tran Vu (on the left), who serves as the Vice President of the HCMC University of Technology, and Iain Watt, the Senior Vice President (International) at the University of Technology Sydney, have signed an agreement for a collaborative program between their respective institutions. The photo was provided by HCMUT.

During the initial year, the program will admit 200 students who are interested in studying artificial intelligence and information technology.

The tuition fee is approximately VND128 million (US$4,945) each semester.

Vu pointed out that both areas are highly sought after and strongly connected to the trends of digital transformation and the digital economy in Vietnam as well as worldwide. Additionally, he mentioned that these fields align with the key strengths of the two institutions.

Leo Mian, who serves as the vice rector of UTS, mentioned that students will follow the same curriculum offered at UTS and will be able to utilize its library, online resources, and support services exactly as they would if enrolled on-site at the Sydney campus.

They will also receive support from the faculty and academic advisors at HCMUT.

Professor Nguyen Ngoc Diep, who leads the Agile Communications and Computing Group at the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, UTS, mentioned that numerous universities across Southeast Asia have shown interest in partnering with UTS for this initiative.

However, it selected HCMUT due to the excellence of the education and research over the course of 18 years of collaboration between the institutions.

Many international universities do not provide these courses in Vietnam because substantial investments are needed for laboratories, software, and staff training.

"Ensuring the training quality matches what we have in Sydney is our primary focus. The lectures will be delivered directly by UTS faculty members here in Ho Chi Minh City. This arrangement benefits students because the tuition fees are less than a third of those charged at the main campus," Diep explained.

Over time, both universities intend to broaden their scope into areas like electronic engineering, microchip design, and control engineering – specifically focusing on automation.

UTS, among the top educational institutions in Australia, has been placed at number 88 in the 2025 QS World University Rankings. This ranking was conducted by Quacquarelli Symonds, a British higher education data company, evaluating over 1,500 global universities.

The university's data science and AI programs are among the top 40 globally, whereas its computer science and information systems disciplines place at 73rd position.

Established in 1957, HCMUT stands as the foremost institution in southern Vietnam for education, scientific research, and technological advancement.

The institution boasts more than 32,000 students across its two campuses located in District 10 and Thu Duc City.

Based on the 2023 statistics from the Ministry of Education and Training, approximately 300 international partnership initiatives are operational nationwide.

More than 62% of these international collaborators come from institutions that do not have a global ranking or fall outside the top 1,000 worldwide.