Page 158 - Technical Cooperation Project for Building Capacity for Can Tho University...

Chapter 5 Voices from CTU’s Staff and Students

professor supervision (Prof. Koki Toyoda). Their theses focused on the farming practices that help
sustain and build the farming systems more resilient, which are in high demand to be applied in the
MRD to deal with the increased pest outbreak and soil salinization recently caused by unpredictable
extreme weather conditions and climate change. Following the success of the previous staff, another
young candidate from the department was also selected for the new PhD recruitment at TUAT. The
continuous participation of the graduate students in the study program and research topic has
tightened the connection between the universities and strengthened international collaboration and
recognitions for their home department and CTU. Training for the faculty staff of CTU at Japanese
Universities also brought new insights. It equipped the staff with new knowledge, logical thinking, and
technical advances to approach the research targets. For instance, the visits of two senior staff from the
Department of Soil Science, CTU to TUAT and National Agricultural Research Organization provided
them with new methods and approaches in researching the practices applicable to agricultural
sustainability, which can be based on crops diversification and rotation as well as improving carbon
(C) sequestration into the soil. New techniques applied to characterize the C pools in soil provided
a new technical tool to access and reveal the roles of different soil organic C pools, which are crucial
components in improving the sustainable uses of soils for agricultural production in the MRD. In
addition to on-site training at TUAT and NARO, other visits of CTU staff to Japanese Research Institutes
and Universities also brought the chances for the staff to expand their international collaboration with
more Japanese experts. Other benefits of collaborating with Japanese experts are developing graduate
students in their research skills and increasing their career motivation. The students, most of whom are
the young local staff, have had a chance to participate in the experimental field design, data analyses,
and interpretation under advice from Japanese Professors. These provided them with the views from
Japanese agricultural practices relevant to the MRD and could be applied to their practices.
As mentioned above, human capacity building through collaborating with Japanese Professors and
experts is enormous. In the upcoming time, the mutual collaboration is expected to be expanded and
upgraded. More research findings are internationally published, and more international partnerships
are established, bringing CTU higher internationally prestigious and recognizable.
5.5.2 CTU-Japanese University Collaboration

Dr. Le Van Lam

Director
Department of International Relations
Email: lvlam@ctu.edu.vn

We are delighted to have developed very fruitful collaborations with Japanese Universities through
the Project. The collaborations are diverse and meaningful, not only between leaders of universities but
also between our faculties and students. We were so happy to see the number of visits and activities
between both sides increasing significantly before the COVID-19 pandemic. The activities include

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