As part of the global programme of the Francophone (French-speaking) community, the Francophone University Association (AUF) and Hoa Sen University (HSU) jointly organised a Consultation with presidents and rectors of AUF's Southern member universities on July 10^th, 2020.

The consultation took place with Assoc. Prof., Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Dien - HSU President as Chairman and the attendance of Prof. Ouidad Tebbaa - Regional Director of AUF Asia Pacific Office; Director Boards of over 10 Southern universities and representatives of AUF member organizations.

HSU President, Assoc. Prof., Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Dien said: "As Vietnam has managed to bring COVID-19 under control and resume domestic business activities, universities need to perceive the opportunities and challenges, and seek for a solution to achieve the sustainable development.". Mr. Dien also called on universities to collaborate with the AUF to devise a suitable and efficient cooperation strategy in the new context.

Attendees at the event also discussed fundamental problems such as: online teaching in the global pandemic context, the demand of the education system and priorities of Vietnamese universities,... and express their expectations from AUF. Concisely, universities are demanded to enhance human resources; promote scientific research, adopt university autonomy, standardize the training system to integrate regionally and internationally,...

Professor Ouidad Tebbaa said that universities needed to further elaborate on enhancing the capacity of human resources and administration. She also expressed that university autonomy is still a major concern for most Vietnamese high-ranking universities and the AUF would like to create a network among universities so that they could better collaborate and share ideas with one another. Contributing ideas of attendees will be considered in the AUF’s development strategies in the future.