nwasianweekly.com
Jan. 19, 2008

Photo by Ann-Marie Stillion

Madame Ton Nu Thi Ninh, former Vietnamese ambassador to the EU, outlines her plans for a new university in Vietnam, in the Northwest Asian Weekly office Jan. 8.

Madame Ninh founds (and demonstrates) Tri Vet

By Eleanor Lee
Northwest Asian Weekly

Madame Ton Nu Thi Ninh was once the highest ranking female official in the Vietnamese government. Now retired from her official diplomatic roles — she is the former ambassador to the European Union and Brussels and the former vice chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Assembly in Vietnam — she has founded a new private university in Vietnam, called Tri Vet (which means Vietnamese intellect). Ninh was in town recently to meet with various faculty and administration members at the University of Washington, hoping to forge educational ties.

During her three-day trip to Seattle, she stopped by the Northwest Asian Weekly’s office Jan. 8 to share her vision of the new university.

This was Ninh’s third time to Seattle, a city she said was one of her favorite on the West Coast because of a “real sense of the city, the seashore, beautiful views, Mount Rainier, all that.” She also mentioned the diversity of Seattle, and the fact that “Seattle turns to Asia a lot.”

She hoped that the University of Washington would provide an “overall mentoring role for” the process of creating a university. She cited several reasons for approaching UW. “First of all, it’s a top quality university, but it’s not part of the so-called traditional Ivy League. How can I convince an Ivy League to be interested in a yet-to-be-born entity, frankly? They have too many people courting them.”

She added that another reason was because “Washington state engaged with Vietnam quite early on, even before normalization. After all, former Gov. (Mike) Lowry was the first U.S. governor to ever visit Vietnam.

“Also, they have a number of exchange programs and they have a number of scholars specializing in Vietnam.”

In terms of her own university, Ninh outlined the differences between universities already present in Vietnam and her vision for Tri Vet. A former academic and English teacher of 10 years, Ninh said, “It will be completely private, no public funds. And it’s going to be a holistic endeavor, meaning that we want to create the school from scratch, building the physical infrastructure and creating the whole campus. We want it to be innovative, interdisciplinary, trying to make up for some of the deficiencies of the existing system in Vietnam. For example, a lot of emphasis on learning methodology, on character formation for the students. That’s why we insist on integrity, because there is an erosion of integrity, academic integrity — some among the faculty and a lot among the students.”

In order to ensure high standards, Ninh said that she would focus on the recruitment of faculty and staff, paying them “good salaries” but decreeing that no faculty be allowed to teach elsewhere, contrary to the common practice of professors who are “affiliated with one university, but are visiting lecturers at too many other colleges. They don’t give their brain and soul to their home colleges,” she said, and consequently, they don’t contribute to the development of their schools.

Ninh, on the other hand, would “demand loyalty and focus,” she said.

Students would also be held to a very rigorous standard: “Cheat once, and you’re out. You don’t get a second or third time.” She asserted the students would have plenty of warning. “If you cheat, and you hadn’t been warned, and it was a regular environment, that would be different. But I will tell them, ‘You’re sure you want to join this school? You’ll get good quality, but be careful. Stop any former practices you may have been involved in.’ I have no tolerance for that at all, and I think that’s the only way. If there’s any leniency, then there’s no end to it.”

Instruction at Tri Vet will be conducted in English and French, with an emphasis on English. Ninh said she foresees the need to provide preparatory courses to high school students in their final year in order to improve their English to a level sufficient for Tri Vet. These classes would also serve to demonstrate to students the behavioral and academic expectations of Tri Vet, “grooming” them, as Ninh put it.

Ninh said that while she “dare not come to a conclusion yet,” she felt that her time at the UW would bear fruit. “I will need to come back, with a specific proposal. Today, I was just putting out feelers,” she said.

Ninh’s previous visit was in 2005, when she accompanied the Prime Minister of Vietnam. She was the only female in his delegation.

When asked if she had ever felt that her gender was a handicap in her line of work, Ninh replied that though she knew many women had, she herself had never felt discriminated against. She tells young Vietnamese women, “You know what? You want to be respected? First, be good at what you do. Then respect will follow.” She said that key qualities women leaders should posses are competence, self-confidence and flexibility. “I’ve never had to raise my voice,” Ninh said. “You don’t have to shout; you can assert. If you deliver, and if you’re self-confident but also care for others, then it’s very difficult for others to discriminate against you.”

Eleanor Lee can be reached at e.lee@nwasianweekly.com

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