About 40 Vietnamese and American university students are studying water resource science and policies on a special course in Ha Noi. During the course, the brainchild of the University of Miami’s Daniel Suman, students are learning about water resources by practising, experiencing and travelling with support from a grant from a university consortium on America’s Atlantic coast.
The Ha Noi University of Mining and Geology is hosting the course. Pham Quy Nhan, from its Department of Geology, is a co-ordinator.
About 18 undergraduate and graduate American students were joined by a similar number from different departments at the Ha Noi university.
During the three-week course, which ends on Saturday, classes are covering water pollution, drinking water, wastewater treatment, groundwater, wetlands, water resources management, international river basins, water and agriculture, dams and integrated coastal management.
Suman, Nhan and several professors and researchers affiliated with the host university, the Ha Noi University of Civil Engineering, the Ha Noi National University of Education and the Institute of Marine Environment and Resources (under Viet Nam’s Academy of Science and Technology) are lecturing.
During the course students have visited sites of interest related to water resources in and near Ha Noi, including Hong (Red) River, a drinking water treatment plant in Ha Noi’s Thanh Tri District, a 500ha mangrove restoration site and fish and shrimp aquaculture ponds in Hai Phong city.
During a cruise of the Ha Long Bay World Heritage Site, students were impressed by the bay’s beauty. They discussed how to protect the area from exploitation to ensure its outstanding resources are protected for the enjoyment of future generations.
The students also visited a number of places of cultures and historical interest in Ha Noi .
On their way to Viet Nam, the Americans spent three weeks at the Asian International Rivers Centre at the Yunnan University in Kunming, China. During the stay they had lectures, class discussions and field trips.
The course aims to give students a comparative perspective of water resources management in the USA, Viet Nam and China and to prepare them as future leaders of environmental management and science and protectors of the world’s water resources.
It also aims to foster co-operation between the hosts and the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami.
The course provides opportunities for cultural exchanges and friendship between the students.