HCMC – More than 140 Vietnamese defense students graduated from the Australia-Vietnam Defense Cooperation Language Training Program last week and can now apply their language skills to serve the Vietnamese People’s Army, according to the Australian Embassy in Vietnam.
Addressing their graduation ceremony in Hanoi, Australian Defense Attaché Colonel Paul Foura expressed his appreciation over the support of the commanding officers of Unit 871 under the General Political Department of the People’s Army and the Signal Officers Training College, the staff, teachers and students of the program.
“The whole team has overcome a number of challenges and worked tirelessly during the Covid-19 isolation period. To keep the program going, the Unit 871 staff and our teachers adopted new training approaches including swiftly switching to online classes. Their flexibility, endurance and dedication are credit to the Australia-Vietnam Defense Cooperation Program,” he said.
Australia has provided English language training to more than 2,500 members of the Vietnamese People’s Army over the past 20 years. At present, Australia-funded classes in Hanoi, Nha Trang and HCMC provide general, academic and specialist English language training to members of all corps and services in the Vietnamese People’s Army, as well as the first three rotations of Vietnam’s United Nations Level 2 Hospital, currently deployed in South Sudan.
Every year, some 300 training positions are offered to the Vietnamese People’s Army in both Vietnam and Australia, including English language training, undergraduate and postgraduate studies, and defense strategic studies and military specialist courses.
