During the working visit to Japan from December 15 to December 19, 2023, the leadership of the Vietnam - Japan Institute for Human Resources Development (VJCC) had a meeting and working sessions with the leaders of the Economic Development Bureau, the Main Office of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), as well as professors from partner universities in Japan.

Participating in the working session with the Economic Development Bureau, JICA Main Office were Mr. Shimokawa Takao - Bureau Chief; Mr. Saotome Jun - Deputy Bureau Chief; Mr. Sakamoto Atsuki – Head of the Private Sector Development Team, and Mr. Sato Shokei – Specialist in the Private Sector Development Team.

During the exchange session, Assoc. Prof., Dr. Nguyen Thi Hien - Director of VJCC, reviewed some notable activities of VJCC in 2023, the second year of implementing the VJCC Project 2022-2027 with the support of the Japan International Cooperation Agency. Alongside training activities, business consulting to leverage strengths, and established brands in the market such as the Keieijuku course, the CEO course – in-depth executive training for small and medium-sized enterprises in Hanoi, on-site training contracts at factories, etc., VJCC continuously updated and innovated new themes and courses to meet the practical needs of business development, such as Digital Transformation in Production, Sales Management, Customer Experience Management, Digital Transformation Strategy, and ESG-SDGs Management Strategy. Notably, 8 Business Ignition Seminars (BFS) were organized in 2023, covering topics such as Digital Transformation in Production – Experiences, managing cultural integration in business, etc., aiming to help entrepreneur students from Keieijuku, CEOs, etc., stay updated and catch up with the trends in global business thinking and development.

Mr. Shimokawa Takao - Chief of the Economic Development Bureau, acknowledged the results of the VJCC Project in 2023 and expressed JICA Japan's desire to continue contributing to the sustainable, stable, and self-reliant development of VJCC in the future through activities that support VJCC in becoming a focal point connecting the two countries in business cooperation and high-quality human resources. JICA Japan is particularly interested in and highly values VJCC's proactive efforts to leverage and tap into other sources of support beyond JICA, notably the cooperation with experts, professors from reputable universities in Japan in building training programs (CTDT) and implementing undergraduate training activities with 2 high-quality undergraduate programs: International Business based on the advanced Japanese model (JIB) and Digital Business (DB). This has resulted in outstanding developments for VJCC compared to other Japanese centers worldwide in recent years. Therefore, in the upcoming plans, JICA will further promote cooperation and synergy activities between VJCC and these Japanese centers.

Also during the working session, Assoc. Prof., Dr. Nguyen Thi Hien shared the long-term development strategy of VJCC approved by Foreign Trade University. She proposed some ideas to maintain, expand, and enhance the added value for JICA's support activities within the framework of the VJCC Project until 2025 and subsequent phases. This is done in the spirit of inheriting, promoting the resources of VJCC, continuously innovating, meeting new societal demands, and enhancing the effectiveness of cooperation between the two countries.

Within the framework of the working trip to Japan, the VJCC leadership visited and worked with professors from partner universities in Japan to strengthen and expand cooperation in training, research, faculty and student exchange activities.

During the working sessions, the VJCC leadership exchanged with professors from Kanto Gakuin University, Chiba Institute of Technology, Rikkyo University, Waseda University, etc., about the achievements in the 1st semester of the academic year 2023-2024 in some specific subjects such as VBIZ 2, VBIZ 3, Cross-Cultural Management in International Business, Project Management, Digital Business Project Model Orientation, etc., for both JIB and DB programs. In particular, the VJCC leadership conveyed the sincere appreciation of Foreign Trade University's leadership to the leadership and professors of partner universities for their dedicated and generous support for the training programs at VJCC.

During the working session with Rikkyo University, the VJCC leadership discussed in detail with the Business School professors about the detailed plan for organizing the 4th International Conference on Vietnam-Japan International Business (VJIBC) on March 27 and 28, 2024, at Rikkyo University (Japan). The theme of the conference, "Creating Sustainable Value for Global Prosperity: From the Multidisciplinary Perspectives," is expected to receive submissions by January 15, 2024.