A Vietnam-Ireland Alumni Network was launched at the 2012 St. Patrick’s Day Reception, with Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai - who studied at both Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin - taking up the role of its Honorary President.

The Deputy Prime Minister strongly supported the alumni idea in order to promote education links between Vietnam and Ireland.

The network currently has over 50 members, some 40 of whom were sponsored for postgraduate courses by Irish Aid. Its mission is to promote mutually beneficial networking among members including social, cultural and educational interaction. The standing committee consists of 10 people from the North and South of Vietnam.

The Embassy maintains direct contact with scholarship alumni from the Irish Aid Fellowship Training Programme, the Ireland-Vietnam Blood-borne Virus Initiative (IVVI) at UCD and the Ireland Vietnam development exchange programme, IDEAS.

Vietnamese students in Ireland have performed very well academically and are consistently positive about Ireland.

Alumni have assisted the Embassy in media campaigns to promote Ireland. Students in Ireland assist Vietnamese delegations when they travel to Ireland as interpreters or tour guides. Alumni have also volunteered to support the Embassy in a number of events. They shared their experience of studying and living in Ireland at a training course for Vietnamese business associations and entrepreneurs, funded under Irish Aid’s IDEAS Programme earlier this year. They assist with annual pre-departure events for Irish Aid’s scholarship recipients and will meet the Vietnamese Paralympics delegation before they travel to Ireland in July 2012 for training.

The Embassy has organised follow-up events at the Ambassador’s Residence after the launch of the Vietnam-Ireland Alumni Network and aims to organise occasional get-togethers while encouraging the Network to develop its own activities and programme of events.