VietNamNet Bridge - A co-operative effort between Vietnamese and American universities will launch its first IT courses in October.

The Viet Nam Software Engineering Group (SEG Viet Nam) will offer a course focusing on software engineering and information systems. The curriculum will include four-year university courses and short-term classes for businessmen, the group said.

Established last June, SEG Viet Nam includes five Vietnamese universities and institutes along with the US’s Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). The group was formed to offer the most professional software technology training in Viet Nam and in the Asian region.

It also hopes to meet demand for IT human resources in Viet Nam and export IT workers to other markets.

The General Secretary of the Viet Nam Software Association, Pham Tan Cong, said that there was great potential for Vietnamese IT workers, both locally and abroad.

In the US, Viet Nam ranks 20th among 25 countries for software engineering, and was Japan’s favoured IT partner last year. The UK and Denmark have also pledged to offer jobs to trained Vietnamese IT workers.

According to the Ministry of Information and Communication, Viet Nam now has 18,000 students in 93 universities, 156 colleges and 60 training centres studying IT.