RMIT International University Vietnam

completed

The RMIT University (RMIT, or the sponsor) is one of top universities in Australia with a history of over 100 years and total student enrolments of over 40,000. Since mid-1990s, RMIT began taking its services outside Australia by offering joint programs in partnership with local universities in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam and other Asian countries. Following the first few years of successful introduction into Asia, RMIT is stepping up its efforts to position itself as a leading international university in Asia by building a new university in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam (RMIT Vietnam). The RMIT Vietnam will be the first university owned and operated by RMIT outside Australia._x000B_The project is for RMIT to construct a campus in the South Saigon area of Ho Chi Minh City. RMIT plans to complete the full campus at this site over the next decade, by the end of which period the total student enrolment could grow up to 13,000. The first phase of the construction is expected to occur from late 2003 at an estimated cost of $24 million and the next stage would be at least $7.5 million. The sponsor has asked IFC and Asian Development Bank (ADB) to help finance the project. _x000B_The project will set several important precedents for the education sector in Vietnam. It will be the first for-profit, wholly foreign-owned university in the country. RMIT, with IFC''s advice, has been instrumental in encouraging the Government of Vietnam to promulgate, on March 6, 2000, a new decree governing wholly foreign-owned, for-profit, medical, educational, and technical training institutions. RMIT Vietnam will be the first university to be licensed under this new decree. This will be IFC''s first project in the education sector in Vietnam.