Remarks by Ambassador Michael W. Michalak

January 17, 2008

Ambassador Michalak:  Let me begin by thanking Editor in Chief Duong Xuan Nam for inviting me to Tien Phong today to participate in this webchat.  Thank you also to Mr. Viet Hung who is here as the moderator today.  I am sure that he will identify your most interesting questions!

First, I would like to wish all of you a happy new year.  Whether you celebrate the New Year on January 1st or next month during Tet, this is a very special time.  Both Americans and Vietnamese use this period to review the past, but more importantly to look forward to the next twelve months and beyond.  

I look forward to the coming year with energy, enthusiasm, and optimism.  Since my arrival here as the U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam, I have enjoyed the opportunity to meet the senior leadership of this government as well as civic, business and religious leaders.  I have welcomed the opportunity to introduce the leaders of your country to a number of visiting senior officials from the United States, recently including Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez in December, as well as a group of 13 Members of Congress who arrived in Hanoi on January 2.  Americans come to Vietnam keen to learn more about this fascinating country and to discuss ways to increase our cooperation.  It is obvious to me that this is a relationship that will only continue to grow in breadth and depth.

Our two countries share many common interests and values.  We both want fundamentally the same thing - a prosperous Southeast Asian region with a thriving and stable Vietnam as an important contributor to that process.  We both want to see the economic relationship continue to grow, education opportunities and cooperation to expand, and partnerships in other areas to increase.

In the coming year, I hope to find new ways to work more effectively with American schools and businesses on expanding our cooperation in the education sector.  Our schools are open to your students, but I would like to increase the numbers of students who consider an American college education, as well as increase the number of American schools opening programs here.  While we continue our discussions with the Government of Vietnam on how the U.S. might provide further assistance to improve the educational system, I would like to expand that conversation.  Next week, I will be hosting a brain-storming session with American business and academic leaders to examine ways in which we might work together better to the shared benefit of all stakeholders with interests in the education system here.

In addition to education, our bilateral cooperation covers a wide range of issues, many of which are perhaps not well known to the general Vietnamese public.  For example, one such area is our cooperation in fighting the spread of weapons of mass destruction.  We have a joint program that provides training and equipment to Vietnamese forces responsible for stopping the illicit trade in such items.  It’s an active, ongoing program, with different types of activities scheduled for almost every month through this summer.  We also have very large programs to help Vietnam stop the spread of diseases like avian influenza and HIV/AIDS, and we continue to stand ready to help when Vietnam faces challenges in dealing with tropical storms and flooding.  These are just a few examples of how we cooperate.

As you can seem I am proud of the U.S.-Vietnam partnership that is deepening all the time, and am delighted to have this opportunity to discuss our efforts directly with this audience.  

We all benefit from an open exchange of information.  Through various media outlets, and particularly the internet, the people of Vietnam have greater access to information than ever before.  This is one reason I particularly enjoy doing webchats.  I also hope in the coming year, to see this ability to speak freely on any issue expanded as well.

So with that overview, I look forward to your questions and comments.  

Question:  Could you please let us know the most important criteria so that a person can be selected into a U.S. university? For example, Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, he said that Singapore only accept two kinds of people -- rich or excellent.  So if I do not have enough money to go to study in the U.S. and I do not have the talent to get a VEF fellowship, but I have a very great desire to come to the U.S. to do a master’s degree in mathematics and to get the understanding of why the U.S. becomes a super power, what is your advice for me so that I can achieve my desire?

Ambassador Michalak:  An excellent question.  Thank you very much for that question.

We welcome all students who really want to study to come to the United States.  We have over 4,000 accredited colleges and universities, and I believe that literally there is a U.S. school for everyone.

There are a few qualifications that you would need in order to get the visa to go and study in the United States.  Financing is an important qualification but you do not have to have all of the financing right now.  What you need to have is a plan for how you will finance your education in the United States.

We also need to see evidence that you will be able to function well in an American educational setting.  This means that you must have good academic qualifications.  

It also means that you need a level of English speaking ability that will let you function at the university and in the society in which you will be living.

Finally, you have to be able to show that you do intend to return to Vietnam.

I think you can find that information plus a great deal more information on the web sites of the U.S. Embassy and the Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City.  The web site for the Embassy is Hanoi.USEmbassy.gov  and the web site for Ho Chi Minh City Consulate General is HoChiMinh.USConsulate.gov.

Question:  The second part in that question is, do you believe that by studying in the U.S. and coming back to work in Vietnam I can help Vietnam to become a mighty country like the U.S.?

Ambassador Michalak:  I absolutely believe that.  In fact I think that Vietnam is going to become a mighty country like the U.S. whether you go to the U.S. or not.  But I think that you can bring even more to the development of Vietnam if you do have the advantages of having studied in the U.S. and having lived and worked outside of Vietnam.  International education, I believe, is a fantastic asset for any person who wants to help Vietnam become more integrated into the global society.

Question:  The U.S. is a very rich country and it has the most advanced education in the world.  Does the U.S. government have any specific policy to assist students in poorer countries, for example Vietnam, so that they can go to the U.S. to study?  For example, universities in the U.S. should reduce 50 percent to 90 percent of the school fees, create good conditions for students to work while they study.  So what do you think about this suggestion?

Ambassador Michalak:  Thank you very much for your question.  The United States government has several scholarship programs which we run.  One of them is the Fulbright Scholarship which sends many Vietnamese students from Vietnam to the United States and scholars from the United States to Vietnam.

The U.S. also sponsors the Vietnam Educational Foundation which sends up to almost 100 students a year to the United States to study science and technology.  

Many American universities have special scholarship opportunities for foreign students where they can get financial assistance for paying fees for studying at American universities.

There are also many American companies who offer scholarships and training programs for Vietnamese students to either go to the United States or to study certain subjects here in Vietnam.

So once again I would urge you to go to the web sites for the U.S. Embassy and the U.S. Consulate, Ho Chi Minh City, and you can find there links to other web sites that will give you information on many types of financial assistance programs that are available in the United States.

Question:  I have read some information that some major universities in the U.S. recently have reduced 50 percent of school fees, and at the same time students from families that have income of less than $60,000 a year do not have to pay school fees.  So my question is, Mr. Ambassador, is this policy applicable to foreign students who are pursuing master’s degree courses or not?

Ambassador Michalak:  I would have to say that I am not familiar with that program.  My guess, and I don’t know this to be a fact, but my guess is that it’s probably not available for foreign students coming to the U.S.  But as I said before, I think there are many types of scholarship programs which are out there and are available for foreign students.

There are also many American universities and U.S. companies that are forming partnerships with Vietnamese universities.  Now some of these programs may, and I emphasize may, offer some reduced rates for Vietnamese students.  But at this point I’m not aware of which universities those are or what kind of programs they have.

In fact I am going to be having this educational conference next week, and one of the main reasons that I’m holding this conference among American companies and American educational institutions is because I don’t know a lot about all of the programs that they have to offer.

One of the things that I hope to do next week is to find out what kinds of partnerships already exist among American stakeholders who want to help improve educational opportunities here in Vietnam.  Once we find out what already exists, what kind of programs are already there, then we hope to continue a very strong dialogue with the government of Vietnam to find out what else we might do to help improve educational opportunities in Vietnam and for Vietnamese students going to the U.S.

Question:  At present I have a son who is studying in the U.S. from 2005 and his brother is going to graduate from a university in Vietnam.  That brother also has the desire to go to pursue a master’s degree in a foreign country.  So if he wants to go to the U.S. is there a problem with him because his younger brother is already in the U.S.?

Ambassador Michalak:  No.  There’s no problem at all.  The son who has just graduated from university will apply and he will be judged on his own merits.  There will be no influence from the brother who is already there.

Question:  The second part of the question is can you tell us about the school fees for the master’s degree course and is he allowed to work in the U.S. while he does the master’s degree?

Ambassador Michalak:  Concerning fees and whether or not you’re allowed to work, I think the best way to find out the exact information is to look on the internet for fees, because each university charges different fees and there are very very different programs available throughout the United States.  So there is no one simple answer to that part of your question.

Regarding whether or not you are able to work, that depends on your program, what year of your studies, you are in, etc.   There are a number of factors there.  The short answer is that yes, there are programs that do allow you to work, but I would say please talk to one of our consular officers to find out what conditions there are which will allow you to work.

Also many universities in their master’s degree program do provide work for students coming to that university.  This work usually is work such as research assistant or teaching assistant or something like that.  So you really have to look at each university individually because there are just so many different opportunities and so many different programs that are available to foreign students coming into the United States.

Question:  I learned that when you began your Ambassadorship in Vietnam you made the commitment that you would increase the number of students who go to the U.S. by two times.  Would you please let us know what policy the U.S. government has to assist Vietnamese students to go to the U.S., for example with full fellowships, and for example assisting to find work during summer time and to provide assistance in traveling?

Ambassador Michalak:  A great question.  I would be very happy if I could offer everybody in Vietnam a full fellowship, an excellent job in the United States, and a wonderful place to live but unfortunately I can’t offer that.

Many students were afraid to apply for a visa because they thought it was too hard to apply for a visa.  Many students thought there were no opportunities to work while you study, and many students thought there were no scholarship opportunities in the United States.  So for all of these reasons many students decided not to think about going to the United States.

One of the things we have done is try to increase the number of webcasts like this, and to increase the number of times that we talk about education with the Vietnamese people to spread the word that there are many many opportunities that should make it possible for Vietnamese students to go to the United States.

I have also asked the members of our Consular Department to get out and do more public speaking to tell the people of Vietnam what are the requirements for getting a student visa.  The more that Vietnamese understand about what is required, the more information that Vietnamese get, the better able they are to make their own decisions on whether or not they can go to the United States.

We are finding that the number of student visas that we are approving this year, particularly in the latter half of this year, has been going up very very sharply.  We are doing very well, I think, in attracting more and more students to go to the United States.

We’re also doing some other things which will take a little bit more time, but which I hope will result in an increased number of students going to the United States as well as increased opportunities for American style education here in Vietnam.

For instance in the United States I am asking for more money for our Fulbright program.  I am asking for more money for our other educational programs including English language training.  These processes takes time, but we are doing our best to see if it’s possible.

One of the reasons we are having this educational conference next week is because I want to see, when we look at all of the programs that we now have to help Vietnamese students go to the United States, if there some way to make those programs run better so that we can try to send even more students to the United States.

So we’re trying to increase the information available, to make the process more transparent and easier to understand for Vietnamese, we’re trying to increase the resources that we have to help Vietnamese go to the U.S., and we’re trying to expand the number of partnerships that we have so that perhaps we can send more Vietnamese to the United States.  We’ll just have to see how successful those programs are in the coming months and years.

Question:  The next question is social science study, like media, literature.  Can we get fellowships for those fields?

Ambassador Michalak:  Sure.  You can get a fellowship, you can get a scholarship, you can get financial assistance for any course of study that you want to do in the United States.  Some foundations, some organizations provide scholarships for special studies, but the university scholarship and university financial assistance programs are available for anything that you want to study.

Question:  I’m a person with disability.  I have a problem with one of my legs.  I graduated from the Russian and English faculty of a university in Vietnam and right now I’m working as an editor for a local television station.  I would like to go to the U.S. to study media.  Do you think there are any American schools who will accept people with disabilities?

Ambassador Michalak:  Of course there are.  There is no discrimination against people with disabilities at any university in the United States.  In fact there is no discrimination against people with disabilities to do anything in the United States.  It is one of our laws.  We cannot and will not discriminate against people with disability who want to live their lives in the United States, whether it’s education, whether it’s working, whether it’s playing, whatever.  There is no such discrimination.

Question:  Would you please talk about policies at American universities and colleges to encourage excellent students?  And does the U.S. have a policy that allows excellent students to borrow money and pay back in three years after they graduate, like the policy that Singapore has?

Ambassador Michalak:  I’m not really sure how the universities decide on what kind of financial assistance program is best for what kind of student.

Excellent students are often able to get scholarships which are based only on their academic achievements, but there are many different kinds of financial assistance which are available to all students regardless of the level of excellence that they have achieved.

So there are student loan programs that are available for everyone.  Again, you have to go to the individual university web site to find out what their specific programs are, because there are many many programs and they’re different for different universities.

Question:  At present I am pursuing an academic program in South Korea and I want to apply so that I can move to the U.S. to study.  But I know that if I want to apply for a visa to go to the U.S. I must have a direct interview.  I am studying in South Korea.  So can I go to the U.S. embassy in South Korea for an interview?

Another question is, what schools in the U.S. have scholarships for students who can pursue a master’s degree course in telecommunications?

Ambassador Michalak:  In answer to the first question, yes, you can go to the embassy or consulate in South Korea, whether you’re in Seoul or Pusan or wherever there happens to be a consulate or an embassy.  You should be able to go there to apply for your visa to the United States.

The second question regarding what are the schools specializing in telecommunications, there are many many schools that specialize in telecommunications.  Almost every school has, within its engineering or its science department, an electrical engineering or a telecommunications or a computer science program which will make you an expert in telecommunications.

If you are interested in a specific kind of study and you are having difficulty finding this on the internet, I would suggest that you go to the public affairs office of the nearest American embassy or American consulate for some assistance.  Almost all of those offices have computers and they have people there who can help you do your search and help you narrow down your search area to find the information that you’re looking for.

Question:  I have a child who is in the third year of university study in the U.S. and next year he has a plan to visit one of our relatives in Austria.  So I would like to ask if he goes to Austria would it be difficult for him to apply for a visa to come back to the U.S. to continue his study?

Ambassador Michalak:  No, I don’t think it will be difficult to apply for a visa to apply to the U.S. to return for study.  What I would suggest is that he goes to the nearest immigration office to talk about it with the immigration officials and make sure that he or she has all of the information that he or she needs before going to Austria.  I’m not aware of any particular problem, but I’m not aware of all of the rules and regulations on these kinds of things.  So to be sure, he should check in with the immigration department and talk with them to get the exact detailed answer.

Question:  I am a public official who is working for a Vietnamese organization and now I want to go to the U.S. to study.  My question is, I’ve got a bachelor degree issued by a Vietnamese college, so if I go to the U.S. will my degree be accepted by a U.S. university and will I be able to start to study a master’s degree or do I have to study more to meet the American conditions?

Ambassador Michalak:  That’s a very good question and as with most very good questions there’s not a simple answer.

It very much depends on when you receive the degree from the Vietnamese university, what was the degree in, what are you going to study in the U.S., and where are you going to study in the U.S..

So that’s a somewhat complicated question, but I’ll tell you what, if you have a very specific question like that I believe that if you look at the web site, the embassy web site and the consulate general web site there are links to real live student advisors at the Institute for International Education.  These experts can talk to you over the web and help to answer specific questions like the one that you’ve just asked me.  These advisors can also help you in your search for the appropriate university.  They’re very experienced at this and I think you would find it a valuable way to spend some time, is to talk with these advisors.

I’d also like to say to the person who is the public official in Vietnam, that oftentimes universities in the United States will look at government service as partial fulfillment of certain academic requirements.

So again, I think all I’m saying here is that for such a specific question you need to get more information and you need to talk with one of the advisors maybe at the Institute for International Education to get a really good answer to that question.

Question:  I am about to graduate from a Russian university in the field of economics.  If I can get a certificate in March or in May 2008, will I be able to pursue, to continue to study for a master’s degree in September 2008 in the U.S.?  And what school can I find for that?

Ambassador Michalak:  Again, yes, I think it is possible.  You will have to work pretty hard to get all of the other documentation that you will need for the visa process and for the entrance process.  Many people are already now submitting applications for fall 2008 entry into college, so you have to get to work right away.

But I think, again, you have to start with the embassy web site.  If you're in Russia you can still go to the web sites that I mentioned in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and you can still go to the IIE, Institute for International Education web site, and you can use those resources to get all of the information that you need.  But you’ll probably have to work fast because your time is beginning to run out.

Question:  Mr. Ambassador, my sister is waiting to immigrate to the U.S. under the program that my father can take her to the U.S. and immigrate and become a U.S. citizen.  My sister graduated from Economic University in Vietnam.  While she is waiting to migrate to the U.S. can she still apply for a U.S. scholarship?

Ambassador Michalak:  Yes.  You can still apply for a U.S. scholarship.  You may want to talk to a consular official to see what kind of a visa you would need.  You may have to go under some other special visa category.  I’m not exactly sure which visa category that is, but I know that the consular sections in Ho Chi Minh and in Hanoi will be glad to answer that question in more detail.

Question:  There is a question from a city in central Vietnam.

Mr. Ambassador, at present our city is developing a training program under which we would like to send our public officials and leaders to foreign countries and one of the countries that we want to send our people to is the U.S..  So Mr. Ambassador, if the public officials and leaders, can they get any special treatment, assistance?

Ambassador Michalak:  Yes, they can.  I would be very interested in hearing about your training program and in hearing the goals and objectives of your program.  It may be possible that we may be able to offer some assistance.  It would depend on the person’s abilities and the goals that he or she has for what they want to do in the United States.  But I would recommend that you send an e-mail to the American embassy or to the American consulate, to the head of the public affairs section.

Again, it will be on the web site.  There is a “contact us” spot on the web site and the more information you give us the better we’ll be able to tell you which program may be appropriate for such a person.

Question:  I think you can make some closing statement.

Ambassador Michalak:  I want to thank all of my friends here at Tien Phong for the opportunity to have this web chat with people in Vietnam.  I am particularly pleased to see the number of very detailed and very specific questions on education that we have tried to answer for you here today.  Unfortunately it’s been a long time since I’ve done visa work so I don’t know all of the specific answers to all of the specific questions that we’ve had here today.  

So I would encourage everyone to look on the web site and to also send in your questions to the consular section of the American embassy in Hanoi or the American Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh.  You will get an answer, and it will be an answer from one of our consular officials who knows each and every one of these regulations in much more detail than I do.

What I want to make sure is that people who are on the web chat, don’t be afraid of finding out more information.  Don’t be afraid of asking questions.  The United States very much wants to welcome you to a university, to a school in the United States.  We believe in the excellent determination and skill and quality of Vietnamese students and we want to see more of you coming to the United States.

So you keep asking your questions and we’ll make sure you get good answers, and I will continue to do everything I can to try to work with the U.S. government, the Vietnamese government, the American private sector and American universities to increase the number of opportunities for Vietnamese going to the United States as well as for Vietnamese studying here in Vietnam.

So thank you very much for participating, and I hope to talk to you again over the internet some day on perhaps another topic.  Thank you again.