Fifty years of UEH: HAPRI's congratulations
On 27 October 1976, the Prime Minister's Decision 426/TTg founded UEH, with a first full-time cohort of 516 students. Fifty years on, more than 280,000 people have studied at UEH, and over 30,000 learn there every year. Building on the strategy it chose in 2021, a multidisciplinary and sustainable university, UEH was formally converted from a trường đại học into a đại học by Decision 1146/QĐ-TTg on 4 October 2023.
UEH in its early years. Photo: UEH. UEH today. Photo: UEH.
UEH then and now. Photos: UEH.
UEH marks its anniversary under the theme "UEH 50: Embracing The Future Together" (Cùng kiến tạo tương lai). At the ceremony on 28 October in Hall A.116, 59C Nguyễn Đình Chiểu, the university receives the Labour Order, First Class, adding to the Hero of Labour title (2006) and the Independence Order, First Class (2021).
HAPRI since 2019
HAPRI is proud to be part of that story. The Health and Agricultural Policy Research Institute was established on 13 November 2019 (Decision No. 3037/QĐ-ĐHKT-NS) as the first institute in Vietnam devoted to health economics and agricultural economics together, and was launched publicly at UEH on 16 June 2020 alongside two other new institutes. What we have done since rests on that foundation.
2020: the HAPRI team at the institute's door (photo: UEH Media) July 2020: visiting UEH's then-new library on Campus B April 2021: the Kiên Giang provincial planning project team May 2022: with School of Economics colleagues at an Associate Professor title ceremony 2023: a team celebration at the office January 2025: after a HAPRI Seminar October 2026: the HAPRI team today
The HAPRI team through the years, 2019 to 2026.
January 2020: the Fulbright scholarship information session at UEH More than 50 students and candidates attended Questions and answers at the end of the session Fulbright Program Officer Hạnh Nguyễn and HAPRI Director Dr Võ Tất Thắng with the attendees June 2020: the MOU signing with TraceVerified and HORUS Clinical Research at HAPRI's launch July 2020: meeting the Ho Chi Minh City Statistical Office at HAPRI's office HAPRI and the Statistical Office team together 2020: fourth prize in the UEH Trade Union photo contest
HAPRI in 2020: the Fulbright scholarship information session (10 January), the MOU signing at HAPRI's launch (16 June), a meeting with the Ho Chi Minh City Statistical Office (13 July) and fourth prize in the UEH Trade Union photo contest. Photos: HAPRI; signing photo: UEH Media.
What UEH makes possible
Support for our international project. With UEH's support, HAPRI leads "Food Loss in the Pangasius Catfish Value Chain of the Mekong River Basin" (2023 to 2026), funded by ACIAR and Canada's IDRC and approved by the Ministry of Education and Training. UEH hosted its international launch conference on 14 July 2023, and the project now links partners in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Australia.
Research funding from UEH. UEH research funding supported our 2023 study of mental health around retirement. It sits alongside national funding such as NAFOSTED's grant for our study of trade liberalisation and household nutrition, published in Food Security in 2025.
A launchpad for international partnerships. HAPRI works with ACIAR on core skills for agricultural labour in the mango export chain, with the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT and with ILRI in the ASEAN-CGIAR Innovate for Food programme, and with the Australian Alumni Grants Fund on nutrition for children in disadvantaged rural areas.
A community of learners. The HAPRI Seminar series meets at UEH and is open to lecturers and researchers, and five UEH scholars were among the speakers at our 2021 workshop on Kiên Giang's development strategy.
July 2023: delegates at the project's international launch conference The conference in session at UEH UEH Vice President Dr Đinh Công Khải opens the conference Assoc. Prof. Võ Tất Thắng, HAPRI Director, speaks at the conference Eleanor Dean of ACIAR on the ACIAR–IDRC food-loss programme A partner presentation on food loss in Cambodia's pangasius chain Afternoon discussion sessions on the project's four key questions June 2024: a seminar with Dr Danny Marks on air pollution and animal feed production August 2024: a UEH School of Economics seminar with Bạch Ngọc Thắng of the National Economics University January 2025: the HAPRI Seminar on AI and healthcare applications with Professor Nguyễn Văn Tuấn January 2025: Professor Nguyễn Văn Tuấn's talk on AI in healthcare January 2025: discussion at the HAPRI Seminar
The pangasius food-loss project's launch conference, 14 July 2023, and seminars with guest speakers, 2024 to 2025. Conference photos: UEH and HAPRI.
Our wish for the next fifty years
We congratulate UEH's leadership, faculty, staff, students and alumni on this milestone. We thank the generations who built the university, and we look forward to the next fifty years of research that improves health, strengthens agriculture and informs better policy.
Happy 50th anniversary, UEH.
The HAPRI team
