On February 25, 2026, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Vu - President of the University of Danang (UD) chaired a meeting with Mr. Simon Elvestad – Founder, Chairman of Gokstad Akademiet (GA). 

The meeting was attended by Mr. Endre Elvestad - Representative for Southeast Asia of GA; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Le Hung - Rector of UD - University of Technology and Education (UTE); Dr. Nguyen Hiep - Dean of UD-Vietnam-UK Institute for Research and Training (VNUK); Dr. Pham Vu Thang - Strategic Advisor of GA, lecturer of University of Economics and Business - Vietnam National University, Hanoi; senior representatives from UD’s Department of Academic Affairs and Educational Quality Assurance, Department of Science and International Cooperation, Department of Student Affairs, Corporate Relations and Communication. 

In his opening remarks, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Vu welcomed GA’s leaders to visit and work with UD and shared that Gokstad Akademiet were the first international guests to "inaugurate" the Year of the Horse, hoping to bring good fortune and luck in the new year.

Introducing the UD to partners as one of the three leading centers for training, scientific research, and innovation in the country, President of UD stated that the university currently has over 65,000 students across 6 member universities and 3 affiliated training units; the percentage of lecturers with doctoral degrees or higher is high.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Vu highlighted UD’s recent progress and its designation by the Central Steering Committee for Science, Technology, Innovation and Digital Transformation as one of four universities prioritized for investment to serve as models for national higher education (Conclusion Notice No. 45). 

UD  highly values ​​and continuously strives to improve the quality of training, scientific research, international cooperation, and collaboration with businesses; considering this a great opportunity and a golden key to sustainable development alongside the country in the new era.

President of UD shared the need and concern for more in-depth training programs and courses in various fields to equip students with practical skills so that they can work immediately after graduation.

Mr. Simon Elvestad - Chairman of GA expressed his joy and honor at visiting for the first time and thanked President of UD for taking the time for the meeting and working session.

Mr. Simon Elvestad shared that Norway, despite having a population of only about 5.5 million, has a highly developed education system (approximately over 11% of the population holds a Master's degree); and also boasts large, multinational corporations such as Jotun Paints, a world leader in sales, Lego Group, Yara Fertilizer, and SalMar, the largest Norwegian salmon supplier in Southeast Asia…

Stemming from the needs of many Norwegian and international businesses, GA was formed with the mission of connecting students and businesses, thereby helping students prepare to work in multicultural business environments.

Sharing their vision and desire for collaborative partnerships with UD to foster and train soft skills, in addition to the professional knowledge and skills already provided by universities, representatives from GA stated that students, after completing their training, will meet global readiness standards to work with large international businesses.

In an open and collaborative atmosphere, representatives from UD-UTE, UD-VNUK and expert Pham Vu Thang exchanged ideas and proposed several areas for developing cooperation opportunities between the parties.

President of UD stated that following this meeting, there will be further contacts and exchanges on more specific cooperation. He assigned UD-Department of Science and International Cooperation, as the focal point to coordinate the implementation of key areas such as: Collaborating on opening specialized training courses to provide high-quality human resources for global companies; and organizing entrepreneurship competitions, in which the Group will partner with and introduce experts to support and inspire students in developing and realizing innovative startup ideas into practical products and applications serving the community.

UD Media