Vietnamese business teacher visiting BSU

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

April 28, 1997

By Devlyn Brooks

Staff Writer

During the Vietnam War, as a 6-year-old, Nguyen Van Dinh can remember hiding in underground classrooms at school and at home to take refuge from American bombing.

Now at age 31, Nguyen now hopes to earn a doctoral degree in business here in America -- saying that, yes, he and his country remember the Vietnam War. But they only look to the future.

"I'm surprised we don't hate American people," he said. "We are very friendly with Western people. We don't forget the past, but we move on. We are eager to learn everything we can from the U.S."

Nguyen, a professor of banking and finance at the National Economics University in Hanoi, is a visiting professor at Bemidji State University, part of a project to westernize the teaching methods at this own university.

In addition, he is serving as a resident expert on Vietnam to BSU business Professor Bill Scheela, who is teaching a course on business opportunities in Vietnam and was also an original advisor to Nguyen's university in 1994 when the National Economics University began to westernize.

"They were developing a Western-style management center," Scheela said about his trip to Vietnam in 1994. "A major component (of the project) was to bring Western faculty to Vietnam to work with NEU faculty."

That was how the two professors met, and again last July when Scheela was in Vietnam, he volunteered to sponsor Nguyen as a visiting professor at BSU so he could see Western-style teaching first hand.

The stay is being funded by the BSU Foundation and the International Studies Council, according to Scheela, because as a Vietnamese professor, Nguyen could never have afforded the trip himself.

Professors at NEU earn very little compared to their American counterparts, said Nguyen. In a month, he earns the equivalent of about $20 U.S., and $60-$70 is considered middle class in Vietnam.

Nguyen arrived in Minnesota March 10 and will stay for about four months. IN that time, he will be sitting in on courses taught by BSU business faculty and will even be teaching select class sessions himself. In fact, Nguyen will present a lecture today -- which is open to the public -- about business opportunities in Vietnam at 7 p.m. in Room 115 of the Educational Arts Building.

"Because the focus (of this quarter's class) is on Vietnam, it is beneficial the students have a chance to hear from someone from Vietnam," Scheela said. "They get access of very current data, and they get to meet a lecturer from Vietnam, which has been very useful."

During his stay, Nguyen will also be working with the Minnesota Trade Office in St. Paul to establish American business opportunities in Vietnam, and he will visit the Marvin Windows factory in Warroad for a weeklong seminar on American business techniques.

However, his visit has not been all work and no play. He has made friends with a local Vietnamese family that owns a Bemidji business, and will be traveling with them to the Twin Cities to see the Mall of America. He will also get the opportunity to meet a Vietnamese graduate of BSU living in the Cities.

Nguyen also has the goal of earning a driver's license while here. He has never driven a car, partly because they are so expensive in his country, and he would like to have his license when he comes back in several years with his family to earn his doctoral degree.

At home, Nguyen was one of the first in his country to earn a master's degree in business. Since 1992, when his university began the push to Westernize, he and his fellow faculty have transformed the National Economics University into a top-notch school, adding to it the Centre for Management Training.

He has a wife, who is a teacher of Vietnamese literature, and a 2-year-old daughter. Nguyen teaches banking and finance to both undergraduate and graduate students.

Nguyen is the last of NEU's original 18 faculty who have their MBAs to visit an American university, and when he goes back he will present what he has learned to his administration.

But most of all he cannot wait to tell the story of the "little house," said Scheela. The first night Nguyen was in Bemidji, he stayed at Scheela's house, which is a log home, and it reminded him of the house in the television show, "Little House on the Prairie."

The show, starring Michael Landon, is now being shown in his country with dubbed-in Vietnamese voices and is becoming quite popular.

"When I go back, I can tell story about the 'Little House,'" Nguyen said, grinning.

Nguyen to discuss business opportunities

Nguyen Van Dinh, a visiting Vietnamese professor, will present a public lecture on the business opportunity in Vietnam 7 p.m. today in Bemidji State University's Educational-Arts Building Room 115.

Although Vietnam is known to many Americans primarily because of the Vietnam War, today there is a new Vietnam which has many business opportunities for Americans, a BSU news release states.

Vietnam is a country with a population of more than 75 million people, many natural resources and other attractions for foreign investments.

It is becoming more international since its government introduced "Doi moi," or economic renovation, policies in 1986 and began to normalize relations with the United States in 1994. These are two of the major reasons for the attractiveness of Vietnam today.

In addition, the country has experienced extraordinarily high annual economic growth rates of around 9-10 percent and expects the trend to continue in coming years.

Nguyen is a lecturer of banking and finance at the National Economics University in Hanoi, Vietnam, and will be staying at BSU until this summer.