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International Trade between Vietnam and the US
Vietnam has been considered one of the largest beneficiaries in the US-China trade war as companies shift their production out of China to avoid tariffs. A business faculty-led program focusing on International Trade is a good way for your students to learn about the culture, how people do business as well as the key drives behind the impressive economic growth of one of Asia's new tigers.
Request for proposal
*If you feel overwhelmed, please rest assured that we are always here to support any of the things you are supposed to do at this step.
Through the program, we hope the students will be able to experience Vietnam to the fullest and learn deeply about:
- Trade relations between Vietnam and the US through a visit to the U.S Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City or American Chamber in Vietnam
- How to invest in Vietnam through visits to U.S-owned companies in Vietnam, law/consulting firms
- How Vietnamese-owned companies start doing business with US companies and their strategies to enter the US market/ expand globally
- Different models of how Vietnamese companies in fields like financial services, tech, logistics, e-commerce, start-up, etc have prepared to faster grow and benefit from international trade opportunities (including the US-China trade war) and what are the opportunities for their peers in the US?
- Vietnamese culture: how culture affects the way people do business in Vietnam
Potential list of companies to visit: Nike, Intel, Cocacola, KMS, PwC, Momo, Lazada/Tiki, Standard Chartered, Coats
Possible Universities to exchange: Fulbright University Vietnam, University of Economics HCMC, Foreign Trade University HCMC
Tentative location: Ho Chi Minh City, also known as Saigon or the Pearl of the far East
Duration: 13 days
Tentative Program Itinerary:
Day 1: Arrival in HCMC
Afternoon/Evening: airport pick up, hotel check-in
Official check-in time is 14:00
Day 2: Orientation
Morning: FREE
Afternoon: Onsite Orientation
Students will have an orientation with the site team. Program itinerary, safety, and survival tips and a basic Vietnamese language lesson will be covered.
Evening: Welcome dinner with authentic Vietnamese foods
Day 3: City tour
The purpose of this tour is to let the students understand how resilient Vietnam and its people were throughout the Vietnam War.
Day 4: Guest Lecture & China Town Visit
Day 5: Company visits
Day 6: Day trip to the Cu Chi tunnels
Visiting one of the world’s biggest manmade network of connecting tunnels to learn how innovative and resilient the people of Vietnam were during the wartime, what community life meant back then and how people made friends with and relied on nature to protect them.
Day 7: Company visits
Day 8 & 9: Overnight tour to the Mekong Delta
A trip for students to see the biggest “rice bowl” of Vietnam, the main drive behind Vietnam being the 3rd rice exporter in the world at the same time experience life in a water world where boats, houses, and markets float upon innumerable rivers, canals, and streams. The Mekong Delta is also home to many of Vietnam’s most delicious dishes.
Day 10: Volunteer Day & Street Food Tour
Volunteer at a not-for-profit restaurant for people with low-income in the morning and discover the delicious and colorful street food scene of Ho Chi Minh City through a food tour with our local guide(s) in the afternoon
Day 11: Free
Morning & Afternoon: Free
Recommended activities: Independence Palace, Ben Thanh Market, Bui Vien Walking Street, etc
Day 12: Company visits
Day 13: Departure from Vietnam
Morning/Noon: Check out of hotel
Official check-out time is 12:00 PM
Afternoon/Evening: Flight back to the US - End of program
All activities listed above are subject to change in case of unexpected circumstances or companies/organizations' unavailability.
We customize the itinerary to best meet your needs and objectives; thus there will be no programs at the same price.
What's usually included in our price?
- Airport transfer
- Accommodation: 3-star hotel, twin room, same-gender/room, single room for university faculty, free Wi-Fi and room service
- Meals: Breakfast at hotel; welcome and farewell dinners; other meals as listed in the itinerary
- Program development
- Program coordinator accompanies the group in every activity for the whole program;
- Local buddies arrangement (if requested)
- On-site orientation;
- Company visits arrangement;
- Guide and entrance fees for all excursions as listed in the itinerary
- Transportation as described in the program itinerary
- 24/7 emergency contact number (SOS card);
- All gratuities to bus drivers, tour guides and/ or similar;
- Fee for at least 1 faculty or employee from the university to join in program activities with students in Vietnam.
Step 1: Please take some minutes to fill out this online questionnaire. Our Program Manager will then contact you for a free consultation meeting to discuss your customized program in more detail.
Step 2: We finalize and send you the program proposal(s) for your institution’s approval.
Step 3: Partnership agreement/Program Contract signed
Step 4: Implementation
Things to do on your end:
- Market your program on campus and process students’ applications
- Approve and finalize academic content for the program
- Work closely with ABROADER's Program Manager to finalize all activities and logistics needed for your program (airfare, housing, airport pickup, classroom, excursions, site visits, etc.)
- Collect students’ program fees
- Hold pre-departure meeting and orientation
*If you feel overwhelmed, please rest assured that we are always here to support any of the things you are supposed to do at this step.
Things we do on our end:
- Finalize the overall program schedule
- Produce or support the production of marketing materials for your program
- Arrange all necessary logistics, site visits and cultural excursions for your program
- Provide support for the pre-departure meeting and orientation
Step 5: Your program starts - you and your students arrive in Vietnam or another program location in Southeast Asia.
Step 6: While in the program location, you teach the course, we take care of all the other activities and logistics for your program.
Step 7: Your program ends – the group departs from the program location. After you return home, there will be an evaluation meeting for us to review your program for future improvements and planning.
We endeavour to guarantee that through every stage of our process, issues like power and privilege, diversity and inclusion, community voice and reciprocity are taken into full consideration to make sure that every stakeholder is heard and included.
I am so incredibly lucky that I have people and things that make saying goodbye to Hanoi incredibly difficult. For if I did not have them, that would have meant I wasted nearly three months internship in Vietnam. I was able to make friends, experience the culture, learn a little Vietnamese in the process; all those things became part of me and make it that much more difficult to say farewell to them.
Maile Moore
Public Health Internship ,Oregon State University, USA
Joining this internship in Vietnam with SEND, I made a very important realization that is I can’t do everything on my own. The challenges presented during this internship got me to talk to other people, hear their ideas and craft up a conclusion. I learnt to cooperate with friends instead of struggling with any probem alone and we were able to find a solution to almost any problem that we encountered.
Ryosuke Asai
Education Internship ,Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, Japan
I think my experience is different from others. I think many people who joined the internship say something like ‘I find what I wanna do in the future’ or ‘I find discover myself.’ But for me, I cannot find my future job. I cannot say working at hotel is my future job. Before I go to Vietnam, I really wanted to work at hotel or be something it cherishes the hospitality such as a flight attendant. I thought I’m really open minded and it is best job for me. After finishing the internship, I thought the job at hotel is really nice job, to do best for the people all the time like I thought once but now I cannot say I wanna work at hotel in the future with 100% sure. It’s because I feel stressful when I receive the bad service as a customer. More and more I polish my service, I’m really dissatisfied with the service of others. So now I wanna put a distance from the service job. So now, I’m looking for what I wanna do in the future in Japan and challenges many things. But this is what I can say with 100% sure It was best decision to take the internship in Vietnam. It is because thanks to the challenge of internship in Vietnam, I became to love challenges much more than the time before going to Vietnam. Before going to Vietnam, I had a fear to challenge. But now, I challenge many things and I realize my life is really full one! And I wanna recommend this internship to other Japanese students of course. You may be able to find your future job and yourself or not, no matter how different you feel about internship after finishing it, I can say with 100% sure it will be worthwhile to your life in some way.
Keiko Kaji
Hospitality Internship ,Tokyo Woman`s Christian University, Japan
There were definitely times during my internship that the cultural difference between Vietnam and Japan made my internship here challenging. However, I was able to be in a team of amazing people and I learnt to accept the difference of opinions within my team and be patient to avoid any conflict. For me, being in a harmonious team motivated me to be positive, work harder and be a more productive person in general.
Reina Takahashi
Education Internship ,Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, Japan
I am grateful to everyone who has helped organize my internship in Vietnam this summer. I am grateful to ABROADER for finding me the best placement that I could ever hope for and for being so caring, accountable and responsive during my whole internship duration. I am grateful to my supervisor and all the coworkers at my host organization for being so hard-working, responsible, encouraging and supportive. Without their kindness and support, my holistic learning experience while in Vietnam would not be that worthwhile. I would definitely recommend this internship in Vietnam program to anyone that is interested in doing an internship abroad.
Bryant Chu
Culinary Internship ,Master’s Degree at Stanford University, USA
Everything so far, from preparation before departure to the whole internship execution has been good. But what I am most satisfied with must be the helpfullness from the local buddy and coordinators through the whole process. Eventhough I am a more independent individual and have no problem exploring new places alone, I felt that their presence made me feel more safe and that I have friends in this new environment.
All in all a great experience that I would not have gone without. One of the best experiences I have had. For my internship, however, there was a big part of the different tasks I could not be involved in because of the language barrier. They have given me a great experience and done at great deal to show me the process from how everything works in the different departments/shops to taken me out to see the farm where the organic products grow. They have kept me well informed and all in all been a great place to work. If there is anything I would suggest for improvement it would be better if there were more tasks that could be done in English.
I am really happy with my experience and definitely will recommend it to anyone friends who are interested.
Trine Hansen
Marketing Internship ,Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
I did have a bit of trouble with my original internship, but ABROADER was very supportive and active in ensuring I got the best experience and helped me switch to a different company. My new company became a place where I learned about company life and got to work on independent projects. It was also great to have the local buddies with us, as they went around town and did different activities with us. The local buddies definitely made my experience here more fun and made it easier for me to acclimate to life here. Also, going around Ho Chi Minh City was actually much safer than I had imagined, and people here are usually very friendly to help out foreigners. My time here went by very quickly, and my summer experience of growing, learning, exploring, and lots of eating is definitely one I will remember!
Jamie Kim
Communication Internship ,Princeton University, USA
I was very appreciated and valued at the host school, they were extremely welcoming and friendly. The teachers provided me with plenty of opportunities to interact with different year levels and observe classes. In addition, even though it is not their responsibility to, they were also very keen on showing me Vietnam and making me comfortable, I got to go on a trip to pagodas in Ho Chi Minh where I got to wear ao dai and get to know more about another aspect of Vietnamese life. One inconvenience I had would be that my accommodation was quite far from the school and I was by myself. But overall, this can be improved on and I would recommend the internship program to anyone interested.
Alexandra Baulch
Education Internship ,Monash University, Australia
My nursing internship at the Orthopedic & Rehabilitation Hospital is a treasure experience that I will never forget. Having always wanted to volunteer in Nursing in Asia, I took the opportunity and I am very glad I did.
The Nursing Placement I had in Vietnam was exceptionally fulfilling, including the support from my Nurses, Coordinator and Local Buddy. All of whom made me feel very welcomed during the time I was here. The on-site support I received was brilliant, every query I had was answered promptly and professionally and the service was everything I could have asked for.
Sarah Heard
Nursing Internship ,University of Plymouth, England
The local buddies were amazing!! Such a wonderful experience!! I would recommend to everyone, even if you don’t know anyone else. Was such a great time meeting new people and exploring a culture that was so welcoming. Due to the local buddies we got to experience the local side of Vietnam and all the places the average tourist won’t get to see. I also know my class mates at lot better. I have made connections with industry professionals that will stay with me after I graduate. Loved it!!!!!!!!!!
Baillie Wheatly
Electrical Engineering and Computing Study Tour ,University of Newcastle, Australia