1. Introduction

Since the late 1960s, the Netherlands government has supported cooperation between Dutch higher education institutes and partner institutes in the South. Over the years, several programmes were developed and implemented, for which specific objectives, policy principles, special focal points, and related conditions and criteria for approval were developed.

The Ministry's policy document of 1992 ('Development cooperation and education in the 1990s') announced a new phase in the support to cooperation between institutes for higher education in the South and in the Netherlands. An important shift in policy was the idea to concentrate support on a limited number of Southern institutes, instead of supporting individual projects at a large number of institutes. Collaborating institutes were to make a substantial contribution to the costs of the programme. As a result, the ' Joint Financing Programme for Cooperation in Higher Education ' (MHO) was  introduced.

The programme is expected to have a high potential for strengthening the Southern institutes and for continued academic partnership after termination of the financial support.

The overall objective of the MHO programme is to contribute to the national development of specific countries by supporting higher education in fulfilling its role in the production of technical and professional human resources that these countries need, and in research and extension activities. Universities in developing countries are expected to be instrumental in the development of a country or region. Two, more immediate. objectives have been derived from these ideas and are defined as the MHO programme objectives :

   - to develop, strengthen and improve the general functioning of institutes of higher  education in developing countries ( Institution building)

    - to remedy quantitative and qualitative manpower deficiencies at the national level (Human Resource Development).

The relation between both objectives could be read as follows: the MHO invests money in institutional development (IB) of the selected Southern institutes in order to enable them to optimise their role and function to meeting the need for human resources in their region/country (HRD).

The concept of IB is taken in a broad sense: it does not only refer to the administrative and managerial apparatus, but embraces the institute in all its aspects and dimensions. In this broad interpretation of the concept, the building up of, for instance, the teaching and research capacity and also the capacity to formulate and implement strategies and policies or the development of the necessary relations with the surrounding world, all are different dimensions of the larger process of IB.

The concept of HRD is closely linked to the external efficiency of the education provided and  the relevance of tertiary  training for the processes of national development.

3.  MHO Partner Institutions

During 1993 and 1994 the PC-MHO has selected the following ten Southern MHO partner institutes:

                         - University of Asmara (Eritrea)
                         - Moi University (Kenya)
                         - University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania)
                         - University of Zambia
                         - Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (Mozambique)
                         - Universite'  d'Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso)
                         - Universidad Mayor de San Simon (Bolivia)
                         - Universidad Nacional (Costa Rica)
                         - Can Tho University (Vietnam)
                         - University of San Carlos (Philippines)

In 1995, the Technikon Northern Gauteng (TNG) from South Africa, was selected as the eleventh institute and in March 1996, the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) in Kerala, India, was selected as the twelfth and last MHO counterpart institute.

The Nuffic is responsible for implementing the MHO programme, while the Minister for Development Cooperation remains politically responsible. At least three times a year, the progress of the programme is discussed at a meeting between the Nuffic and representatives of the Netherlands Development Assistance (NEDA), the former Directorate General for International Cooperation (DGIS) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

An independent Project Committee ( PC - MHO )   has been created to select the Southern partner institutes, to approve the indicative plans  and individual project proposals, and to arbitrate in the event   of a dispute between stakeholders.

Other important forums are: the Rectors'meeting at which the chief executives of the Southern institutes get together, the Committee for Consultation on Development Cooperation (COO) representing the Dutch universities and hogescholen, and the Steering Committees on each side of every MHO-linkage.

5.  MHO at Can Tho University

Can Tho University was selected as an MHO counterpart university in October 1993. Its Indicative Plan was approved in September 1994. In the course of 1997, all projects were halfway the first phase. Seven projects were newly identified in the framework of the MHO programme. Two projects are follow-up projects from the preceding Interinstitutional Cooperation (SV-) Programme. Therefore these projects differ somewhat from other projects in that they are more focused on research. Another project is concerned with overall institutional development at CTU. The remaining six projects are mainly focusing on establishing and/or improving undergraduate training programmes, through staff and curriculum development. So far projects suffered modest delays, with all projects except one having a short budgetarily neutral extension for the ongoing phase. The following MHO-projects are being implemented at CTU:

        - Institutional development (at the central level).
        - Economics (at the School of Economics and Business Administration).
        - Basic Sciences (at the College of Sciences).
        - School of Education (at the School of Education).
        - Civil Engineering (at the College of Technology).
        - Agricultural Engineering and Farm Mechanization (at the College of Technology).
        - Biotechnology (at the Biotechnology Research and Development Institute).
        - Integrated Management of Coastal Resources (at the Farming Systems Research and                        Development Centre and the Colleges of Technology and Agriculture).
       - Medicine (at  the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy ).

On both sides a  MHO - Steering Committee coordinates activities. The composition  of both Committees  is as follows :

MHO  Steering Committee of CTU  :

    - Dr Tran Thuong Tuan, Rector of CTU, Chairperson.
    - Mr. Chau Van Luc, Vice Rector, member.
    - Dr Le Quang Minh, Vice Rector, Dean of the College of Technology, Secretary 1.
    - Mr Dao Cong Nghiep, MBA, Head of Central Administration Office,  Secretary 2 .
    - A representative from the Ministry of Education and Training.

MHO Steering Committee in the Netherlands  :

    - Drs Peter de Goeje, University of Amsterdam, Chairperson.
    - Drs Jan van den Hoogen, Wageningen University and Research Centre, Secretary.
    - All Dutch project supervisors.    
    - NUFFIC ( advisor ).