The closing workshop of FORSU project
The three-year project titled “Higher Education Cooperation for Forest Landscape Restoration and Sustainable Livelihoods in Bangladesh and Vietnam (FORSU)” funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union (CBHE Strand 2), successfully concluded the closing workshop at Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry (TUAF), Vietnam, from 30 March to 1 April 2026. The project, which ran approximately from Jannuary 2024 to June 2026, aimed to strengthen higher education institutions in Bangladesh and Vietnam by enhancing curricula, research, and capacity in forest landscape restoration (FLR), sustainable livelihoods, and climate-resilient natural resource management.
Over 35 participants from seven (07) partner institutions attended the event including University of Helsinki (project coordinator, Finland) and University of Freiburg (Germany), Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry (TUAF), Hue University, Tay Nguyen University, Rangamati Science and Technology University (RMSTU), and Patuakhali Science and Technology University (PSTU). The workshop included group work on preparing the project completion report, presentations on the results framework, field visits to climate-resilient sites (Thai Nguyen Climate Learning Center, Organic tea gardens, Thai Hai tourism village, and Ba Be Lake), and discussions on sustaining institutional collaboration in forest landscape restoration and sustainable natural resource management.
Hue University was one of the key Vietnamese partner institutions actively engaged throughout the project. Throughout the project, Hue University actively contributed to and hosted several capacity-building activities such as short-term training courses for young lecturers and students of the Faculty of Forestry (June 2025) on climate-resilient household livelihoods and field-based forest restoration techniques, proposal writing training workshop (May 2025) for Vietnamese partner universities, training on competence-oriented curriculum development and case-study-based teaching modules (October 2025), coordinated with the University of Helsinki and other transversal skills development activities. In Hue University, the project promoted strong participation, with 102 lecturer participations (62.7% women) and 103 student participations (12.6% women) across its activities.
Five (05) project members of Hue University attented the the closing workshop. Assoc. Prof. Tran Nam Thang from Hue University delivered a speech during the main closing event on 31 March 2026. He emphasized the strong commitment and dedication of all project partners in successfully implementing the FORSU activities. He also underscored the importance of continuing future collaboration and academic partnerships among the institutions
The closing workshop highlighted achievements in academic curricula development, joint research, knowledge sharing, and capacity building in higher education for climate-resilient forest and livelihood initiatives across the partner countries.
