VinUniversity and the University of California San Diego Reached an Agreement on the Integrated 3+2 Bachelor’s – Master’s Program

The Integrated 3+2 Bachelor’s – Master’s Program between VinUniversity and the University of California      San Diego, United States (ranked 33^rd globally) will be officially launched in the Academic Year 2023-2024 and start receiving applications from 3rd-year students of the College of Engineering and Computer Science, VinUniversity who have excellent academic records and aim to pursue postgraduate studies in the United States.

Following the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in August 2021, in January 2022, VinUniversity and the University of California San Diego (UC San Diego) reached a definite agreement on the implementation of the Integrated Bachelor’s – Master’s Program. The Program is specifically designed for students of the College of Engineering and Computer Science, VinUniversity.

Students participating in the Program will study for the first 3 years at VinUni and the next 2 years at UC San Diego. After 5 years, students will graduate with a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree from VinUniveristy and a Master of Science degree from UC San Diego.

The agreement outlines specific application requirements, the application process, course of study, etc… for students of the College of Engineering and Computer Science who want to pursue the Integrated 3+2 Bachelor’s – Master’s Program.

A DISTINCTIVE EDGE FOR VINUNIVERSITY STUDENTS

• Students may “save” up to 1 academic year compared to the conventional bachelor’s and master’s programs.
• Students study for 3 years at VinUniversity – an excellent university with a mission of developing talents for the future – and 2 years abroad at UC San Diego – one of the top 30 universities with the most Nobel laureates.
• Students not only have the time to mature in their homeland of Vietnam, but also get international exposure in California, USA, the world’s center for science and engineering with Silicon Valley and Hollywood – home to the world’s capital of cinematography and entertainment.
• Qualified students may be recommended to continue onto the UC San DiegoD. Program in Structural Engineering after finishing a 2-year master’s program there.
• Students have the opportunity to achieve full scholarships for their 2 years abroad at UC San Diego through the Vingroup Scholarships Program for Overseas Study for Master’s and Doctoral Degrees in Science and Technology (https://scholarships.vinuni.edu.vn/). The Scholarship scheme covers all tuition fees, living expenses, health insurance, round-trip airfare, and related expenses for qualified students.

Notably, when applying to the program, VinUniversity students will:

• Have their GRE waived for admissions to the MS program in Structural Engineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering.
• Have the chance to transfer a maximum of 8 unused course credits to the MS degree at UC San Diego.

ELIGIBILITY

Students must meet the following requirements to be eligible for the program:

# 1: Students may apply to the Program during their third year of their Bachelor program at the VinUniversity College of Engineering and Computer Science and must be in good academic standing at the time of application.

# 2: Have a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher on a scale of 4.0.

# 3: Have one of the following certificates of proficiency in English: TOEFL internet-based score of 85 or higher, TOEFL paper-based score of 64 or higher, or IELTS score of 7.0 or higher.

Additionally, students will have to submit a program application, a statement of purpose essay, letters of recommendation, and other relevant certificates of achievement. The annual deadline for application at VinUniversity is the 5th February, starting from 2023. Eligible applicants will be invited to an interview in the first week of March and the list of admitted applicants will be announced in mid-March. (Detailed information will be provided to the students by VinUniversity).

In addition to this collaboration      with UC San Diego, in 2021, VinUniversity reached agreements on the Integrated 3+2 /4+1 Bachelor’s – Master’s Program with other world-leading universities, such as: Cornell University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and University of Technology, Sydney. Details regarding eligibility are currently being finalized.

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Additional information:

The University of California, San Diego is currently ranked 33rd globally by Times Higher Education in 2021, 15th among world-class research institutes by Nature Index in 2020 and among the top 30 universities with the most Nobel laureates.

The Department of Structural Engineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering, at the time of signing this agreement, offers three M.S. degree options:

• M.S. in Structural Engineering
• M.S. in Structural Health Monitoring & Nondestructive Evaluation
• M.S. in Geotechnical Engineering

Besides the 3 aforementioned degrees, other M.S degrees are being discussed bilaterally.