The REFINE II project (Research and Education for Industry and Environment II)

REFINE II builds on the experiences of REFINE I but takes this several steps further by (i) widening the scope of Vietnamese benefiting partners to four; (ii) development and implementation of a MSc level curriculum in environmental technology and management, and (iii) a stronger focus on PhD level capacity building of staff at the four institutions, (iv) the formulation of a joint research programme on (agro)-industrial transformation between the partners in which especially Vietnamese MSc and PhD students participate. The implementing institutions are: Wageningen University, Department of Social Sciences and Department of Agrotechnology and Food Sciences; Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies; Van Lang University, Department of Biotechnology and Environmental Engineering, CENTEMA; Hanoi National University, Institute of Mechanics; National University of Ho Chi Minh City, College of Natural Sciences, Faculty of Biology; and Can Tho University, College of Technology, and College of Agriculture. In response to requests by the Vietnamese counterparts, Wageningen University aims to:

• Assist them with improving existing BSc programmes in environmental sciences;

• Develop and implement high quality MSc programmes in environmental technology and management (as a logical follow-up of the existing BSc programmes in their institutions);
• Upgrade their staff and their institutions;
• Develop a research programme in which staff, PhD and MSc students can participate to develop their skills and to contribute to solving industrial environmental problems.

The project pre-proposal has been submitted to SAIL. The project is planned to run from 1 January 2001 until 31 December 2004.