Loyola University is forging a first-of-its-kind partnership with Vietnam’s government to create academic and study abroad programs in the Southeast Asian nation.

The first group of 10 Loyola students will spend a month in Ho Chi Minh City this summer taking classes and learning about local culture.

And educators and health care professionals in Vietnam will soon be able to take English and leadership programs at Loyola’s new facility there.

Getting the program up and running in the Communist nation has been challenging, says Associate Provost Patrick Boyle, even though it was Vietnamese officials who first approached Loyola about creating it.

“The government likes to have very close control over everything, so we’ve tried to be very respectful of their government policies and regulations, of which there are a lot,” Boyle says. “It’s been delicate.”

The new programs have been about two years in the making. Students at Hanoi Medical University will be able to take English as a Second Language courses through Loyola. And administrators at Vietnam’s schools and universities will be able to take leadership and business seminars.

The English classes in particular are important because most medical literature is in English, so medical students in Vietnam would get a vital leg up on what their colleagues around the world are doing, Boyle says.

The program has plenty of room to grow, too.

“If we’re successful in having an English language program for medical and nursing students and personnel, we could find ourselves at a next stage working with medical schools on curriculum in Vietnam,” Boyle says

And he would like to see study abroad opportunities for American college students expanded, with options to stay for a semester or longer.