The University of Vermont’s Patrick Leahy Honors College has announced a new bilateral exchange partnership with Fulbright University Vietnam, opening fresh study abroad pathways for Honors students in Southeast Asia and strengthening cross-cultural academic ties.
The agreement, signed recently in Ho Chi Minh City, will send two UVM Honors College students to Fulbright University Vietnam each year, while welcoming two FUV students to Burlington for a full semester. The partnership emphasizes meaningful cultural immersion and academic rigor, aligning with UVM’s commitment to global citizenship.
Emma Swift, director of UVM’s Office of International Education, highlighted the value of 'critical discomfort' in study abroad experiences. While many American students choose popular European destinations like Florence or Barcelona, Swift noted that deeper learning often occurs in less familiar environments. “It helps them see things differently, to take a different perspective,” she said. Ho Chi Minh City offers exactly that opportunity, away from large clusters of U.S. students.
Fulbright University Vietnam (FUV), the nation’s first private nonprofit liberal arts college, welcomed its first undergraduates in 2019. With approximately 800 undergraduate and 150 graduate students, FUV offers English-language instruction across 11 majors, including applied mathematics, human-centered engineering, and gender and sexuality studies. The institution was founded through a collaboration between the Fulbright Economics Teaching Program, Harvard Kennedy School, and the University of Economics, Ho Chi Minh City.
Ian Grimmer, Associate Dean of the Patrick Leahy Honors College, praised FUV’s academic strength and supportive environment. The partnership also carries symbolic weight tied to Vermont’s long history with Vietnam. The Honors College is named after Senator Patrick Leahy, who played a pivotal role in ending U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War in 1975. In subsequent decades, Leahy has been instrumental in efforts to clear landmines, address Agent Orange contamination, and improve healthcare access for disabled Vietnamese citizens. “He’s really well known and revered in Vietnam,” Grimmer explained, noting that this connection helped spark enthusiasm for the exchange.
The new program fits seamlessly with the Honors College curriculum, which prioritizes civic engagement and global impact. “The Honors College is opening ourselves up to the world at a time when I feel like the U.S. is kind of going in a very different direction,” Grimmer observed during the signing ceremony.
UVM already maintains successful bilateral exchanges with University College Maastricht in the Netherlands and Ashesi University in Ghana. A new exchange with NUS College at the National University of Singapore is also in development.
Beyond the Honors College, UVM offers robust study abroad options. Roughly 25% of UVM undergraduates participate in international programs well above national averages. The university manages 26 exchange programs and six semester programs, including recent additions in Tasmania and longstanding offerings in Ireland, New Zealand, South Korea, Barbados, and South Africa. Faculty-led travel study programs add another 15–20 opportunities annually.
Financial accessibility remains a key focus. The Honors College covers airfare for bilateral exchange participants, while semester program students can apply full financial aid packages and pay equivalent room rates abroad.
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Grimmer emphasized the broader educational value during the spring ceremony in Vietnam “One of the biggest promises of a liberal arts education is that students come to see themselves as citizens of the world. They develop the capacity to move beyond familiar ways of seeing and become ope,n to perspectives that differ from their own. Few things cultivate this quality more powerfully than the experience of studying abroad".
The UVM-Fulbright University Vietnam partnership represents a strategic step in diversifying study abroad destinations toward Southeast Asia. As global challenges grow more interconnected, such exchanges prepare students to navigate complex international landscapes with empathy, critical thinking, and cultural competence.
For more information about UVM study abroad programs, including the new exchange with Fulbright University Vietnam, visit the Office of International Education or the Patrick Leahy Honors College websites.
