Sustainable Development in Vietnam: Study Abroad and Internships

Study abroad or intern in Vietnam with GEI's full-time in-country team. Four programs in one track, from a three-week field course to a full semester, plus a career-aligned internship, with U.S. academic credit through Hamline University, GEI's school of record.

Track: Sustainable Development
Destination: Vietnam
Programs: Short-Term, Summer, Semester, Internship
Dates: January, Spring, Summer, Fall
Credit: 4 to 16 U.S. credit hours through Hamline University, GEI's school of record
Eligibility: Any field and level of study

The Sustainable Development track explores how communities, institutions, and policy frameworks respond to complex sustainability challenges. In Vietnam, students examine sustainability through a systems perspective, exploring how economic, social, and environmental factors interact in shaping development outcomes, while engaging with local practitioners and community partners. The track combines interdisciplinary coursework with experiential, community-engaged learning, and it is open to students at any level of study.

The programs emphasize applied, field-based learning rather than classroom instruction. Students learn through site visits, community-based activities, collaborative projects, and guided reflection. Field engagement shows how sustainability initiatives are developed and implemented within a specific cultural, economic, and environmental context, and what responsible, context-aware development practice looks like.

Spend your days inside one of the world's most climate-exposed regions, from Ho Chi Minh City's growth to the Mekong Delta, where rising seas, sinking land, and salt water are changing how a country feeds itself, alongside the farmers and scientists working out what comes next
Work alongside a Vietnamese development or environmental organization, cooperative, or community initiative on a challenge it is tackling right now, from a food system to a watershed
Join GEI's Sustainable Agriculture initiative in the Mekong Delta and, with Vietnamese students on your team, help a farming community map how climate, soil, health, and livelihoods connect, and plan a transition it can sustain
Study how a country that lifted tens of millions out of poverty in a generation now faces the environmental bill, and what a just transition looks like from a rice field
Vietnam beyond the field: street food and markets with your cohort, a boat on the Mekong or the Cu Chi tunnels where your program includes them, and free weekends to explore on your own

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Short-term program

3 or 4 weeks, January or Summer, 4 credits

Summer Program

8 weeks, June and July, 8 credits

SEMESTER Program

15 weeks, Fall or Spring, 16 credits

INTERNSHIP Program

4, 6, or 8 weeks, January or Summer, 4+ credits

A structured field course, taught in the field: six themed modules (well-being and capabilities, just economies, food systems, urban development, energy and universal access, global environmental commons), a community-engaged learning project with a module host organization, and assignments that build the competencies of global change leaders.

A cohort working inside a GEI flagship initiative, not a placement. Your cohort joins one of GEI's international development initiatives, works in one interdisciplinary team with local student peers, and sees its project through to completion. Sustainable Development students carry the systems side of the project: how a solution sits within its community, economy, and environment, and how it stays viable, maintained, and owned locally for the long term. The initiative continues after you leave. Current initiative in Vietnam: Sustainable Agriculture

Vietnamese, three to four classes a week with a local language school, plus field activities from market visits to a cooking lesson with a host family. Runs alongside the Independent Study Project.

Four kickstart days on methods and ethics, then your own project on a question that matters to a local organization, supervised by a local faculty member. A weekly Capstone Seminar with your cohort, a research paper, and a final presentation of your project and your Capstone portfolio. In the Sustainable Development track, projects typically work with a development or environmental NGO, a conservation organization, or a community initiative on a question it needs answered.

Your Capstone runs through the whole program. You collect the work that shows your development across your courses, from field assignments to project findings, into a digital portfolio and present it at the end of the program. The portfolio is a requirement for the certificate.

A supervised internship with a host organization in one of the Sustainable Development fields: development and environmental NGOs, conservation organizations, and community initiatives, in areas from food systems and agriculture to conservation, climate adaptation, and community development. You are matched to a host by your level of study, skills, and preferred field, with a placement description agreed before you arrive. The course opens with four orientation days and adds three professional development site visits across the country's development and environmental sector, three cultural activities, a weekly meeting with your supervisor, a reflective journal, and a placement report.

There are no prerequisites for the study abroad programs. Students can be enrolled in any major or minor and at any level of university study. GEI tries to place students in cohorts with similar levels of study, which is not always possible. The Internship Program is generally open to sophomores, juniors, seniors, and graduate students who have a theoretical foundation in their field, or by consent of the faculty sponsor. The Sustainable Development track suits agriculture and food systems, environmental science, sustainability, geography, and conservation students in particular.

GEI programs follow U.S. academic culture and standards. The pace is accelerated, the workload demanding, and the U.S. grading scale of A to F applies. What you hand in depends on your courses.

Global Field Engagement: 6 module assignments in small groups, active participation in the community-engaged learning project, a weekly reflective journal, blog, or vlog, and a project report.
Global Practicum: Active participation in the initiative, a weekly reflective journal, blog, or vlog, and a project report.
Summer Program: In addition, a Capstone portfolio presented at the end of the program.
Semester Program: In addition, the Language Intensive Course assessments, and in the Independent Study Project a research paper and a final presentation of your project and your Capstone portfolio.
Internship Program: A minimum of 40 hours a week at your host organization, a weekly meeting with your supervisor, a weekly reflective journal, blog, or vlog, and a placement report with two or three work products.

Each study abroad course carries 180 contact hours and 4 U.S. credit hours (about 8 ECTS): 4 credits for the Short-Term Program, 8 for the Summer Program, and 16 for the Semester Program. The Internship Program carries 4 or more U.S. credit hours depending on its length. Credit is awarded through Hamline University, GEI's school of record, which issues the transcript, unless you receive credit via your home institution. The Summer Program leads to the Certificate in Sustainable Development and the Semester Program to the Certificate in Global Engagement with a concentration in Sustainable Development. Check with your academic advisor how many credits your degree program accepts.

All courses are taught in English. In the Semester Program you also study Vietnamese in the Language Intensive Course.

The Asian Dragon is living through some of the fastest change any country has seen. Since the reforms of 1986, Vietnam has moved from one of the poorest countries in the world to one of Asia’s most dynamic economies, and the pace shows in everything from its cities to its family life. In sustainability, Vietnam is where the question is most urgent: a delta that grows much of the country's rice is sinking as the sea rises, farming families are moving from chemical intensity to organic and diversified production, and the country's next chapter depends on getting that transition right.

Fieldwork in Vietnam's sustainability landscape
Students engage directly with Vietnamese development practice: farming communities and cooperatives in the Mekong Delta, environmental and development organizations, research institutions, and the public programs behind them, seeing how a region adapts to a changing climate.

A practicum inside a real development initiative
In the Global Practicum, your cohort joins one of GEI's international development initiatives in the Mekong Delta, works in one team with Vietnamese students, and sees its project through to completion. The initiative continues after you leave.

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Housing is included in the program fee for the full length of your program. GEI Vietnam offers different options, subject to availability:

Guesthouses: Shared double rooms, shared bathroom, no kitchen; breakfast is usually provided
Homestays: Typically single rooms, shared bathroom, access to a kitchen and living room; host families usually provide breakfast and dinner
Serviced apartments: Single or shared double rooms, shared bathroom, kitchen and living room
University residence halls at GEI's partner universities: Shared double rooms, shared bathroom, no kitchen

Students in guesthouses, apartments, and residence halls cover their own meals outside course meals. More in the blog post: Accommodation – What to expect.

Included in your program fees

Tuition
Housing for the full length of your program
Pre-departure advising and orientation
Airport meet and greet on arrival
GEI's full-time in-country team and 24/7 emergency support throughout
Course-related activities, site visits, and excursions, including transportation, guiding, and selected meals
Cultural activities and optional events
Health insurance for the program dates

Not included in your program fees

International airfare and travel to and from Ho Chi Minh City airport
Visas and immunizations
Meals other than those included in course activities
Personal expenses and items of a personal nature
Medical costs beyond what the health insurance covers
Weekend travel and other discretionary spending

VIETNAM

STAFF

GEI's full-time team in Ho Chi Minh City hosts and supervises every cohort.

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