Vietnam, Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations (VUSTA)

The Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations (VUSTA) is a national voluntary organization of Vietnamese intellectuals specialized in many different fields of science and technology. VUSTA’s affiliates include the Science and Technology Disciplinary Associations at the central level and the Unions of Science and Technology Associations at the municipal and provincial level.
The current membership of VUSTA is about half a million. The members are scientists working in state and private institutions; people who are currently working and people who have retired. The age of the members ranges from early twenty to retirement.
The main objectives of VUSTA are as follows: 1) to rally and unite Vietnamese intellectuals specialized in science and technology for the industrialization and modernization of Vietnam; 2) to provide consultancy, criticism and social inspection as the basis for the formulation of guidelines, policies, laws, plans and major projects for socio-economic development and the development of science and technology in Vietnam; 3) to carry out research, application of new technologies and programmes for environmental protection; 4) to actively participate in the improvement of the people’s general knowledge of science and technology; training and retraining of human resources, encouraging and supporting scientific and technical talents; and 5) to persuade and get scientists involved in the struggle for peace, against war and for friendship and mutual understanding among different nations in the world.