Under its doi moi policy, Vietnam's rapid transition to a market-based economy has brought accompanying reforms in various areas of the society. In higher education, efforts to revise economics curricula have been stepped up markedly since the beginning of the 1990s. In response to this trend, under its FY 1996 "People Exchange Program," SPAF hosted a visit to Japan by a group of university presidents, vice-presidents and deans from five Vietnamese universities, including Hanoi National Economics University and Marketing College, Ho Chi Minh City. The delegation made a detailed study of economics and business management education at Japanese universities, and after returning to Vietnam requested Japan's cooperation, through SPAF, in reforming economics curricula at Vietnamese universities.

The present project was launched in April 1997 in response to that request. A joint research team was formed by Japanese scholars from Chuo University, Hitotsubashi University, Josai International University, Keio University, University of Marketing and Distribution Sciences and Okayama University with Vietnamese counterparts from Hanoi National Economics University; Hanoi Commercial College; Hanoi University of Finance and Accountancy; University of Economics, Ho Chi Minh City; and Marketing College, Ho Chi Minh City. The participants deepened their understanding of the needs in question through joint study meetings held in both countries on three key areas of economics curriculum reform: business management, marketing, and finance and accounting. In a total of five study meetings held in the two years of the project, the research team addressed a wide range of curriculum-related issues, including subject content, teaching methods, textbooks and supplementary readers, syllabuses, teacher retraining, seminars, intern programs and employment for graduating students.

In FY 1998, the project's second year of operation, a survey of some 400 business enterprises in Vietnam was conducted to gauge the business sector's expectations of the country's higher education system. The survey elucidated the important relationship between Vietnam's higher education system and the human resource needs of its business sector, and the report compiled from the survey findings provides a wealth of expert recommendations for university curriculum reform.

While visiting Japan to attend the project's study meetings, the Vietnamese participants also took the opportunity to expand their network of intervarsity cooperative relationships by visiting Kwansei Gakuin University, Kobe University and other institutions. These efforts led to the establishment of an official student exchange program between Hanoi Commercial College and Kwansei Gakuin University in which a number of students have already taken part. Within Vietnam, the project has also prompted the establishment of a research network extending beyond the boundaries of academia\another of the project's groundlaying, future-oriented benefits.