Cross-Cultural Training in Public Administration

Abstract

SINCE 1955, Michigan State University has had an advisory group in Vietnam under a tri-partite contract with the International Cooperation Administration and the Republic of South Vietnam.'L The terms of the contract specifically define the group's responsibility for projects in public and police administration. The public administration projects focus on developing an institution for the teaching and training of Vietnamese public administrators. Corollary activities on the public administration side of the project have included a program to study and assist in budgetary, tax, and civil service reform. The police projects have centered on the development of a national police academy and advisory activities with the Vietnamese Municipal Police Force of Saigon. In the first two contracts under which the university operated, funds were specifically allocated for sending Vietnamese nationals to the United States for training in connection with the projects being conducted by the group. During the four years covered by the first two contracts, $350,000 was budgeted for this activity, in addition to local currency for transportation and English language training.2