The Vietnam Education Foundation 2011 Annual Report

Annual Report 2011 Page 67
NOTE 1 – SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
Reporting Entity
Vietnam Education Foundation
Notes to Financial Statements
September 30, 2011 and 2010
The Vietnam Education Foundation (VEF), an independent establishment of the Executive Branch of the United
States Government, is a special initiative created by the U.S. Congress in December 2000 under The Vietnam
Education Foundation Act (Public Law 106-554). The VEF operates as an independent establishment of the Executive
Branch under Section 104 of Title 5, United States Code. Funding sources include transfers in/out without
reimbursement from other federal agencies, as part of United States-Vietnam Debt Repayment Agreement. Funding
details are presented below under the subsection Revenues and Other Financing Sources.
VEF’s purpose is to promote closer relations between the United States and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. VEF
does this by providing opportunities for Vietnamese nationals to pursue graduate and post-graduate studies in science
and technology in the United States and for American citizens to teach in the same fields of studies in Vietnam.
VEF’s core activities are concentrated in two essential and complementary areas: (1) the selection and management of
Vietnamese nationals for advanced graduate studies and professional training at top U.S. universities (Fellowship and
Visiting Scholars Programs) in the sciences (natural, physical, and environmental), mathematics, medicine, and
technology (including information technology); and (2) the strengthening of Vietnam’s capacity in science and
technology, focusing on its teaching and research institutions (Capacity Building Projects).
In order to accomplish its mission, VEF has two offices: (1) the headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, established in
March 2003, with six employees; and (2) the field office in Hanoi, Vietnam, established in November 2003, with nine
employees. VEF provides annual reports on its activities to the President and also to Congress through the U.S. Senate
Committee on Foreign Relations and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
VEF is governed by a Board of Directors, comprised of 13 members, who meet quarterly, together with the VEF U.S.
headquarters staff. Six Presidential appointees serve as voting members of the Board. U.S. Government officials on
the VEF Board of Directors are three U.S. Cabinet members, who serve as voting members of the Board: Secretary of
State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and Secretary of Treasury Timothy F. Geithner.
Also among U.S. Government officials on the Board are four members of Congress, who serve as ex officio,
nonvoting members, providing bipartisan representation from the Senate and the House of Representatives. According
to the VEF Act, the two members of the Senate are appointed by the President pro tempore of the Senate, one of
whom is appointed upon the recommendation of the Majority Leader and the other upon the recommendation of the
Minority Leader, while the two members of the House of Representatives are appointed by the Speaker of the House
of Representatives, one of whom is appointed upon the recommendation of the Majority Leader and the other upon
the recommendation of the Minority Leader. The present Congressional members are U.S. Senators Richard
Blumenthal and David Vitter and U.S. Representatives Loretta Sanchez and Joe Pitts.
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