Hanoi University of Science and Technology (HUST; , fornerly known in English as Hanoi University of Technology (HUT)) until 2010, founded 1956, is the first and largest technical university in Vietnam. History After the communists took control of Hanoi in 1956 after the victory at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, the Soviet Union helped North Vietnam to build a new technical university as a frame for university education. The construction took about two years from the grounds of an old campus of Indochina University during the French colonial period. The building was the largest one in Hanoi. The university is the fifth oldest in Vietnam, after Indochina Medical College (1902), University of Indochina(1904), École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de l'Indochine (1925) and Hanoi University of Education (1951). It is the parent of many spin-off technical universities in Vietnam, including Hanoi University of Civil Engineering, Hanoi University of Mining and Geology, Vietnam University of Water Resource, etc. After the unification of Vietnam, many of its professors went to Ho Chi Minh City to rebuild Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology. HUST is a multidisciplinary technical university. It always ranks first in technology training universities in Vietnam. Thousands of engineers have graduated from HUST and are now serving in key industrial and scientific areas. Many of them hold important positions in the government. In 2007, the HUST staff consisted of 1950 people. Amongst them, there were 1192 in teaching staff, 394 in teaching-assistant and scientific research staff, 200 professors and associate-professors, 400 Ph.D. and D.S.c. Currently, the number of students is about 40,000 making it the largest technical university in Vietnam. Despite of the large pool of students, the passmark (in the national university entrant exam) is among the highest: HUST is well known in Vietnam for its selective students. For instance, in 2005 national university entrant exam, more than half of perfect-score students came to HUST. In June 2019, 33,000 students bidding for 6,680 places. The strongest students benefit from the Elitech scheme, which includes the 5-year Excellent Engineer Training Programmes leading to a French CTI diploma. To further promote scientific research and training activities besides technology transfer to develop HUST as a research-focused university, in May 2010 its name in English was changed to Hanoi University of Science and Technology (abbreviated HUST). However, the name in Vietnamese and French remain the same — Đại học Bách khoa Hà Nội