Danaher, a Washington, D.C. based science and technology company, announced that its test and measurement subsidiaries, Tektronix, Fluke and Keithley, have joined the Higher Engineering Education Alliance Program (HEEAP) with a $300,000 donation of laboratory test equipment and cash scholarships for faculty training. The goal is to help provide increased opportunities for engineering students to obtain practical, hands-on experience using electrical and electronic testing and measurement in manufacturing and research and development applications. Tektronix, Fluke and Keithley are global leaders in the test and measurement industry and have a long history of working with universities and vocational schools to help develop the next generation of highly skilled engineers.

Through HEEAP, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Arizona State University’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering (ASU), Portland State University’s Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science (PSU), Intel Corp., Siemens and other industry partners are collaborating with top technical universities in Vietnam to advance electrical and mechanical engineering curricula and support the country’s growing high-tech industry.

HEEAP works closely with Vietnam’s Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs and leadership at partner universities and technical colleges to implement programs and broad infrastructure that supports faculty training, curricula development and hands-on student learning experiences. Students gain the technical expertise, language proficiency, and the soft skills and competencies needed to succeed.

Tektronix, Fluke and Keithley donations to the program will include a range of industry leading oscilloscopes, digital multimeters, power supplies, arbitrary waveform generators and other instrumentation to be used by students at the HEEAP partner universities. Scholarships will provide funding for faculty from the partner universities to participate in HEEAP training programs to develop and implement instructional improvement projects.

“Support from partners like Danaher and its subsidiaries, Tektronix, Fluke and Keithley, is a critical piece of the HEEAP initiative, giving students in Vietnam access to state-of-the-art tools that provide the real-world knowledge and experience that will help them be successful in a highly competitive marketplace,” says Jeffrey S. Goss, Director, Vietnam Higher Engineering Education Alliance Program and assistant dean, Global Outreach and Extended Education for ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.

“We are pleased to support this program and the universities in Vietnam,” says Jim Lico, Executive Vice President, Danaher Corp. and President, Danaher Asia. “Today’s engineers need to deal with ever more complex embedded designs. It’s important to keep the curriculum current with rapidly evolving technology. Our intent is to help students quickly master the basics and move to advanced topics and independent research by using a combination of basic to cutting-edge test equipment. Our faculty scholarships will help provide the training that enables tighter integration of the lab-oriented project work with engineering curriculum. This is our commitment to Vietnam as we seek to build our presence in this important market and we look forward to a very successful partnership with HEEAP.”

The HEEAP initiative in Vietnam was initiated in 2010 with funding from USAID, Intel and ASU.