The purpose of this IUC is to equip the partner university for its social role as a driving force for progress, initially in the province and by extension at national level. The program represents the phase-out (after phases 1 and 2) of the IUC with the University of Hué. The main activities in this 'phase-out' phase concern the finalization of the ongoing doctorates, the sustainability of the collaboration and change initiated and the valorization and expansion of the achieved and intended impact.

The emphasis of the program was (and is) on creating an enabling environment for research-based education and on strengthening the institutional capacity. The structure of the constituent projects remains unchanged as in the first 2 project phases: one transversal project and three thematic projects. Project 1 focuses on transversal institutional strengthening in three aspects: university management, quality assurance and research-based curriculum development. The three thematic projects focus on the important sectors in the development of the region: aquaculture and animal production (P2), ecosystem management (P3) and development of primary health care in rural areas (P4).