VNU has affirmed the efficiency of its cooperation and development activities by promoting the University – State - Locality - Enterprise cooperation. In 2020, VNU continued to attract resources from business partners such as Vingroup, Viettel Group and Techcombank in the form of scholarships and sponsorship for VNU’s training programs and major research projects. VNU also promoted cooperation with localities by signing cooperation agreements with the provinces of Quang Ninh and Thai Binh; commenting on political reports and consulting on socio-economic development of the Northwestern provinces of Quang Ninh and Thai Binh for the 2020 - 2025 period. Furthermore, VNU kept on promoting and cooperating closely with ministries, sectors and localities, such as the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and Hanoi City in the fields of training, research and knowledge transfer. Besides, the cooperation and development activities in socio-cultural fields were also implemented, namely organizing a scientific seminar themed "Phap Loa Zen master - Religious life, meditation and historical hallmarks” on the occasion of the 690^th anniversary of the Great Phap Loa II's death (1330 - 2020), in coordination with the People's Committee of Quang Ninh province. The seminar focused on discussing the practices, religious career and role of Phap Loa Zen master in Tran dynasty’s Truc Lam Buddhism and Vietnamese Buddhism in general and the position of Buddhism in contemporary life.

In 2020, VNU international cooperation activities were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Several major and important international events, business trips and meetings with international partners were either delayed or canceled; the exchange of staff, lecturers and students decreased significantly, affecting the efficiency of VNU’s international cooperation activities. However, VNU did its best to stay connected and promoted the ongoing partnerships with partners as well as looked for opportunities to expand and develop its partnership through the signing of 7 new agreements on the implementation of training programs, student exchanges; promoting the application for funding and implementation of international cooperation projects; organizing 53 important forums, conferences and seminars in many fields both face-to-face and virtual or in hybrid mode.