The Board of Directors, consisting of 18 members representing 10 regions whose members are partly or entirely French speakers, is the highest executive body of the AUF. It has the function of approving the AUF's policy and strategic directions. The term of office of the members of the Board of Directors is 4 years, and each member can be re-elected once.

VNU President Le Quan is a representative of the Asia-Pacific region participating in the AUF Board of Directors. As a member of the AUF Board of Directors, VNU’s President will contribute to the development of internationalization of higher education in the region, in Vietnam and at VNU, as well as further promote bilateral and multilateral cooperation among the Francophone countries.

Founded in 1961 in Montréal (Canada), AUF is a multilateral organization that supports cooperation and solidarity among higher education institutions using French as a medium of instruction, with special emphasis on African, Arabic, Asian-Pacific, Central European, Eastern European, and the Caribbean countries.

Currently, AUF has more than 1,000 members from nearly 120 countries. AUF's mission is to create a scientific environment to connect the member universities for the development of societies.

AUF established the Asia-Pacific Regional Office in Hanoi in 1993. The AUF representative office is located on the main campus of VNU.

In recent years, AUF and VNU have implemented many cooperation activities in training, research and exchange of lecturers and students. AUF has cooperated with VNU School of Law to implement the Master's program in Law on Economic Cooperation and International Business since 2001; supported the organization of French bilateral programs at VNU units; provided scholarships for VNU’s students to study in French speaking countries.

AUF established the Francophone Institute for Informatics (IFI), one of the five specialist institutes of the French-speaking universities. The Institute has promoted the strengths of an international center for high-quality postgraduate training and scientific research, contributing to the training of highly-qualified human resources in Informatics. In 2010, the management and operation of IFI were transferred to VNU. In 2014, the Francophone Institute for Informatics was renamed International Francophone Institute and is currently continuing its training programs as well as participating in the development of cooperation relations among the French-speaking countries.