Teacher education programs in Vietnam, like their counterparts in most multicultural societies, struggle to address the issues of access, equity, and excellence. The nation's minority groups, about 13 percent of the population, traditionally have not gained admission to educational opportunities on a par with members of the majority group, alternately called the Viet or Kinh. Schooling for ethnic minorities is often of inferior quality at both elementary and secondary levels, leading to decreased access to higher levels, such as teacher education institutions and universities. The current government is attempting to rectify inequitable practices by conducting accurate needs assessments and redressing past problems through equitable educational planning, which includes a strong commitment to remove underlying causes of problems such as economic conditions and discrimination (both individual and institutionalized). A researcher, hired by Vietnam's National Ministry of Education and Training to act as a consultant on a Lower Secondary Teacher Training Project funded by the Asian Development Bank and administered by GOPA Consultants of Germany, spent three months in Vietnam during a recent two-phase project. The first phase of the project consisted of conducting needs assessments related to the education of minority groups. The second phase focused on facilitating workshops based on research findings. This article discusses only the needs assessment portion of this project. The following are some of the most important points learned from this study: (1) Interviewees in all the provinces visited described a critical shortage of ethnic minority teachers. This need is most acute in the remote and mountainous areas of the North; (2) Interviewees in minority villages expressed a desperate need for teachers who understand their children's language and culture. (3) Teachers and administrators at all sites described the academic background of minority students as poor; (4) Contrary to stereotypes, minority villagers were agreeable to having their children (both male and female) become teachers and health service workers; (5) All ethnic minority students interviewed in Teacher Training Colleges and Upper Secondary Boarding Schools explained that their parents were proud that their sons and daughters would be teachers; (6) A few teacher interviewees described how minority students have responded well to different teaching strategies; and (7) Administrators interviewed stressed the need to have minority group leaders as part of all educational decisions involving minority students.