Olympiad medal winners postpone their overseas study dream under state-funded program

Published: 10:23 Monday - October 29, 2012

Olympiad medal winners have been told that they would not be able to go studying abroad under the state-funded program No. 322.

Dau Hai Dang, the mathematics gold medal winner (first left)

In previous years, the members of the Vietnamese national teams to join international and regional Olympiad competitions would be granted scholarships to follow university study overseas.

However, the brilliant students, who have returned from international Olympiads have been informed that they would have to seek the opportunities to go studying abroad themselves instead of expecting the scholarships from the State.

Nguyen Hung Tam, who won the silver medal at the 2012 Mathematics Olympiad, a former student of the math majoring class of the famous Hanoi-Amsterdam High School for the Gifted, has become a student of the Hanoi Foreign Trade University.

Like many other Vietnamese excellent students, Tam dreams of enrolling in a well known foreign university. However, he is not sure if the dream can come true. The Program 322 has terminated, while it’s not sure when a similar program would be launched.

Since Tam knows he should not expect the state’s scholarships, he has been applying for scholarships to some universities in the US and Singapore.

“I was a math majoring student, and I want to follow mathematics studies or the math-relating majors, such as informatics or computing technology. However, I am now a student of an economics school,” Tam said.

“If I finish a university in Vietnam and work in Vietnam, I would not be able to fulfill my dream of following mathematics studies and seek a good life for me in the future,” he added.

Tam is not alone. Other Olympiad winners now have to think about what they should do to continue their education.

Nguyen Viet Hoang, who won the silver medal at the International Chemistry Olympiad, now follows the study at the Hanoi Pharmaceutical University while preparing himself in English skills to apply for a foreign university scholarship.

Hoang, a former chemistry majoring student of the Hanoi-Amsterdam High School for the Gifted, said he hopes to win a scholarship which allows him to become a student of a good university in the US in autumn 2013.

Meanwhile, Dau Hai Dang, the mathematics gold medal winner, plans to leave Vietnam for overseas study in 2014.

“I spent most of the time on mathematics to prepare for the Olympiad recently, so I have just begun learning English after the Olympiad. Therefore, I need some more time,” he explained

However, Dang hopes that if successfully enrolling in a foreign university, he would not have to study from the very beginning, but would pass credit to start as a third year student. He is now studying mathematics at the national university, and he expects a scholarship for studying math as well.

According to Kim Ngoc Chinh, Headmaster of the Lam Son High School for the Gifted in Thanh Hoa province, two students of the school won medals at the 2012 International Olympiads, but both are studying at the universities in Vietnam.

Le Quang Lam, who won the bronze medal at the Mathematics Olympiad is studying at the Civil Engineering University, while Le Huy Quang a physics medal winner, is studying at the Foreign Trade University, though he wants to follow studies in physics.

Minister of Education and Training Pham Vu Luan has promised that MOET would try its best to create favorable conditions for the excellent students to study overseas with the state funding. However, Luan admitted MOET alone cannot solve the problem.