(The Saigon Times) (25/8/2010)
Over 400 Vietnamese high school and university students in southern Vietnam received scholarships on Saturday from a French philanthropist and scientific organization, Rencontres du Vietnam (Meetings of Vietnam).
French professor Odon Vallet granted the Vallet Scholarships worth VND7.5 million for university students and young researchers, and VND5 million for highschool students in HCMC on Saturday to students who came from as far as Binh Thuan Province north of HCMC and the southern most province Ca Mau.
This is the 10th year of the Vallet scholarship program for excellent students. It also assists students
from poor families in Vietnam. So far this year 2,150 Vallet scholarships have been awarded here worth VND12 billion, compared to VND9 billion in 2009. There have been a total of 17,000 such grants since 2001.
Following HCMC, Vallet and Rencontres du Vietnam will go to Dalat, Danang, Hue, Dong Hoi, and Hanoi to grant the rest of scholarships until September 5.
In 1993, President of Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Nguyen Van Hieu had an idea to set up a scientific association. He told professor Tran Thanh Van, a Vietnamese physicist working in France, and Van set up Rencontres du Vietnam there. Physicists, scholars and Nobel prize winners have traveled to Vietnam to attend scientific conferences held by the association.
Tran Thanh Van and Nguyen Van Hieu also opened the Vietnam School of Physics in Vietnam which holds two week summer and winter schools for masters, doctorate and post doctorate students in English.
Encouraged by the organization’s valuable work, Professor Odon Vallet, who represents the Vallet family, decided to contribute to the organization, the interest from a 100 million euro inheritance.
Every year, the French professor Odon Vallet and his friends, professor Tran Thanh Van and Van’s wife Le Kim Ngoc return to Vietnam to hand over scholarships in person.
Tuong Vi