RMIT University Vietnam awarded 110 scholarships worth a total of VND32 billion ($1.3 million) to prospective and current students at recent scholarship award ceremonies at its Saigon South and Hanoi campuses.
Allocated across nine categories and covering 100, 50 and 25 per cent of tuition fees, the scholarships are in a variety of subject areas, including business, communications, creative fields, and technology.
RMIT Vietnam President Professor Gael McDonald said the university’s annual scholarship program is part of its effort to give back to both the country and the broader community.
“RMIT Vietnam operates under a not-for-profit model, with profits remaining in Vietnam and reinvested back into the university by presenting scholarships, improving teaching facilities, and sharing teaching methodologies with local universities,” she said. “The $1.3 million worth of scholarships awarded this year adds to the VND272 billion ($11.6 million) awarded over the last 17 years.”
Professor McDonald believes that this year’s scholarship winners will become change-makers and innovators who will give back to their communities, just like previous recipients.
“Our scholarship winners all have one thing in common: they embody RMIT’s values of passion, impact, inclusion, agility, courage and imagination,” Professor McDonald said. “These are the values that we look for, and they are the very values that will help our students make a memorable impact.”
Of the 868 students who applied this year, only 110 were able to meet or exceed the standards of the tough scholarship selection process, Professor McDonald added.
At a ceremony, Bachelor of Design Studies student Ngo Viet Dung shared his feelings of honor and excitement when awarded the most prestigious scholarship at RMIT Vietnam - the President’s Scholar Award.
“I am so excited to immerse myself in such a multi-cultural environment where I can be more open-minded and enjoy student life to the fullest,” said Dung, who decided to switch to a creative program after undertaking an English Teaching degree at another university for two years. “I believe RMIT is an environment most suitable for the accumulation of knowledge, which will help me climb up the career ladder, as my goal is to work with international artists and join the movement of designers who are making Vietnamese designs more popular around the world.”