VietNamNet Bridge – All six students who were members of the Vietnamese national team attending the 2014 International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO) have chosen to attend universities in the US.

Three students have been awarded scholarships (VND104 million for each) from Ivy Prep for English training courses. They are IMO gold medalists Nguyen The Hoan and Tran Hong Quan, and IMO bronze medalist Nguyen Huy Tung.

Hoan, who won the gold medal when he was an 11th grader, is now in his last year of general education at the High School for the Gifted under the Hanoi National University.

Hoan said he will try his best to become a member of the Vietnamese team to attend the 2015 IMO team and to win more medals.

The other two, Quan and Tung, are students of the talent class of the Hanoi University of Natural Sciences’ Math Faculty.

Meanwhile, Pham Tuan Huy, one of the six students, has joined Stanford with a full grant. Ho Quoc Dang Hung is following necessary procedures for overseas study, while Vuong Nguyen Thuy Duong is preparing to go abroad.

Educators noted that most talented students, especially those who win high prizes at international competitions, wish to study abroad, and many of them do not want to come back to the homeland after they finish studying.

According to Nguyen Khac Minh, a senior official of the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), there are five ways through which Vietnamese can obtain grants for studying abroad.

Under the current laws, the students winning prizes at international competitions will get state scholarships to study overseas. However, the problem is that students may not be able to study at schools they want because the tuition must comply with state grant amounts.

Vietnamese students can also study abroad under the bilateral cooperation programs signed between Vietnamese and foreign schools.

The third way is with grants from the fund set up by Professor Ngo Bao Chau, a Field Medalist. The students receiving the grants from the fund will have to make commitments about their annual study results.

Fourth, the Vietnamese students who have won high prizes at international competitions, now living and working overseas, can help their friends apply for foreign schools’ grants. Minh said that Vietnamese students winning high prizes at international competitions are always welcomed at foreign universities.

And fifth, Vietnamese students research schools and scholarships through the mass media, including the internet, to find out about financial aid.

Minh said Vietnamese students are not required return to Vietnam after finishing their studies overseas, as they can serve the fatherland anywhere in the world.

Ngan Anh