US Aims to Double Vietnamese Scholarships

New US Ambassador to Vietnam Michael Michalak said he aimed to double the number of US scholarships granted to Vietnamese at Fulbright Vietnam’s 15th anniversary ceremony on Saturday.

The US ambassador also said such a program could help Vietnam reach its goal of
training 20,000 new doctors within the next 10 years.

Tran Xuan Thao, director of Fulbright Vietnam, added that if Vietnamese authorities co-sponsored 20-30 percent of the Fulbright program, many more Vietnamese graduates would be able to attend schools in the US. Over 100 Vietnamese formerly sponsored by the Fulbright scholarship attended the anniversary event in the central historic city of Hue. The Fulbright Program was established by the US Congress in 1946 and aims to increase transnational understanding through educational and cultural exchange. The Fulbright Program in Vietnam, administered and coordinated by the Public Affairs Section (PAS) of the US Embassy in Hanoi, works with appropriate Vietnamese and American educational and governmental organizations to provide opportunities for study and research in the social sciences and humanities.