Vietnamese students get support in Melbourne

U.S. education career orientation seminar

Around 5,000 new international students, including Vietnamese students, will receive assistance when first arriving in Melbourne until February 26.

On landing at Tullamarine International Airport in the Australian city, overseas students can visit the welcome desk and receive an information kit.

“There are 30,000 international students either studying or living in Melbourne, and we want to support them as they embark on their Melbourne education and ensure they enjoy their time while they’re here,” Robert Doyle, Melbourne’s Lord Mayor said.

Vietnamese student, Bui Hoang Trung, who is doing a Bachelor of Computing at Swinburne University said, “Arriving in a new city as a new student can be tough… The welcome desk at the airport is designed to put new students and their parents at ease.”

The info kit was the brainchild of Swinburne University of Technology and the Victorian State government. About 100 volunteers, including Swinburne teachers and international students, help out with the program to assist international students to get to know their new city. Many of the volunteers are multilingual and there are pamphlets printed in different languages.

The Student Welcome Desk has been operating at the Australia-based airport since 2009 during the two major arrival periods of international students in February and July. This month, the desk will hand out 13,000 welcome kits.

According to Australian Education International (AEI), the international arm of the Australian Government Department of Education, over 24,000 Vietnamese students have studied in Australia so far.

*The U.S. Consulate General will hold the U.S. Education and Career Orientation Seminar  at Rex Hotel, 141 Nguyen Hue Boulevard, HCMC’s District 1 on Monday Feb. 28.

The orientation is designed to guide Vietnamese students through the decision making process of studying in the U.S. The event include informing students about job demand trends in Vietnam, equipping students with the tools to choose the right U.S. schools that meet their individual needs, empowering students to ask key questions when making this decision, assisting students with the application process, educating the public about accreditation and the concept of due diligence, and informing students about the student visa application process.

The free event is scheduled from 8 a.m. to 5p.m. and includes the sessions How to Use the Internet to Search for the Right School and Accreditation; Vietnam Workforce: Projected Career Trends in Vietnam; Application Process; Student Visa and SEVIS; and Student’s Life in the U.S.

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Quan wins French student beauty pageant

Vo Hong Quan, a junior vocal music student at Virty-sur-Seine Music College, beat 15 contestants to be crowned Miss Spring 2011 at a beauty contest among Vietnamese students in France.

At the finale in Paris-based Armande Bejart Theatre Saturday night, 20-year-old Quan - who was awarded a scholarship to study in France after gaining outstanding academic achievements in Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory of Music - won the title for her grace and skills.

The first runner-up is Nguyen Tuyet Mai, who majors in finance at Paris Sorbonne 2 University while Tran Thanh Tam, the sophomore student studying Economic Management at Paris 11 University is the second runner-up.

Tam also won Miss Photogenic and Miss ao dai (traditional long dress) at the final round.

Organized by of the Vietnam Students’ Association, the third annual event attracted participation of 15 Vietnamese students in France, who entered the final round.

“The beauty contest is to create a playground for Vietnamese students as well as overseas Vietnamese in France (OVF),” said Vo Xuan Hoai, General Secretary.

After the contest, the winner along with OVF members will participate in many activities including assisting Vietnamese students in France and acting as a bridge for friendship between Vietnam and international friends.

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Singapore art show in HCMC seeks college applicants

The LASALLE College of the Arts in Singapore will hold an arts exhibition and open day at the HCMC University of Fine Arts gallery, 5 Phan Dang Luu Street in HCMC’s Binh Thanh District.

The exhibition will feature works by 17 Vietnamese and Singaporean students studying in the college. Works include five graphic designs, two interior designs, nine paintings, six fashion works, three animations and four short films. There will be information about the college and Vietnamese interested in studying there can enroll at the exhibition.

The college has a growing number of Vietnamese students enrolling in design and film courses. Two film study graduates, Boo Junfeng and Jennie Nguyen Vo Ngoc Diem, will be there to talk about their experience at Lasalle. Boo Junfeng directed a film called Sandcastle which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival and has been selected to compete at the Vietnamese International Film Festival in Hanoi from October 17-21. Jennie Nguyen Vo Ngoc Diem, a lecturer at HCMC University of Theater and Cinema, directed one of the short films to be screened at the exhibition. “…We want more Vietnamese students to go abroad to add their vision to international arts education,” said Kim Dy-Liacco, director of marketing at the Lasalle.

Visitors can design a poster for one of the short films being screened at the exhibition, to be in the running for a prize trip to the LASALLE campus in Singapore, including return flights, food and accommodation for four nights, plus VND4 million spending money. All the entries will be uploaded on Facebook, with winners to be decided November 7.

LASALLE offers a comprehensive range of 26 diploma and degree awards in design, fine arts, film, media arts, fashion, dance, music, theatre, art history, art therapy and arts management in the region. As an accredited institution of The Open University, the United Kingdom’s largest university, the undergraduate and postgraduate programs offered by LASALLE are benchmarked against the best universities in the UK, making them internationally recognized.

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International University announces Master scholarships

Panasonic names Master scholarship winners

Carnegie Mellon international university in Australia on Tuesday announced new partial and full scholarships for Vietnamese students to study Master of Science in Information Technology (MSIT) and Science in Public Policy and Management programs (MSPPM).

The scholarships range in value from A$20,000 to A$65,000 for the MSIT program which is ranked No. 1 and the MSPPM program recognized as No. 4 by the benchmark US News and World Report.

Qualified candidates should complete an online application form at www.cmu.edu.au by mid-October 2010 to qualify for January 2011 intake and scholarships, which the university’s executive director Terry Buss described as an invaluable opportunity for Vietnamese students.

“This is an unprecedented opportunity for talented Vietnamese students to gain a number 1 ranked U.S. IT degree in the Asia-Pacific region,” Buss said. He added that partial or full scholarships would be granted to Vietnamese candidates depending their qualifications.

The South Australian government supports Carnegie Mellon University in Australia through a comprehensive scholarship program available to domestic and international applicants.

According to the university, the South Australia government has offered up to AU$3.8 million over the next four years to be paid in the form of scholarships and support.

Carnegie Mellon University was established in 1900 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with its School of Computer Science ranked first in the United States according to US News and World Report. This American, internationally renowned research university also has campuses in Qatar in the Middle East. The campus in Adelaide in Australia was set up in 2006. 

Carnegie Mellon University in Australia is a global university campus, with faculty and staff representing more than 25 countries throughout the Asia-Pacific, the U.S., Europe, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.

* Panasonic Vietnam has awarded the 2011 Panasonic scholarships to three outstanding Vietnamese students to attend Master courses at universities in Japan from March, after four months of learning Japanese in Vietnam.  

Ninh Van Cuong, Nguyen Thi Thu Trang and Nguyen Thi Minh Viet defeated other candidates from 15 universities nationwide in five selecting rounds to win the Panasonic Master Scholarship for the courses in the 2011-2014 period.

“The three winners have successfully surpassed the other 37 candidates with the theses highly appreciated for great feasibility and possible contribution to the social economic development of Vietnam in the future,” Shinya Abe, general director of Panasonic Vietnam Co., Ltd, said. 

The scholarship program, which also covers living allowance and tuition fees for a three-year Master course in Japan, provides students from Asian countries with opportunities to study in Japan so that they can contribute to the development of their home countries, as well as to enhance the cooperation between Japan and other Asian countries.

Launched in Vietnam in 2003, the Panasonic Scholarship Program has awarded 19 outstanding Vietnamese students. Eight of them have completed their courses and four of these graduates are following a Doctorate degree.

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