Vietnamese youth compete for Swinburne scholarship
In Summary
Trong Nhan Nguyen has been named Vietnam’s best and brightest young high school student, as the champion of Vietnam’s most watched television show, Way to Olympia Peak.
He has won a US$35,000 prize from LG and a full scholarship to attend Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia.
The national game show was broadcast live across Vietnam on Sunday 3 August.
Contestants demonstrated their knowledge in Vietnamese literature, Vietnamese and world history, sciences, English, mathematics, and general knowledge under the pressure of an audience of 20 million people.
Swinburne Vice-President (International and Future Students), Mr Jeffrey Smart, said the university has supported the scholarship program since its inception in 1999.
“The Way to Olympia Peak competition is very prestigious and Swinburne supports its celebration of academically gifted Vietnamese students,” Mr Smart said.
“The program creates opportunities for students to share and develop their own knowledge. Likewise, Swinburne is committed to seeking and supporting the development of young people.”
After completing the studies at Swinburne, many Way to Olympia Peak champions have moved on to successful careers in various industries in Australia and Vietnam.
“These champions are excellent ambassadors for Vietnam,” Mr Smart said.
“They teach our Australian students about the culture of Vietnam and have set up Vietnamese associations at Swinburne, and across the other Victorian universities.”
The Australian Ambassador to Vietnam, Mr Hugh Borrowman, presented the prize money and scholarship to Mr Nguyen.
“This competition presents an exciting opportunity for some of Vietnam’s top students, not only to further their own education, but to contribute to strong and lasting people-to-people links between our two countries,” Mr Borrowman said.
Swinburne has had an active presence in Vietnam since 1993. The university has developed partnerships with a number of Vietnamese institutions including Ho Chi Minh City Open University, Ho Chi Minh City University of Architecture and the National Economics University.