Sweden to Grant 300 Scholarships to Vietnamese Students in 2016-2017 AY

Universities in Sweden are committed to provide Vietnamese students with up to 300 scholarships for the academic year of 2016-2017, according to the information released at the “Study in Sweden” event held recently in Hanoi. The event offered the chance for Vietnamese students to learn about more than 700 English-taught master programs in leading universities such as Lund University, KTH, Karolinska Institutet, and Uppsala University. Speaking at the event, Swedish Ambassador to Vietnam Camilla Mellander highlighted her country as “a world leader in innovation, new technology, sustainability and equality – in large part thanks to its elite, forward-thinking universities, which have fostered new ideas since the 15th century.” She said that the Swedish education system shares many similarities with the North American education system, but Sweden also offers some differences such as the non-hierarchical nature of Swedish society. “Our educational system emphasizes on transparency, equality, exclusiveness and gender equality. More than half of the ministers in the government are women, 40% of all ambassadors are women, we want women to have equal access to resources and representation,” Ms. Mellander said. Paul Philips, director of World Climate Change Challenge (WCCC) said WCCC and Swedish universities were cooperating to conduct a scholarship pilot program on climate change with more than 100 scholarships planned to be handed out. “Sweden has been a leader in climate change for the last 40 years,” Phillips said, adding that climate change is not only about environmental studies but also a subject that affects every single industry in the world including health, disease, transport and energy. (Vietnam News Nov 9)