144 excellent students were awarded Odon Vallet scholarships

(Baonghean.vn) - 144 excellent students of the 2015-2016 school year in Nghe An were honored to receive the 15th Odon Vallet scholarship. The awarding ceremony was held on the morning of August 26 at Vinh University.

Attending the ceremony were Comrade Dinh Thi Le Thanh - Member of the Provincial Party Committee - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Professor Odon Vallet, Mr. Daniel Barroy - Chairman of SOS Children's Villages - French Republic, representatives of the Department of Education and Training, the Provincial Association for Promotion of Education, 22 schools with students receiving scholarships.

Overview of the scholarship award ceremony.

Performances by students of the Provincial Boarding High School for Ethnic Minorities to celebrate the ceremony.

Delegates attending the Odon Vallet scholarship award ceremony.

The Scientific and Educational Organization “Rencontre du Vietnam” (Rencontre du Vietnam) began granting scholarships to young Vietnamese talents in 1996 and has expanded to all provinces and cities across the country.

Since 2001, with the help of Professor Odon Vallet, the organization “Meeting Vietnam” has awarded additional scholarships named Vallet to high school students, university students and young researchers nationwide. Up to now, after 15 years, the number of Odon Vallet scholarships awarded to Vietnamese students has reached nearly 29,000 with a total value of nearly 130 billion VND.

In 2015, the “Vallet Scholarship” program spent more than 22 billion VND to award 2,250 scholarships to encourage talent for young Vietnamese students and researchers.

In Nghe An province alone, this year there are 144 scholarships for excellent students with a total value of about 1.4 billion VND. Each scholarship for students is 8.5 million VND, for students and young researchers is 14 million VND. The students who are awarded scholarships this time are students who have won international, national, provincial excellent student awards and students with excellent achievements in the past school year.

Prof. Dr. Dinh Xuan Khoa delivered the opening speech at the ceremony, emphasizing the profound humanitarian significance of the Odon Vallet scholarship over the years for students of Vinh University in particular and Nghe An province in general.

Speaking at the scholarship awarding ceremony, Professor - Doctor Dinh Xuan Khoa - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Principal of Vinh University affirmed: “In recent years, with the attention of organizations, businesses, and philanthropists at home and abroad, at Vinh University in particular and educational institutions of Nghe An province in general, schools have received hundreds of valuable scholarships, timely encouragement and support for excellent students, students with difficult circumstances but constantly striving to improve in their studies and training. Among those scholarships, the most prominent is the Vallet scholarship because of the value of the scholarship and the number of scholarships awarded to students every year.

In particular, despite being very busy and not being able to cope with health conditions, for 15 consecutive years, Professor Odon Vallet has not hesitated to travel far, personally traveling across Vietnam to directly hand out valuable scholarships to students and young researchers, encouraging them to continue studying to become scientists. This is an action that we all deeply respect and admire. It can be said that the Vallet scholarship has a very profound social and humanistic meaning. This is a noble gesture, demonstrating the heart, solidarity, friendship and deep affection for the homeland of Vietnam of Professor Odon Vallet, Professor Tran Thanh Van and his colleagues. The Vallet scholarship is also a valuable material gift, which not only helps to reduce the difficulties that students encounter in life, but also encourages and motivates them for their achievements in studying, creating conditions for them to continue on the path of conquering knowledge and establishing themselves and their careers in the future.

Professor Odon Vallet shared his feelings at the scholarship award ceremony, emphasizing his desire to discover and support more and more Vietnamese talents.

Sharing his feelings at the scholarship award ceremony, Professor Odon Vallet congratulated the achievements of the students in the past school year. The professor hoped that the students would send their thanks to their parents and teachers - those who directly cared for and taught them to achieve the best results in their studies. "And starting from next year, along with the Natural Sciences, the Odon Vallet scholarship will be awarded to students who are good at English, French and Geography" - Professor Odon Vallet affirmed.

Mr. Do Trinh Hue - Head of the Vallet Scholarship Fund Coordination Board in Vietnam shared about the Fund's activities in recent times.

Comrade Dinh Thi Le Thanh - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee presented flowers to thank Professor Odon Vallet.

With a doctorate in law and religion, Professor Odon Vallet has taught at Sciences Po Paris, the University of Paris I Panthéon - Sorbonne and the University of Paris VII Diderot. He teaches cultural studies on contemporary political and social issues for bachelors in public administration and masters in public law. He is also an expert on Asian, Far Eastern (especially Vietnamese) and African cultures.

Professor Odon Vallet and Professor - Doctor Dinh Xuan Khoa awarded scholarships to Hoang Anh Tai, winner of the International Mathematics Prize, and Nguyen Ngoc Khanh, winner of the International Physics Prize.

Professor Odon Vallet and Mr. Do Trinh Hue awarded scholarships to outstanding students.

Comrade Nguyen Hoang - Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training presented flowers to Professor Odon Vallet and Mr. Daniel Barroy.

Having inherited a fortune from his late father, the former head of the GPA-Athéna insurance company, and finding that the income from teaching and writing was sufficient to cover his needs, Odon Vallet, together with his brother Jean-Daniel, decided to found the Vallet Foundation (Fondation Vallet) in 1999 and donated a large part of his inheritance to this organization.

Managed by Fondation de France, the Vallet Foundation awards scholarships to outstanding students from disadvantaged backgrounds in Paris, Benin and Vietnam so they can continue their studies./.

An Nhan