Vietnamese hope to realize dreams by studying in China

HANOI — The National Convention Center in Hanoi on Saturday was packed with thousands of locals exploring ways to make their educational and career dreams come true by studying in China.

Eager university students and their parents from all over Vietnam gathered at the expo for Chinese language study, where they asked over 130 representatives from 52 Chinese universities questions about programs and relevant scholarships.

Some 60 Vietnamese youths were standing in two long lines before a booth specially designated for examinees of Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi, or HSK, or the Chinese Proficiency Test.

Patiently queuing at the booth, a university graduate named Van Anh told Xinhua News Agency that he would register to take the upcoming HSK for himself and his younger sister My Duyen, a student at Nguyen Van Troi High School in Hanoi.

"After completing registration for the HSK, I will go to the booths of some Chinese universities, maybe the Communication University of China to get to know their curricula, because my younger sister is deeply interested in journalism and media," he said.

Beside the HSK booth queue, a big group of students and parents was asking for information about undergraduate and graduate programs at Tsinghua University's booth.

Gracefully donning the traditional Vietnamese dress ao dai, a middle-aged woman named Nguyen Khanh Van said she wanted to know more about undergraduate programs in art or literature for her daughter who is keen on studying Chinese culture.

"My daughter is now studying at the Saigon High School in Ho Chi Minh City focusing on maths, literature and two foreign languages — English and Chinese, with a tuition fee of 2.5 million Vietnamese dongs ($106) per month," Van said. "I can afford reasonable tuition fees if she studies at Tsinghua University."

Reasonable tuition

Van said the annual tuition fee for an undergraduate program in social sciences is 26,000 yuan ($3,800) and the monthly on-campus accommodation is 1,200 yuan, much lower than fees in Singapore and faraway destinations such as the United States and Australia.

"As far as I know, Tsinghua University, Peking University, Fudan University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University are China's top universities and have high global rankings. Along with good teaching quality, their low tuition fees and accommodation rates are very positive points when I consider letting my daughter study there," she said.

"I'm going to graduate from the Hanoi University of Science and Technology in the field of automation in a couple of months, so I'm applying for a master's degree program at the Beijing Institute of Technology," Le Hai Nam told Xinhua, while standing at the institute's booth.

Xi Hui, minister of the Chinese embassy in Vietnam, said that in the next five years, China will give about 1,000 Chinese Government Scholarships and about 1,000 International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarships to Vietnamese students.

Xinhua