MHI study grants enter second year

The scholarship programme provides educational and living expenses for up to six years, including six months of Japanese language training in Vietnam, an 18-month course at a language school in Japan, and four years at university.

Space is available for five students. In addition to tuition at educational institutions, a major feature of the programme is the inclusion of several weeks of practical training at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (MHI)

In rapidly-industrialising Vietnam, there is strong demand for human resource capacity in industrial fields such as energy and infrastructure. The MHI scholarship programme is aimed at Vietnamese humanities and science students.

The programme is based on an agreement exchanged on September 15, 2015 between MHI and Vietnam’s Ministry of Education and Training (MoET). Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, who visited Japan last fall, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe were present at the signing ceremony.

The purpose of the agreement is to contribute to human resource development for promotion of machinery industries in rapidly industrialising Vietnam. MHI will financially support five students each year, 25 students for five years in total, to study in Japan. Applications for the second programme year are being accepted currently.

The first-round scholarship students started studying Japanese in June at the Sendagaya Japanese Language School in Hanoi in preparation for their studies in Japan, which began in October 2016.

The five students will spend 18 months intensively studying Japanese, and will then seek to enter a Japanese university

 MHI has planned to provide opportunities for the students to learn about MHI’s cutting-edge technology through an internship programme in the course of their studies in Japan.

The students expressed their commitment, noting that Japanese has different grammar than Vietnamese, so it is not easy, but they will try as hard as they can.

They met with MHI executives in December, and reported on their academic progress. The reports were given in verbal Japanese speeches, providing an opportunity for these scholars to demonstrate their exceptional language skills.

MHI also plans to offer the students a chance to study its advanced technologies during their stay in Japan.

The students expressed their hopes and ambitions for the programme, saying that in addition to studying at the college, they hope to have opportunities for practical education, through activities such as interacting with MHI engineers who work at the forefront of technology and factory internships.

To date, MHI has contributed to human resource development in Vietnam by establishing endowed professorships in nuclear and aeronautical engineering at the Hanoi University of Science and Technology and the Electric Power University in 2009 and 2010.

This latest scholarship programme offers enhanced content, collaboration with Vietnam’s MoET, and a long-term commitment, and will be MHI’s first attempt to establish such a long-term educational programme.