English teaching for senior government officials and UK scholarship schemes set up

The Rapid Reponse Fund, later to be called the English for Senior Officials programme (ESOP), was initially funded by the British Government’s Overseas Development Ministry and then later by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). It has been the backbone of English teaching for the Vietnamese government over the last 10 years and our teachers have taught over a thousand officials from a whole range of Government Ministries. Although the programme was in its early days in 1995 the Government of Vietnam was quick to see the benefit of the programme and it rapidly expanded from this point onwards and continues to this day.

Did you know?

Amongst the government officials to receive English language training under ESOP is Mr Pham Gia Khiem, Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam   

Scholarship schemes start in earnest

1995 also saw the introduction in Vietnam of two of Britain’s important scholarship schemes – Chevening, funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and Technical Co-operation Training (TCT) funded by the Department for International Development.

TCT scholarships were aimed at people working in the development sector in Vietnam and over the next five years 115 scholarships were to be awarded until the scheme finished in 2000.

The Chevening scheme is the UK’s premier scholarship programme aimed at future leaders and influencers in a country, who are funded to study post-graduate degrees in the UK.  In Vietnam there have been over 200 Chevening scholars, many of whom have gone on to hold influential positions in their field such as:

Nguyen Ngoc Anh, an educationalist who studied at the University of Lancaster and has gone on to receive a very prestigious internationally recognized bursary given to people leading the way in educational research.

Luong Hoang Thai who on returning to Vietnam in 2000 went on to become the Deputy Director of the Multilateral Trade Policy Department at the Ministry of Trade

Tran Phuoc Anh in Ho Chi Minh City who is now an Expert in the Section For Political and Economic Affairs, ERO.

Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy who is now Assistant Manager of the Investment and Trade Promotion Centre.