Lao students encouraged to apply for European scholarships
Play
The National University of Laos, in cooperation with the French, German and UK embassies in Vientiane, has laid out higher education opportunities in the EU to university faculty members and students.
A talk titled “Study in Europe” was delivered at the university, and was attended by NUOL vice president Assoc Prof Dr Phout Simmalavong, EU Charge d’Affaires Michel Goffin, UK Ambassador Hugh Evans, French Ambassador Claudine Ledoux, German embassy representative Denise Ferguson, and almost 300 participants.
The seminar aimed to promote higher education and scholarships in the EU for Lao citizens and to enable participants to explore the available opportunities, as well as to better prepare themselves before applying for European scholarships.
Goffin said: “Education plays a crucial role in the development of any country. By promoting European higher education opportunities, we are encouraging applicants from Laos and in this way contributing to the development of the country.”
Phout said that NUOL had taken part in various Erasmus Mundus projects since 2009, and applied for more in partnership with other Asian and European universities.
“It is expected that this kind of cooperation with European universities and the EU delegation in Laos will benefit our country’s higher education system. It is also regarded as a very important part of the process of facilitating and providing high quality training for higher education at NUOL and Laos as a whole,” he said.
During the half-day seminar, scholarships, mobility schemes and other partnership opportunities were explained.
The EU Erasmus Plus International Credit Mobility scheme offers financial support for institutions and scholarships for individuals.
It aims to enhance the quality of higher education through both scholarships and academic cooperation and exchanges between Europe and the rest of the world to improve academic and career prospects in developing countries.
Last month, the EU bid farewell to 13 students from Laos, who completed their scholarships. The students were part of 55 scholarships under six ongoing partnership projects. More will certainly be selected to follow this group.
In addition, 34 mobile participants will be funded by the EU in 2015. More mobile participants from and to Laos were accepted by the end of September after the second round of applications.
Over the last decade, more than 200 Erasmus scholarships have been awarded to Lao students to study for professional training, undergraduate, master’s, and doctorate degrees in European countries.
EU member states like France, Germany, and the UK also grant annual scholarships for students from Laos to study in their countries.
