DHL launches UPstairs scholarship programme

A strong advocate for education, DHL aims to foster equal access to education by addressing some of the social challenges faced in Vietnam today as competition for quality education remains high.

The UPstairs programme is one such initiative launched as part of DHL’s three core corporate responsibility programmes, under the motto “Living Responsibility”. Following the success of the programmes in South Africa, Indonesia, Mexico and Romania last year, DHL is expanding this programme for Vietnam.

DHL's programme aims to support this development by helping the families of DHL employees gain access to education institutions which may have been out of reach previously. The UPstairs programme focuses on helping these children pursue higher levels of education and is open to the families of employees across DHL’s three business units in Vietnam- DHL Express, DHL Supply Chain and DHL Global Forwarding.

Christopher Ong, general director of DHL VNPT Express Ltd, said, “We are excited about the launch of this programme in Vietnam. We know how important a solid education is for children and we are glad to be able to give back to our hard working employees and their families. Starting with our own DHL family we also hope to show our support for the Vietnamese government’s call towards advocating better education. All parents want their children to have the best possible start in life and our programme aims to help, those who would not be able to so on their own, achieve this.”

“The selection of eligible families is a very important and intricate process. It is vital that we screen and review each of our candidates to ensure that we identify those who can benefit the most from our programme,” said Clement Blanc, country manager for DHL Global Forwarding Vietnam. “We took a great deal of time to familiarise our employees with the program as we want to ensure clarity and confidence in our initiative, through this we have been heartened by the extremely encouraging response of candidates.”

Janwillem Winkelhuijzen, Country Manager for DHL Vietnam Supply Chain said: “There are many issues facing children and their family with regards to education in Vietnam. Many children have to travel far everyday to attend schools and therefore cannot return home at meal times. This puts an added stress on the finances of the family and can have a large effect on the children's studying ability. Through this programme we hope to ease these problems and give our DHL families more choice concerning educational institutions and travel options.”

All 28 recipients, aged between 7-17 years, are entitled to receive a monthly stipend covering all tuition and travel fees where applicable. In addition, materials such as books, school uniforms and subscriptions of educational magazines or journals for the students will be covered under the scholarship.