New AIT scholarship programme to foster next-gen executives.

Initiatives such as the ASEAN Economic Community or the Trans-Pacific Partnership have put a certain pressure on Vietnamese executives and professionals in every walk of life in terms of global leadership, organisational dynamics and business performance in the recent years.

The director of the AIT Centre in Vietnam (AIT-VN) and founder of the International Executive MBA Programme Dr Fredric W. Swierczeck claims that Vietnam has been significantly closing in on middle-income nations over the past 15 years. Ever since then leadership skills at government bodies and organisations have been well regarded and continuously developed to produce more capable and competitive officials.

Leaders may not be born, yet education and experience can in fact turn an ordinary person into a capable one. The senior personnel in local government bodies and organisations have thus constantly tried to upgrade their knowledge through qualified education or training, while at the same time, carrying on with their current job.

“I knew what I needed in an advanced course after years of professional employment and raising a family of my own. At this stage, I was not satisfied with the theory alone and I needed real-life experience through many case studies. Here, my knowledge absorption is at its best,” said former Miss Vietnam and AIT-VN alumna Nguyen Dieu Hoa.

Dieu Hoa stated that the two-year MBA course for executives which she took at AIT-VN back in 2006 had provided her with practical knowledge in business administration, which in turn has helped her own export-import business bloom. Dieu Hoa is currently a successful manager at Ceres Commodities in Ho Chi Minh City.

“The human resources topic was useful enough to apply to my business model in order to retain the proficient staff and bring out their best performance,” she added.

“Our International Executive MBA has brought internationally qualified education and training to the executives and professionals of state-owned enterprises and international companies, and helped them gain the sufficient skills and competences to be able to manage their company,” said Swierczek.

Supported by the Government of Belgium, Vietnam’s Ministry of Education and Training, the State Bank of Vietnam, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank through many others, AIT-VN has developed itself into a graduate-level institute which provides a global mind-set and learning approach that are advantageous and distinguished from other academic providers, with an adapted specific focus on Vietnam.

After over 20 years since its inception in Vietnam, AIT-VN has helped elevating the country’s higher education and training closer to the international standard in a variety of fields, such as environment, rural development, information technology, management and education development and international executive training.

To celebrate AIT – Towards 25 years in Vietnam, AIT-VN has launched the Silver Anniversary Scholarships covering full-time master’s degrees at AIT-Bangkok in order to honour the partnership that has helped AIT to be successful in Vietnam and acknowledge the contributions of almost 4,000 AIT-VN alumni.

The $1.4 million worth scholarship programme, available from this year to 2018, will offer 14 scholarships each year for professionals in local ministries and agencies, children of AIT-VN alumni, gifted or disadvantaged potential graduate students in Vietnam and top students of AIT, as part of its continuous commitment to developing the country’s leadership skills and supporting the national development initiative.